French people love to take the train, but they hate their railway company, SNCF. For years the brand tried to change their image and gain some love, in vain. Before this campaign, only 9% of French people had a very positive image of SNCF. People described SNCF with words like strike and late, whereas they described trains as easy, comfortable, and useful. The paradox is that 90% of the time they take the train, it is an SNCF train. 

Our task was to use creativity to turn hate into love, after years of unsuccessful attempts. 

Two deep changes were underway as the company gave us the responsibility to transform their brand image: a new future-facing corporate vision focused on ecological, human, and inclusive solutions within a context of imminent opening to competition. The company wanted to unveil their commitments as they were sure French people were not aware of them. 

Interestingly enough, we discovered that French people were already aware of SNCF’s commitments: 80% of people recognized them as a key economical actor and acknowledged their contribution towards reduced gas emissions and sustainable development. However this did not change their poor image of SNCF. As the real problem was not rational, we needed to dig deep enough to find a way to re-connect the brand with the people. 

The brief asked to show French people that SNCF is all of them. The tonality was full of empathy and the paradoxes which make them so passionate and so committed that sometimes they are annoying, just like SNCF.

SNCF is as perfectly imperfect as the French: “We are not square, we are hexagonal” (France has a hexagonal shape). 

Hexagonal became a music project instead of an advertising campaign. A theme song, a beautifully written slam poem and a musical composition were the starters of the new territory. The jingle we are so used to and tired of hearing at train stations became an enchanted new melody in the hands of a composer and the popular singer, Gaël Faye. 

Here music and poetry parallel SNCF as they connect universally and inclusively. From this starting point, a full communication ecosystem was created to bring the idea to life.