Eleanor LNER Doll

[StephenHunter]

Well, she's nowhere near likely to offend people as Monica might have done.

 

[Trackman]

I watched a video on how the Ad was made, she (or whatever it is) does actually walk on the ceiling of the carriage, it's people in green suits working it - always thought it was pure CGI.

The ITV Digital's Monkey is now advertising PG Tips!

There's a reason behind that for people of a certain again, including me!

 

[Ashley Hill]

I am suprised that GWR haven't decided to wheel out Westward and Television South West puppet rabbit called Gus Hunnybun for promotions in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

What a wizard idea. He can press the magic button when it all goes wrong!

Well, she's nowhere near likely to offend people as Monica might have done.

Monica was a product of the time so was unlikely to have been thought of as offensive at the time.

 

[Steddenm]

There are some images and an interview about the creation of Elenor here:

How LNER’s Mascot Puppet Put On a Show-Stopping Performance | LBBOnline

Little Black Book, Senior creatives at M&C Saatchi Sam Turk and Paul Robbins tell LBB’s Zoe Antonov about working with Tom Kuntz on the rail company’s newest campaign, and why watching the puppeteers behind ‘Eleanor’ work their magic was the best part of this campaign

lbbonline.com

Eleanor is simply a fun play on the LNER name. There were a few other names on the table, it was like naming the new class pet. We tried them on for size and Eleanor just stuck.

It was a really collaborative process all around. Matt, Paul and I knew the personality, attitude and swagger we wanted, and we had some classic felt puppet references that we liked too...

We always wanted her to feel real, with all the charming puppetry movement goodness everyone knows and loves.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The ITV Digital's Monkey is now advertising PG Tips!

I'm pretty sure Monkey started out with PG Tips before being hijacked by ITV some years ago?

 

[Steddenm]

I'm pretty sure Monkey started out with PG Tips before being hijacked by ITV some years ago?

No, Monkey started out with ITV Digital and then went to PG Tips. He was then rested tor a while and returned to PG last year.

Monkey's IR is owned by Comic Relief. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_(character)

 

[GusB]

Monkey's IR is owned by Comic Relief.

IR?

 

[Steddenm]

IR?

Intellectual Rights

 

[mpthomson]

I'd say people who already want to get a train, do. And those who don't, don't.

As regards rail market share, it will all come down to price and convenience, not who advertises.

And you are confusing a mode of transport with the operator of the transport. LNER has nothing to do with say, Lumo's apparent success.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2025 ==



I'd say each individual train company has little to gain from simply advertising they exist with some brash music. They would gain more by saying WHERE they go. Or advertise what people get in first class.

With BR it was all about advertising price, convenience and competing against the road. With individual train companies they want to steer customers to their train company only. It's a different concept and one I'd argue LNER hasn't really grasped with its multitude of managers.

I'm sorry but this shows little to no understanding of how marketing and advertising campaigns are designed to work and their intended audiences, as do many of the posts on this topic. It's not aimed at rail enthusiasts. An advert that drily states routes and 1st class benefits would not be a succesful campaign. It's not as if there isn't boatloads of research and data that sits behind advertising and marketing and advertisers easily capable of detecting revenue changes or upticks in interest post campaign launches. My own organisation advertises on some social media platforms, we get detailed reports of changes in interest or purchase post even individual adverts.

Again, the fact that we're 8 pages in shows that it's worked...

 

[WAO]

What a wizard idea. He can press the magic button when it all goes wrong!

Monica was a product of the time so was unlikely to have been thought of as offensive at the time.

For those not well into retirement, the InterCity adverts of 1967 - 1969 for Monica (and others) may be informative.

You'll have to scroll down a little, and perhaps sit down with an iced drink before looking.

WAO

InterCity Publicity

 

[Bletchleyite]

For those not well into retirement, the InterCity adverts of 1967 - 1969 for Monica (and others) may be informative.

You'll have to scroll down a little, and perhaps sit down with an iced drink before looking.

