Manchester-based Creative Concern was recently appointed by the International Association of Public Transport(UITP) to help launch a brand new global day, from scratch.
World Public Transport Day (WPTD), which debuted on 17th April, was created to celebrate and spark conversation about the important role public transport plays in our lives. The campaign centred on a single unifying idea – that public transport connects people to work, to education, to opportunity, and to each other.
Creative Concern developed the entire campaign around this idea, with a manifesto, messaging and end-to-end communications programme. This included strategic project management, a global communications pack with unified visual identity, key messages and a suite of multichannel campaign materials, a dedicated WPTD website and a comprehensive reporting system to track engagement.
Creating a visual identity that brought the idea of connectivity to life and engaged people on a global scale was challenging. Language, colour and adaptability were all key considerations.
A particular challenge arose in that, with 148 cities across 76 countries taking part, the brand had to avoid colours that might be too closely associated with national flags or political affiliations across different territories. The campaign typeface had to support many languages and the toolkit needed to be adaptable for users ranging from professional designers to those with no design support.
At the heart of the identity sits a spirograph motif, inspired by transport connections that facilitate millions of journeys. Overlapping lines mirror interconnected routes and networks, while the circular form reflects the campaign’s global ambition.
Creative Concern collaborated with native speakers across its long-established Do Not Smile (DNS) network – a collection of agencies linked by their sustainable and ethical outlook – to guarantee legibility regardless of language. Latin-based languages use one typeface; non-Latin languages have similar alternative typefaces to ensure the brand identity holds in every corner of the globe.
The campaign was brought to life through a series of manifesto films, translating the core idea into human stories from around the world and celebrating both everyday journeys and extraordinary moments, capturing the shared experience of public transport across cultures and continents.
Steve Connor, founder and director at Creative Concern, said: “This was an incredibly special project for us. We knew from day one this had the potential to be something big, but seeing it come to life across the world has been incredible.
“This wasn’t just about designing a campaign, it was about creating a movement that anyone, anywhere could be part of. Public transport touches all of our lives, every single day. The challenge was to capture that in a way that felt human, inclusive and genuinely global. Seeing so many cities, organisations and people bring it to life in their own way has been amazing. It’s exactly what we hoped for – a shared moment, on a global scale.”
Helen Thomas, design director at Creative Concern, added: “Because we wanted to support partner organisations regardless of their level, we gave people lots of inspiration for how to use the brand; from small scale outputs like children’s colouring sheets through to banners and OOH advertising. This approach ensured that while those with ambition could go bigger, those with limited budgets were still involved and could lift assets directly from the toolkit.”
The team created more than 300 assets – everything easily repurposed and rolled out. It also offered bespoke support services so individual organisations could reach out with language requests, and the Creative Concern team would provide assets in their native language.
The toolkit was downloaded more than 5,500 times, and On World Public Transport Day itself, the 186 organisations taking part across 148 cities, far surpassed the initial 50-city target.
Some of the biggest activations included organisations wrapping buses, lighting up iconic landmarks with the WTPD brand colours, including the Niagara Falls and the CN Tower in Toronto, while the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, was lit up with the campaign’s “One Day. Millions of journeys” strapline and campaign logo in Arabic.
Scott Magalich, head of content communications at UITP, said: “Creative Concern understood the importance of engaging with our members from the very beginning to build strong buy-in and to set us up for success.
“The campaign’s success depended on our members liking and using the materials from the Toolkit. Creative Concern’s approach – providing everything from ready-to-use content to flexible templates for organisations wanting to go all out – was perfect.”
The result, Magalich concluded was a global campaign taking place across every inhabited continent and “went far beyond what we had dared to hope for.”
He added: “[Creative Concern] felt like a real extension of our team throughout. Simply put, it was a real privilege to work together on such a successful global initiative.”