Network Rail appoints SpaceandPeople to create new experiences at stations Nationwide

Network Rail has announced that it has awarded spaceandpeople the contract for the exclusive rights to sell event and distribution space across all 18 Network Rail managed stations in the UK after a fully competitive tender process. This is a five year contract, starting on 1st October 2015.

This contract is being managed by Network Rail Property – the only commercial division of Network Rail which reinvests all commercial profits into the rail infrastructure. Network Rail now aspires to transform stations into fantastic destinations in their own right. As a testament to this, up to 25% of people who use stations, such as King’s Cross, Waterloo and Bristol are not actually travelling but instead visiting simply to use the facilities. As a result station-based retail businesses are now significantly outperforming high street shops.

The appointment of this innovative new partner, which is Europe’s biggest experiential sales house, will support Network Rail’s objective to transform stations into destinations and take the passenger experience to the next level. SpaceandPeople work with some of the biggest brands – including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, Coca Cola, Jaguar, Jim Bean and Microsoft – to create experiences across over 750 venues in the UK, with a weekly combined footfall of over 70 million people.

The new experiential campaigns will feature across 18 of Britain’s biggest and busiest railway stations, including Glasgow, London Kings Cross, Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Waterloo and Victoria which are used by up to a billion people every year. Hamish Kiernan, retail director at Network Rail said,”“We want to create truly exceptional places for passengers and visitors, and as part of this aspire to bring a sense of theatre and interactivity into our stations. SpaceandPeople have unparalleled experience in creating experiential campaigns in high footfall places like stations, and therefore we saw them as natural partner to help us meet this objective.”

Matthew Bending, chief executive of SpaceandPeople said, “Network Rail Stations are evolving into destination locations in their own right and, as such, offer perfect opportunities for brands to deliver experiential solutions – we are excited at the prospect of working with our Network Rail colleagues to deliver engaging brand events which will delight and entertain their customers.”