This train travel ad reminds you that your clients are lonely

A year and a half into the pandemic, it's safe to say we're all sick of virtual meetings and only ever seeing each other online. But, as business meetings start to happen again face to face, there's another concern in addition to fear of coronavirus; climate change. With many companies mindful of the environmental cost of air travel, German train operator Deutsche Bahn is targeting business travelers with a timely reminder that you can travel in a greener way—ie. by train—and also get the benefits of in-person meetings. To get this message across, agency Ogilvy Germany created a lighthearted spot, set to the well-known Eric Carmen track "All by Myself," in which businesspeople in empty offices are shown lonely and bored out of their minds. They're pictured longingly gazing out of the window, making paper airplanes, playing with the office blinds and practicing yoga poses alone in deserted meeting rooms and boardrooms. Directed by Cadmo Quintero via production company Erste Liebe, the ad ends with the words: "Your clients feel lonely. Visit them before someone else does. Carbon neutral. Only by train." "With our new long-distance campaign, we are focusing on a currently very relevant insight to have 'real meetings' again, especially when it comes to important topics such as product launches or contract negotiations," said Jürgen Kornmann, Chief Marketing Officer at Deutsche Bahn, in a statement. "In this context, we want to emphasize the advantages of traveling by rail in terms of productive and relaxed use of time, as well as the climate friendliness of rail for business travelers." As well as the film, the campaign encompasses newspaper ads, large-format display banners and more, to be continued in 2022 to convince as many business travelers as possible to make their trips climate-friendly by rail in the future.

This train travel ad reminds you that your clients are lonely

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