For those who sell tolls: how to tempt drivers to stump up for less traffic

The toll road was opened as a privately funded venture in December 2003 to help ease the notorious traffic congestion around the Greater Birmingham stretch of the M6. In May this year, the 27-mile stretch of smooth tarmac celebrated its 20th anniversary with the announcement of a £20m investment in the latest Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology. Australian owners Aleatica hope that investment will make choosing the M6 Toll an even bigger no-brainer for visiting and local drivers alike.

Responsible for selling the merits of the M6 Toll to private and commercial drivers alike is the marketing team of Joanna Seabright and David Whitley, who work closely with Birmingham creative agency One Black Bear to ensure the toll’s brand and messaging say the right things to the right people at the right times – or at least before it’s too late to flick your indicator and veer on to the toll road.

“The M6 Toll has become an important strategic route connecting the north and south of the country and, with more than 50,000 vehicles a day, so around 18m a year, that’s a lot of traffic that would otherwise be clogging up the M6,” explains director of customer experience, marketing and communications Seabright.

“Getting more people to take the M6 Toll is certainly a challenge as there is obviously a free alternative, but our messaging is very much around articulating the benefits of the M6 toll road, which include shorter journey times, less stressful journeys and better experience, along with the obvious environmental benefits that come with not having vehicles stuck in long traffic jams.”

As Whitley explains, a key challenge remains encouraging people to choose the toll road before they turn on their ignition: “Research shows that 65% of people only decide to use the M6 Toll en route. So, from a marketing perspective, our challenge is trying to make people think about using it earlier in their journey or even during their journey planning. Tolls are still pretty unique in the UK. There is still a job to do to educate people about how toll roads work, whether you have to pay in advance and so on.”

To that end, on its 20th anniversary in May, the M6 Toll team launched a new service called Breeze – an innovative way to access and pay to use the M6 Toll. Predominantly designed around regular and local drivers, Breeze enables users to sign up for a Breeze account and the ANPR technology positioned at on and off-ramps means account holders no longer need to stop at a tollbooth to pay their fee. An instant digital scan of the registration plate means payment is taken automatically. That tech also allows drivers to only pay for the stretch of the toll road they travel on, rather than simply charging a blanket fee, which can see the price fall to as low as £4.

Birmingham agency One Black Bear, led by Jon Harrison and Richard Elwell, has worked with M6 Toll since around 2020 and was tasked with launching Breeze. Harrison says: “I only live a mile and a half away from Junction T6, so this project has been very personal for me. The launch campaign has been based on good solid thinking: how do we target all of these different people with different messaging at different times, but in a way that is stimulating for everyone? You’ve got to make the creative fun and interesting; otherwise, it remains just a road you’ve got to pay to drive on. You’ve got to stimulate and make it look and sound interesting, fun, but ultimately worthwhile and beneficial.”

Senior art director Jenny Green worked on the Breeze creative campaign and says: “We wanted to create something that made people feel joy when they saw it, as there’s no doubt that using the toll makes journeys that little bit more joyful. We specifically commissioned illustrator Andy Smith as his work seemed like the perfect fit as his illustrations have real personality and bring that joy out.”

Campaign straplines were created by senior copywriter Tristan Veer-Hoose, who was conscious that lines needed to make an impact quickly due to the fact most of the roadside creative would be read at 70mph. He says: “All the lines are very direct as a lot of these messages are going to be sitting in places where there’s very limited dwell time. It’s not the place to use a complex or subtle narrative to explain the benefits of the toll, so we aimed to create lines that were fun, lively and joyful.”

Looking to the future, data, deep consumer insight and digital are now key to taking the M6 Toll and Breeze brands forward and the team is about to embark on further research to better understand their customer types, gain deeper insights into where potential customers are traveling to and from and ultimately get a clearer picture of travelers’ priorities – is it saving time, cutting stress, reducing fuel costs and waste, protecting the environment?

In terms of media, while more traditional roadside and motorway service poster sites, door drops, press ads, petrol caps etc will remain an important part of the M6 Toll media mix, the creative is increasingly reaching into digital and social platforms and that will continue to increase as the access to data increases in the years ahead. As Whiley suggests, with access to increasingly intricate data, there’s no reason why they can’t draw on data sets such as football fixtures and traveling supporter data to target people they know will likely be traveling around the West Midlands before they even set off and encourage them to take the M6 Toll turning.

Social media is also enabling the team to tap into conversations with real users of the M6 Toll and the team recently experimented with Spotify advertising, which is something they are keen to explore further. Television remains beyond their budgets at the moment, but, as Seabright says, it is something that is being considered.

As environmental issues become increasingly important, the M6 Toll has another weapon in its armory. Stats show that use of the M6 Toll can speed up road journeys by 41% at peak times on an equivalent stretch of the National Highways-owned M6. The benefits of this are clear to private drivers, but particularly owners and drivers of large gas-guzzling HGVs, which contribute to poor air quality.

“In Birmingham, air quality is a huge topic and kind of political topic and one we have a keen interest in,” says Seabright. “The M6 is constantly contributing to poor air quality, so the more trucks and cars we can encourage over to us to reduce congestion will contribute, at least some way, towards better air quality for those areas of the region.”

The UK may not necessarily be renowned for its extensive toll road network, but the launch of the Breeze account positions the M6 Toll as a world-leading innovator in the sector. And for anyone not fortunate enough to have driven the M6 Toll, a summer vacation in Cannock, Walsall or Tamworth would give you the perfect opportunity.