NS Reizigers
A multi-format video strategy delivers strong brand lift.
Goal
Nobody daydreams about motorway traffic. But a long weekend in a European city, a trip where you skip the parking and walk straight into the centre of town? That's the joy NS Reizigers wanted to tap into. The Netherlands' national railway has reliable services, competitive pricing and offers tailored to young adults and families. What they needed was a way to get into the conversation earlier, before travellers had already defaulted to the car or started comparing flights.
People on Pinterest are already in planning mode, actively searching for travel ideas and saving inspiration for future trips. NS and their long-term agency partner WPP Media saw an opportunity to show up right at that moment with video ads that made train travel feel easy, appealing and a no-brainer. They also wanted hard evidence that their approach was working. So, they built Brand Lift studies into the plan; giving themselves a way to track whether the campaign was actually shifting awareness and intent over time.
Strategy
NS and WPP Media kept the creative brief simple: show the simplicity of train travel, and let the product speak for itself. NS and WPP Media built short, mobile-first videos around everyday moments that made the point feel obvious. Each video was branded clearly with bold branded visuals and text overlays, designed to land the message, even in a quick scroll. The team leaned into UGC-style content featuring young parents in real-life travel moments, which gave the campaign a warmer, more relatable feel and resonated strongly with people on Pinterest.
On the media side, NS took a structured test-and-learn approach across the campaign. They ran Standard Video, Max Video and Spotlight formats together, pairing Awareness objectives with Video Completion campaigns and keeping a steady frequency. The point wasn't just reach. It was understanding what worked best. Two consecutive Pinterest Brand Lift studies gave the team a direct read on how each phase performed, which formats drove the strongest intent lift, and how the campaign stacked up against Pinterest’s European travel benchmarks.
"
Pinterest catches people when they're already planning something. That's where train travel has an advantage, and our results show it. The intent lift told us we were on the right track."
Danique Elst
Social Specialist, WPP Media
Results
Each round of results came back stronger than the last. NS saw meaningful lifts in Pin Awareness and Action Intent, with Spotlight driving a particularly strong shift in travel intent1 & awareness lift had nearly doubled.2 Both studies benchmarked as excellent against Pinterest's European travel benchmarks, confirming that the approach was building real momentum over time.
+4.7pt
Lift in topline Pin Awareness versus the control group.2
+2.9pt
Lift in topline Action Intent to consider travelling with NS.1
+3.6pt
Lift in Action Intent among people exposed to Spotlight ads.1
Explore Related Resources
NS used a mix of Standard Video, Max Video and Spotlight to maximise reach and impact. Learn how to choose the right video format for your campaign goals.
NS built Brand Lift measurement into their plan from the start to quantify incremental impact on awareness and intent. Learn how Pinterest measurement can help you prove campaign results.