Brilliant in £5m rail win

BRITAIN’S largest rail-based holiday company Great Rail Journeys has appointed Yorkshire advertising agency Brilliant Media to take over its £5m account.

The move, which includes the firm’s sister brand Treyn Holidays, sees Leeds-based Brilliant take responsibility for all media planning and buying across both online and offline media.

Previously, media has been handled in London by full service agency Conrad Advertising, while digital media buying was handled by Netizen. 

Great Rail Journeys offer escorted holidays by train and offers 130 individual tours to more than 40 countries.

The company offers everything from short breaks and scenic tours in the UK and abroad, to special interest holidays, grand tours, and trips designed with single travellers in mind.

Alex Roberts, marketing and sales director at Great Rail Journeys, commented: “We appointed Brilliant as we were impressed by their fully integrated offering and direct marketing credentials.

“Our target market is becoming more and more web-literate with the online channel becoming increasingly important, however we have a long history of successful print-based advertising that will continue. We are keen to work with Brilliant to get a better understanding of how the different channels can work together to maximise impact and cut through.’’

According to Nielsen, GRJ and Treyn spent £5.1m in 2008.

Steve Empson of Brilliant, said: “Great Rail Journeys is a fantastic brand and business and we are very excited to be working with Alex and his team.  We have a lot of experience in running integrated media accounts, and firmly believe that there are great advantages to having a single team working across all media channels to fully maximise learnings and marketing efficiencies.”