Trainline has partnered with British singer-songwriter Craig David to release a brand-new song, “Better Days,” as the start of the brand’s I Came By Train movement, which raises awareness of the environmental benefits of rail and encourages pride in choosing to travel by train. Cars and planes create 58% of the U.K.’s transport CO2 emissions, whereas the entire rail network adds up to just 1.5%.
 
The ambition is for I Came By Train to be a rallying cry for U.K. travel–with the overall objective to encourage more journeys by train, irrespective of where they are booked or which train operator is taken.
 
To raise awareness, the partnership with Craig David delivers a campaign anthem “Better Days (I came by train)” which is inspired by the singer’s passion for the environment and sheds light on the importance of making more sustainable choices, such as traveling by train, in the form of a heartfelt love song to Mother Nature.

The track is accompanied by a fantastical music video in stylized animation, produced and directed by the animation collective Golden Wolf at Stink Films for London agency Mother. The music video brings the lyrics to life and features Craig David traveling by train through a series of landscapes–in turn raising awareness of climate emergency, which studies have shown is a vital step in encouraging behavioral change.

Omar El-Gammal, strategy director at Mother, said, “There’s a degree of fatalism when it comes to the climate emergency–most of us, deep down, know the scale of the problem (code red for humanity) so they think that there is little they can do to address it…which encourages apathy and inaction. With I Came By Train, we wanted a more inviting and positive conversation. Environmental scare tactics have run out of track, there’s little point making people feel worse about their actions without giving a positive alternative. This campaign gives a hopeful message about the impact a simple behavioral switch can make. In a nutshell we want to move the debate on from ‘flight shame’ to a more positive ‘train brag.’”

Credits

Client Trainline Agency Mother Production Stink Films Jeremy Smith, exec producer. Animation Studio Golden Wolf Ingi Erlingsson, executive creative director; Dotti Sinnott, managing director; Tan Jones, exec producer; Ewen Stenhouse, creative director; Heidi Stephenson, head of production; Don Burgess, art direction; Stephanie Mercier, animation lead; Larissa Miranda, Heidi Stephenson, producers; Lucy Caetano, production manager; Stephanie Mercier, Lea Rey-Mauzaize, Esther Cheung, Johnny Cardoso, Markus Gansel, Rebecca Oddy, Ian Chan, storyboards; Cesar St Martin, Johnny Cardoso, Helena Loundjani, Julian Roels, Maciej Sidorowicz, Simon Demaret, Surendra Rajawat, Tiago Calliari, Ravenel Rieck, Eric Cousin, David Manigault, design; Thomas Eide, Eliot Lockwood, Matthew Armitage, Rory Bryne, Natalia Bedrossian, Mila Obelleiro, Reed Wiles, Ian Chan, Theodor Colin, Billy Mpetha, Mrunal Khairnar, animation; Tim Whiting, Kensei Thomas, FX animation; Tom Purrington, David Calvet, Pierre Clenet, 3D; Ian Pinder, John Wilkinson, Michael Muller, Stefan Ahmad, Pierre Morin, Karl Fekete, Jo Baaklini, Mathieu Durand, compositing; Club Camping, Rudo, additional animation; Pudoctupus, clean up; Henry Purrington, talent director.

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