An e-bike subscription sold to commuters at the moment their train was cancelled.
Rush Hour
.
+71%
Subscriptions against last quarter
Tread Bikes
Mobility
· 2025
Client
Tread Bikes
Sector
Mobility
Markets
London, Manchester, Bristol
Channels
Campaign · OOH · Paid
Timeline
14 weeks
Tread rents e-bikes by the month. We found its next riders on station platforms, the moment their train didn't come.
The challenge
Nobody wakes up wanting an e-bike.
Commuters liked the idea of cycling to work and never got round to it, and £39 a month sounded like a gym membership they wouldn't use. Tread's sign-ups came in spikes the team couldn't explain, until we laid them over rail data: the worst days on the trains were the best days for Tread.
Clapham Junction, 08:12, on a morning of cancellations.
The idea
Your train is late. Your bike isn't.
We wired the campaign to live rail data. When a line was disrupted, digital posters at its stations and paid social around them switched to Tread, with the first week free and a bike delivered that evening. On good days the campaign went quiet and the budget waited.
The new commute in Islington, and a bike delivered the evening of a cancellation.
What we made
A campaign triggered by disruption: one creative system, live rail feeds and a budget that only spent on bad mornings.
Live rail-data trigger for OOH and paid
Digital posters at 64 stations
Same-evening delivery in every ad
Commuter rides filmed door to desk
Brand film for cinema and online video
Fourteen weeks in
+71%
Subscriptions against last quarter
52%
Of sign-ups on disrupted days
8 in 10
Riders still subscribed at six months
“We used to dread strike days. Now the whole team watches the rail news.”
