Off to a flyer! Yorkshire bus firm Transdev teams up with ad agency to promote family jetaways to the sun

Outdoor advertising agency Adverta brings travel agency chain Althams on board with high-profile bus sponsorship deal

Yorkshire airport bus firm FLYER is teaming up with advertising agency Adverta to launch a new bus sponsorship deal featuring one of the region’s best-known names in travel.

Travel agency Althams, which has 33 branches across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire, including its newest store at the Victoria Shopping Centre on Cambridge Street in Harrogate, will be promoted on the move with high-profile messaging on five of bus operator Transdev’s FLYER buses.

The buses will promote Althams in the crucial Spring holiday booking season across a dedicated network of FLYER routes linking Leeds Bradford Airport with Harrogate, Bradford, Otley and Leeds.

Parent firm Transdev says its latest bus sponsorship deal follows a successful trial partnership with prestige retailer John Lewis to promote its store in the Victoria Gate shopping mall opposite Leeds City Bus Station, with high-profile messaging on two buses seen daily on two of the bus firm’s flagship routes.

The sponsored buses on The 36 route into Leeds from Harrogate and Ripon, and on Coastliner linking the Yorkshire Coast and York with Leeds, successfully attracted more customers to travel to John Lewis’ Leeds store by bus – an environment-friendly choice which has also helped to ease congestion and pressure on parking facilities.

Transdev says attracting customers to reach a business by bus takes away the hassle of congestion and car parking, and at the same time, helps businesses to meet and beat carbon reduction targets by encouraging their customers to choose the most environment-friendly way to travel to their front door.

The bus operator’s Commercial Manager Matt Burley said: “Our new approach is about more than simple advertising, as sponsoring a bus opens the door to further opportunities to promote local business to a far wider audience than a traditional static billboard, with bus sponsorships available on our busiest routes across the North.

“John Lewis instantly saw the unique advantage in linking their brand with ours, and working with Adverta’s team in Ripon we’re delighted to welcome Althams Travel on board with a new sponsorship deal which promotes their brand on our FLYER buses to Leeds Bradford Airport in an exciting new sponsorship venture.

“Our FLYER brand is ideal to showcase the best of our travel and tourism industry. We believe bus sponsorship is a formula for business success for firms throughout Yorkshire and the North West, and we’re looking forward to building further on the success of our latest campaign.”

Althams is celebrating 150 years in business in 2024, having grown from humble beginnings as a tea merchant to organising railway excursions from Lancashire and Yorkshire towns to West Coast resorts including Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe. Its first travel offices opened in West Yorkshire and East Lancashire in 1944, and in the ensuing years travel agency became the company’s sole activity.

An Althams spokesman said: “Advertising on the rear of the Transdev buses achieves multiple objectives for us: it highlights the opening of our new branch in Harrogate, a principal location on the bus route, and it also allows us to proudly announce our 150th anniversary.

“Over the years, we’ve explored various advertising avenues, and while it’s often challenging to measure the precise effectiveness of each marketing strategy, we’ve already received feedback from both longstanding and new customers who’ve noticed our bus advert.

“Additionally, the buses’ route to Leeds Bradford Airport presents an excellent chance to engage with our customers from Yorkshire, many of whom use Leeds Bradford as their primary airport.”

Ripon-based Adverta, formerly known as AdBus, was established in 1986 and as the leading provider of bus and tram advertising solutions in the UK, has a highly experienced team specialising in advertising on buses and trams.

A spokesperson for Adverta said: “As part of the CP Media Group, we at Adverta are thrilled to be working with Transdev as their advertising concession, and look forward to adding more, relevant, advertising onto their buses.

“Working with the team at Althams we were able to match them to the perfect opportunity on the Flyer route to Leeds Bradford Airport, and the finished ads look fantastic!”

Business owners can find out more about bus sponsorship and the benefits available by emailing Transdev Commercial Manager Matt Burley at: matt.burley@transdevbus.co.uk.