Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Netherlands’ top railway, used Snapchat to fuel summer travel buzz by blending skippable Snap Ads for reach and non-skippable Commercial Ads for engagement, boosting brand awareness by 13x the Snap EU benchmark.
“Our innovative Snapchat collaboration with GroupM and Mindshare for the 'weg=weg weken' campaign successfully activated a younger audience, driving unprecedented awareness and enthusiasm.”
- Mohamed Elaouat, Sr. Campaign Marketeer, NS
Boosting Summer Travel with Snapchat
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Netherlands' leading passenger railway, knows how to get people on board. Powered entirely by renewable energy, NS combines convenience with sustainability, offering travel options for everyone from daily commuters to adventure-seeking tourists.
This past summer, NS turned to Snapchat to promote its “weg=weg weken” campaign, a series of flash deals on train tickets designed to get travelers moving. With a mission of boosting awareness among the 18–35 crowd and driving traffic to their platform, NS worked with the Mindshare/GroupM agency to arrive at a creative mix of Snap Ads and Commercial Ads. Snap Ads comprised of short, skippable videos ensured broad reach, while Commercial Ads — non-skippable, high-impact videos — drove home the message with stellar engagement.
First-class approaches tend to deliver first-class results. For NS, Snap Ads accounted for 81% of impressions at a cost-efficient €1.05 CPM, and their skippable nature made them perfect for mass awareness. Meanwhile, Commercial Ads accelerated to a 77% completion rate and a click-through rate (CTR) of 0.71%. Together, the ad mix achieved a balanced CPM of €1.78, 11% below NS’s usual benchmark. Beyond the numbers, the campaign’s playful, summer-themed creatives resonated with younger audiences, driving a 13% uplift in brand imagery attributes — 13 times the Snap EU benchmark.
Focusing on humor and relatability enabled NS to showcase how businesses can effectively connect with digital-native consumers. The combination of meeting customers on the platform they already love, tailoring messaging with a blend of fun and authenticity, and leveraging the unique strengths of different ad formats empowered NS to go the distance. As Mindshare/GroupM’s Rosita Sanders reported, “Through Snapchat, we were able to reach the younger audience and successfully activate them by generating awareness for the platform. The uplift of +13% on Brand Imagery Attributes showed Snapchat can activate a new platform for NS, and was very successful in doing so.”