Transport for London’s Car Driver Nudges

Client: Transport for London

Transport for London (TfL) set out to tackle one of the hardest behaviour change challenges in urban mobility: persuading habitual drivers to switch to public transport.

Using behavioural insight and pioneering data activation, the campaign identified moments when drivers were most open to change, particularly during non-routine journeys and periods of heavy congestion. For the first time, TfL’s live Road Traffic API was used to trigger programmatic Digital Out of Home in real time when drivers were experiencing higher-than-usual congestion. These “car pain” moments created the perfect context to highlight the benefits of public transport. The activity was reinforced through digital audio, search and display, targeting drivers during both journey planning and in-journey moments. By combining real-time transport data, programmatic media activation and contextually relevant creative, the campaign delivered messaging exactly when it was most persuasive.