WAO

InterCity Publicity

The escalator adverts on that are interesting - a clear rip-off of American Airlines' publicity of the time which included an overhead view of a plane in their livery. Interesting that they thought at the time people might twig that and associate with air travel - were they hitting the UK with big campaigns at the time perhaps?

 

[The exile]

At least we can be fairly confident that Eleanor won't turn out to be a paedophile.

Apparently the paedophile in question was chosen as surveys showed that he was tge most trusted person by the public.

Which just goes to show a) how you can fool most of the people most of the time and also b) how easy is it to be wise after the event.
As for the general discussion of railway advertising, the mere fact that we are in this forum means we are not part of those adverts’ real target market.

 

[Scotty]

I'm pretty sure Monkey started out with PG Tips before being hijacked by ITV some years ago?

PG Tips' monkey were real monkeys who were given peanut butter to make them look like they were talking (I believe)

 

[Dave W]

PG Tips' monkey were real monkeys who were given peanut butter to make them look like they were talking (I believe)

Yes but as @Steddenm said upthread, when it was inevitably (and rightly) decided that this didn't really cut it in the animal welfare stakes, PG Tips turned to the redundant Monkey (with Johnny Vegas) who had been the face of the defunct ITV Digital. They even referenced it in the first ad (although this was some 5 years after ITV Digital collapsed)

EDIT: Oh, I just went back and self-fact checked - I'd totally forgotten the "T-Birds" which occupied the intervening 5 years between the end of the chimps and the beginning of Monkey and Al!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Others would like to buy one. Is LNER missing out?

Suspect that Temu are missing out!

 

[moleman212]

I'm sorry but this shows little to no understanding of how marketing and advertising campaigns are designed to work and their intended audiences, as do many of the posts on this topic. It's not aimed at rail enthusiasts. An advert that drily states routes and 1st class benefits would not be a succesful campaign. It's not as if there isn't boatloads of research and data that sits behind advertising and marketing and advertisers easily capable of detecting revenue changes or upticks in interest post campaign launches. My own organisation advertises on some social media platforms, we get detailed reports of changes in interest or purchase post even individual adverts.

Again, the fact that we're 8 pages in shows that it's worked...

I have enough understanding, thank you.

Don't quite follow your logic here. Where did I say an advert featuring first class benefits and LNER destinations would be "Dry"? Why would an advert listing what I've said be "aimed at rail enthusiasts"?

An irritating advert will still be discussed despite causing annoyance.

You are aware the LNER adverts are shown on television? Your reply seems to assume LNER advertises on social media only. You're also aware there are any number of variables affecting train travel popularity that would make it impossible to directly attribute the popularity of a tv campaign with revenues?

 

[mpthomson]

I have enough understanding, thank you.

Don't quite follow your logic here. Where did I say an advert featuring first class benefits and LNER destinations would be "Dry"? Why would an advert listing what I've said be "aimed at rail enthusiasts"?

An irritating advert will still be discussed despite causing annoyance.

You are aware the LNER adverts are shown on television? Your reply seems to assume LNER advertises on social media only. You're also aware there are any number of variables affecting train travel popularity that would make it impossible to directly attribute the popularity of a tv campaign with revenues?

Yes thanks, the TV ads are the whole point of the thread. The data analysis available to advertising agencies (and especially one the size of Saatchi who devised this) applies equally to social media and television, which is partly how they're timed and targetted. The performance of individually timed television adverts in terms of reach and response can be analysed in great detail up to and including revenue increase on the back of those campaigns, even if the exact amount can't be defined. Train travel isn't unique in having numbers of variables.

You didn't say it would be dry, I did. Because it would be and it's not what this campaign is designed to achieve. The RDG's 'On the train you can' campaign from TMW featuring the girl talking to her grandmother doesn't list any routes or benefits of the hard product either, it's a different approach again.

Many of the most successful advertising campaigns over the last two decades have been irritating. I've listed them before but Gio Comparo, Cillit Bang, Safestyle UK windows plus a number of others are/were all irritating and lasted well over a decade. Whether they irritate or are memorable for other reasons they've still done what they're supposed to.

