Eleanor LNER Doll

[WAO]

It seems that there are mixed feelings about LNER's red haired Advertisement doll.

While some are said to find it creepy (will appear coming down your carriage?).

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

WAO

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't think using a Muppet to advertise your train service gives a good impression of your competence at the operation thereof, personally. Mind you, perhaps it's in line with the fares policy.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I don't think using a Muppet to advertise your train service gives a good impression of your competence at the operation thereof, personally. Mind you, perhaps it's in line with the fares policy.

I saw the thread title and half hoped to see the silver Shelby 1969 Mustang from Gone In 60 Seconds.

 

[Davester50]

It's a bit of a rip off from the Travelodgical advert from 7-8 years before, but people will buy any old tat I suppose.

 

[tynesider]

I was asked about what I thought of Eleanor in an LNER interview a year or two ago.

I gave an honest critique - Didn't get the job.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Eleanor always reminds me of the actress Diane Langton pictured below.

 

[johnr57]

There is a member of LNER staff who works on York station who could well have been the model for the doll, the likeness is striking

 

[Deepgreen]

I don't find it either creepy or appealng enough to want to buy one; just annoying and yet another step towards demeaning the railway. The advert plays as if it is aimed at young children, but why would they be a target audience? Significantly worse than the GWR 'Five' adverts.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Significantly worse than the GWR 'Five' adverts.

I love those. To me it's a superb branding package.

 

[styles]

I think it looks a bit tacky, but that's it really.

 

[D1511]

I think I've had the LNER puppet normalised by my exposure to the Muppet Show in earlier life.......so it's just a benign, less characterful Muppet to me.
I don't love it, but don't hate it either.....I probably prefer it to a rollerskating tortoise, but then again, the tortoise doesn't get in your face while you're sitting on your train like Eleanor does........
(I'd ask the TM to have her removed! )

 

[WAO]

There's a quote somewhere, "Never underestimate the (American) public's bad taste."

But will it sell more today than blue/grey liveries with Bournemouth blue moquette?

WAO

 

[Ellwill]

I can't say I have anything good or bad to say about the doll itself, but the adverts themselves are OK by virtue of that Fatboy Slim classic they use.

However, I'd take Eleanor any day of the week over that astronomically cringe worthy EMR rendition of 21 Seconds made for Corby Connect Luton Airport Express:

 

[Joe Paxton]

I can't say I have anything good or bad to say about the doll itself, but the adverts themselves are OK by virtue of that Fatboy Slim classic they use.

However, I'd take Eleanor any day of the week over that astronomically cringe worthy EMR rendition of 21 Seconds made for Corby Connect Luton Airport Express:

Ouch... at least it doesn't last 32 minutes, let alone a multiple thereof...

 

[norbitonflyer]

She should be wearing a straightjacket to represent LNER's fares policy

 

[mpthomson]

I don't think using a Muppet to advertise your train service gives a good impression of your competence at the operation thereof, personally. Mind you, perhaps it's in line with the fares policy.

Most non-train enthusiasts don't associate it with anything to do with that, it's just a slightly different and eye-catching way of advertising. No-one is not going to use LNER solely because the adverts have a puppet on them, or think that they're less competent, in the same way that no-one stopped buying Smash in the 1970s because aliens aren't real and it shows a lack of reality from Cadbury's.

The fact that the puppet is being discussed on here shows that it's done its job as intended.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The fact that the puppet is being discussed on here shows that it's done its job as intended.

It is true that there's no such thing as bad publicity - Ryanair are masters of that.

 

[TheWierdOne]

It is true that there's no such thing as bad publicity - Ryanair are masters of that.

The only example of unhelpful advertising for train companies I can think of recently is the campaign that infested my Spotify podcast listening for a week before vanishing. I was getting repeated adverts for Transport for Wales, which is lovely and relevant as I live in Cardiff, but they were in Welsh with no English version. I am all for promotion of the Welsh language but sadly a lot of people would be completely unable to understand the advert.

 

[DarloRich]

Most non-train enthusiasts don't associate it with anything to do with that, it's just a slightly different and eye-catching way of advertising. No-one is not going to use LNER solely because the adverts have a puppet on them, or think that they're less competent, in the same way that no-one stopped buying Smash in the 1970s because aliens aren't real and it shows a lack of reality from Cadbury's.

