The Objective
With the strong rebound of global tourism in 2024, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) found a way to transform pop culture fascination into measurable growth. The campaign not only drew thousands of views and engagements but also delivered a high conversion rate—raising a bigger question: how did a British rail company strike such a chord in China?
Seeing the vast potential of the Chinese market, LNER began testing the Ocean Engine platform in mid-2024 using In-Feed Ads and a modest budget. The results exceeded expectations, driving a significant uplift in ticket sales and validating the platform’s conversion power.
Building on this successful test case, LNER subsequently set out to position its rail journeys not just as a means of getting around Britain but as an essential part of the travel experience. The objective of this campaign was to inspire Chinese tourists to transform their dream destinations into real journeys by choosing the East Coast route, from London through York and Newcastle to Edinburgh. At the same time, LNER sought to boost ticket bookings during the summer travel season and expand its share of Chinese travelers planning trips to the UK.
Yet as the new peak summer season approached, LNER faced several hurdles. First, China’s outbound travel market is highly fragmented, making it difficult to accurately target high-potential audiences interested in UK travel and free independent travel. Second, rail was still perceived as a relatively niche choice for outbound trips, carrying stereotypes of being confusing to navigate. Finally, LNER also had to ensure that once interest was captured, the conversion path was seamless by guiding users directly to the ticketing page and improving overall return on ad spend.
The Solution
To achieve its objectives, LNER combined influencer marketing with performance advertising to showcase two authentic passenger experiences. Selected from the Ocean Creator Marketplace, two Chinese creators were chosen to document their journeys on Douyin, a massively popular social and entertainment app in China. One creator was a niche vlogger specializing in UK travel guides, providing targeted penetration among highly motivated travelers. The other was a general travel influencer with a wider following, ensuring broad exposure. Together, they created a matrix of reach and precision, sharing authentic experiences of the East Coast route with their respective audiences.
The creative strategy revolved around high-energy, visually striking short videos. These highlighted core selling points like modern and comfortable seating, picturesque scenery, onboard dining including English afternoon tea, free access to Wi-Fi, and direct routes to iconic destinations. Their content also wove in cultural IP associations, most notably the link between King’s Cross Station’s Platform 9¾ from the Harry Potter series.
Each video then concluded with a clear call-to-action, such as “Summer special—book now” or “Unlock the best East Coast route”, prompting immediate booking decisions. Conversion was made frictionless using a pinned comment appearing directly at the top of the video’s comment section. This allowed inspired viewers to click immediately at their peak moment of interest, instead of navigating to the creator’s profile to find the booking link.
These stories were further amplified using Ocean Engine’s targeted auction ads to extend reach on Douyin as part of a performance advertising strategy. Drawing on their learnings from the previous year, LNER’s campaign focused on targeting users searching or interacting with terms like “UK travel”, “London itineraries”, “Edinburgh travel guide”, and “Harry Potter film locations”, as well as those showing signals of overseas trip planning or visa preparation for the UK.
Ad Products
The Results
The campaign exceeded expectations across multiple performance metrics. Short video content achieved more than 229,000 views, generating almost 20,000 interactions, including shares, comments, and likes. The pinned comment component delivered an average click-through rate of up to 4.5%, while ticket sales revenue saw a sharp uplift. Compared with test campaigns run during the same period last year, overall performance jumped by more than 350%.
These strong results highlight the effectiveness of linking authentic cultural storytelling with a seamless online booking system. On top of delivering immediate growth in bookings, this campaign also establishes a playbook for future travel marketing campaigns targeting Chinese visitors to overseas destinations.
Customer Testimony
Charlotte Ives, International Development Manager, LNER
China is a key international market for LNER, and we recognise that engaging effectively means communicating on the platforms Chinese audiences use and in ways that resonate with them. Partnering with PingPong Digital and Douyin enabled us to do just that – combining paid advertising and influencer collaborations to strengthen our brand and drive engagement among Chinese travellers.
