Interviews for TRAM's 20th anniversary
On the occasion of its 20th anniversary (3 April 2024), TRAM, Barcelona’s tram company, planned to carry out several commemorative activities and actions, including broadcasting 12 videos of interviews with media figures recorded inside an operational TRAM carriage. Intermèdia is the agency responsible for this project, which began last January and for which the fourth interview has now been broadcast. Under the title “Trobades al TRAM, amb Pere Mas” (encounters on the TRAM, with Pere Mas”, the journalist Marc Giró, the chef Carme Ruscalleda, the writer Sílvia Soler and the singer Miki Núñez were the first four guests in a series of interviews that will go on until December 2024 and which will include other confirmed guests such as the showman Jose Corbacho, the sportsperson Nuria Picas, the singer David Carabén and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.
In these two decades of operation, the tram – with two networks and six lines – has become the public transport system most highly valued by users in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region and a model of excellence both in terms of its safety, reliability and capacity for innovation and for its contribution to improving urban mobility and the environment. The 20th anniversary also coincides with the challenge of linking the two tram networks along Avinguda Diagonal. Three new stations will soon be opened along this line, but the definitive project for the connection is still awaiting the approval of Barcelona City Council before the works project can be awarded.
The Intermèdia Comunicació team presented the proposal for the series of interviews, incorporating it into the objectives of TRAM’s Strategic Plan to create more visibility and a positive reputation for the tram. The idea was to create a friendly, intimate atmosphere, both serious and informal, which is why we got journalist Pere Mas on board as the host. The encounters are filmed in an operational tram open to passengers, a format that adds naturalness as well as familiarity, since it reflects the urban environment of the neighbourhoods and municipalities through which the tram travels.
The aim is to create a closer bond with the public in a relaxed and fun way able to attract younger audiences as possible tram users. This is why we have sought to ensure the guests are people who are recognised and appreciated by the general public, from all professional fields and of all ages, as well as ensuring parity, diversity and the possible interests of customers.
Organisation, coordination, production and management of the interviews, from securing the guest to broadcasting each of the interviews, is a challenge for the Intermèdia team, which has technical support from Undatia. The complicity of the interviewees is attained by presenting the project as something related to the city, to the Barcelona brand, linked to the issues of future mobility, sustainability, environment, quality of life, etc. The team also works to ensure the interviews are fresh, friendly and informal, and that they talk not only about the interviewee’s professional profile but, above all, the human factor – the facet of which the general public is least aware.
The interviews are broadcast on YouTube and promoted on social media, with small clips to viralise them, with the idea of reinforcing the delivery of the message to the younger generations, although without excluding other audiences. Although it was not part of the initial plan, the interviews have also ended up being broadcast as podcasts on the most popular platforms – Spotify and Ivoox – a popular format with public transport users on their journeys.
In the same way, the project aims to give more visibility to the tram and reinforce the good reputation that it already has among users. The cycle of “Trobades al TRAM” series seeks to generate greater expectations (and, if possible, favourable opinions) towards the launch of the first phase of the project to join the two tram networks, and the possible approval of the second phase of the project, positioning the service as a key aspect for the improvement of mobility in the city of the future.
- Publication of four interviews on YouTube and also, in podcast format, on Ivoox and Spotify.
- Two short video clips of each interview have been made to spread the content on social media.
- To publicise the initiative to the media, when the first interview with Marc Giró was published on the different platforms, a press release was sent to explaining the project of the interviews on the TRAM project and an article was written for TRAM’s corporate blog Propera Parada.
- TRAM has also run advertising campaigns on Instagram using clips to redirect the viewer to the YouTube video, and posters have been placed on the trams with the QR code for direct access to the interviews on YouTube and the podcast platforms.
The number of views on the YouTube platform has been quite notable. The conversation with the journalist Marc Giró was published in January and already has more than 7,000 views on YouTube, while the interview with the chef Carme Ruscalleda (published in February) has already exceeded 5,200 views. The interview for March, with the writer Sílvia Soler, has been seen by more than 3,200 people and the conversation with the singer Miki Núñez (April) has almost reached 2,000 views.
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