The fact that the puppet is being discussed on here shows that it's done its job as intended.

100 % correct - the usual overreaction to this kind of thing by posters here is more reliable than the LNER timetable

 

[Bletchleyite]

100 % correct - the usual overreaction to this kind of thing by posters here is more reliable than the LNER timetable

I don't know how much of an overreaction it is when you look at the comments on their Facebook, comments about them being muppets and unable to run a train service properly certainly do feature. Despite the high fares LNER seem to be a reasonably popular TOC, but the unkind comments are still there and this promotion does seem to invite them a bit.

 

[ainsworth74]

I don't know how much of an overreaction it is when you look at the comments on their Facebook, comments about them being muppets and unable to run a train service properly certainly do feature. Despite the high fares LNER seem to be a reasonably popular TOC, but the unkind comments are still there and this promotion does seem to invite them a bit.

I know what you mean, I've seen the same thing myself, but I do wonder how many of those are just irritated enthusiasts rather than "normal" members of the public.

 

[DarloRich]

I know what you mean, I've seen the same thing myself, but I do wonder how many of those are just irritated enthusiasts rather than "normal" members of the public.

exactly - I suspect the former mainly. It is an advert. It isn't worth getting het up over!

 

[Buzby]

It isn't worth getting het up over!

Absolutely not. I had to think hard about this as I generally ignore all adverts and this didn’t register with me. Of course Argos has a ‘doll’ based campaign running at the moment too - clearly I’m not the target market but it’s not original in any sense.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

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.

 

[185]

How it has evolved from the once proud Intercity East Coast (a bird), to the nations best train company GNER (a crest), then downhill to the failing National Express bus firm (an awful paint scheme), to this... an irritating ghetto version of Sesame Street only found on TikTok probably dreamt up by some graduate or intern who knows little about the railway.

This is the age of the... oh, err forget that one...

 

[Bletchleyite]

the nations best train company GNER (a crest)

GNER was dire. A massively arrogant operation despite just managing to slosh some blue paint around and a few metal crests (and short term use of a couple of Eurostars and the Class 89 "electric HST" prototype). All it did was carry on doing what BR did with no significant improvements and trumpeting about itself, give or take an awful refurbishment with single piece seat cushions that sloped the wrong way, only fixed later by Virgin Trains East Coast who redid them with two piece cushions that were a sensible shape. Quite disappointing compared to the absolute transformation of the West Coast at the same time.

Of course enthusiasts in their masses liked GNER because it was a classic, traditional railway look, and they hated Virgin brashness because it was un-railway...and LNER still carries a bit of that Virgin brashness with stuff like the muppet doll because it has the same senior management as it did in VTEC days.

 

[YorksLad12]

How it has evolved from the once proud Intercity East Coast (a bird), to the nations best train company GNER (a crest), then downhill to the failing National Express bus firm (an awful paint scheme), to this... an irritating ghetto version of Sesame Street only found on TikTok probably dreamt up by some graduate or intern who knows little about the railway.

This is the age of the... oh, err forget that one...

It's not aimed at "the railway" It's about the passenger. It does the job, and it does it well (wouldn't be my first choice, but it works). There may be below-the-line social media comments, but those people would complain if they woke up in the morning.

 

[WAO]

What would Gresley think of his railway represented by Eleanor or Stanier of his railway represented by a tortoise(!) on skates?

But it will work, and says much about us, laid-back, modern Britons, the railway's market.

WAO

 

[Bletchleyite]

What would Gresley think of his railway represented by Eleanor or Stanier of his railway represented by a tortoise(!) on skates?

I'd certainly say Avanti's publicity approach is beyond rubbish even compared to the muppet doll or that weird EMR thing. Associating tortoises with trains...there are far too many jokes to be had there! (Yet they had the potential open goal of "travel with a bit of Italian flair" - Illy espresso, pizza and pasta from the buffet, and the association with a very well run railway - and didn't take it!)

 

[WAO]

(Yet they had the potential open goal of "travel with a bit of Italian flair" - Illy espresso, pizza and pasta from the buffet, and the association with a very well run railway - and didn't take it!)

.....and Mussolini, for timekeeping!

WAO