Age of the Train
The InterCity 125 train
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| Agency | Allen, Brady & Marsh |
|---|---|
| Client | British Rail |
| Market | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Media | Television |
| Product | |
| Release date(s) | 1977 |
| Slogan |
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| Starring | |
| Followed by | "We're getting there" |
The "Age of the Train" was a television advertising campaign in the United Kingdom created by British Rail in the late 1970s to promote its InterCity rail travel service. The adverts were presented by DJ and BBC presenter Jimmy Savile and featured the new InterCity 125 high-speed train.
Although a state-owned corporation at the time, British Rail (BR) was under pressure to operate on a more commercial basis. In attempt to revive its loss-making business, BR chairman Sir Peter Parker commissioned a series of commercials from Peter Marsh of the advertising agency Allen, Brady and Marsh (ABM). The agency reportedly won the pitch to BR by keeping their visiting executives waiting for a long time in a dirty room surrounded by overflowing ashtrays and coffee-stained furniture; after the executives' patience came to an end and they were about to leave in disgust, Marsh entered the room to greet them, explaining that their treatment had been a ruse to illustrate the customer experience of BR, and that his agency would be able put it right.
Savile was selected to front the commercials because he was at the time a popular and family-friendly television personality. The slogan, "This is the Age of the Train", is credited to the advertising executive Rod Allen, also of ABM. In the television advert, the slogan was sung by a boy soprano, Peter Auty.
The advertisements continued to be produced until 1984, when they were replaced with a new campaign based on the slogan, "We're getting there". In 2012, during the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, it was alleged by a former BR lawyer that the decision to drop Savile from the adverts had been made due to suspicions he was a necrophiliac.
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