 

[norbitonflyer]

PG Tips' monkey were real monkeys who were given peanut butter to make them look like they were talking (I believe)

They were not real monkeys - they were real chimpanzees

 

[The exile]

Yes, thanks, thats the whole point of the thread. The data analysis available to advertising agencies (and especially one the size of Saatchi who devised this) applies equally to social media and television, which is partly how they're timed. The performance of individually timed television adverts in terms of reach and response can be analysed in great detail.

You didn't say it would be dry, I did. Because it would be and it's not what this campaign is designed to achieve. The RDG's 'On the train you can' campaign from TMW featuring the girl talking to her grandmother doesn't list any routes or benefits of the hard product either, it's a different approach again.

Many of the most successful advertising campaigns over the last two decades have been irritating. I've listed them before but Gio Comparo, Cillit Bang, Safestyle UK windows plus a number of others are/were all irritating and lasted well over a decade.

Indeed - very little on-screen advertising is intended to prompt immediate purchase (cinema adverts for ice-cream etc being obvious exceptions) - no-one is going to view a railway advert at 10 o'clock in the evening and thing - "Ooh, that looks good. I must buy five anytime returns to Muddleton Junction while they're cheap."
What it's often about is awareness raising and "planting a seed" (hence us not being the target audience) - so that next time someone is going to Muddleton Junction the idea of using the train is already planted in their mind. Doesn't really apply to the railway, but the aim must be that when people think of a type of product only one brand name comes into their head - so that's what they look for / buy. Showing my age here, but should I ever actually want a little device to remove the fuzz from clothes, the first thought in my head is going to be "Remington" - despite the fact that I found the advert about the most irritating and off-putting - I remember it!
That only has a limited effect for train companies - but it does work for the idea of going somewhere by train - it then needs to be backed up at a more local level by the kind of specific offer advertising referred to elsewhere.

 

[sprunt]

The RDG's 'On the train you can' campaign from TMW featuring the girl talking to her grandmother

that one does annoy me, possibly irrationally but I don't see why being on a train makes you any more likely to have that conversation.

 

[Ellwill]

New advert out this morning...

Media: New LNER TV advertisement featuring the doll.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oh dear, is that what it is? I thought they might have been making an announcement about the fare increase trial (which has at least in theory now passed its 2 years) or something else important rather than another silly advert.

 

[Ellwill]

Oh dear, is that what it is? I thought they might have been making an announcement about the fare increase trial (which has at least in theory now passed its 2 years) or something else important rather than another silly advert.

Unfortunately so, although if there's any silver lining, they've started showing double arrows with the logo at the end:

Image: Screenshot from twitter post showing the end of a cropped & shortened version of the ad, with LNER and Double Arrow logos displayed.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Unfortunately so, although if there's any silver lining, they've started showing double arrows with the logo at the end:
View attachment 197697
Image: Screenshot from twitter post showing the end of a cropped & shortened version of the ad, with LNER and Double Arrow logos displayed.

That looks smart

 

[Bletchleyite]

New advert out this morning...

Media: New LNER TV advertisement featuring the doll.

With a Super Off Peak Single ticket you have so much freed......oh.

 

[WAO]

IIHC, Eleanor sang, "When I'm driving the train..."

ASLEF card please?

WAO

 

[greatkingrat]

IIHC, Eleanor sang, "When I'm driving the train..."

ASLEF card please?

WAO

"When I'm riding the train" I think.

 

[WillC]

Agree with others in the sense of it feeling childish - but then I am an adult. I feel the same when I read a note in a carriage saying 'Hi, I am Brian/coach 84374, I try to look my best etc'. It just looks tacky and silly. The railways are in such a state right now I find it baffling that so much effort it spent on this sort of trivialised marketing. I imagine most rail users simply want a train that turns up on time, with enough seats, with simple ticketing at a reasonable rate - basically something designed around the passenger.

 

[Krokodil]

Well I prefer it to the earlier one.

 

[williamn]

The railways are in such a state right now

Really, are they? Or do we just like being negative about them? I did 20,000 miles by train last year, 90% of it in the UK and my most significant delays were in Japan and Germany.

Anyway, I’m 48 and think Eleanor’s great.