Tunnel of Love
What We Did
The brief was to raise the London profile of Craigslist, the classified ads website.
We responded by identifying ‘London’s Most Romantic Tube Station’ – analyzing the ‘Missed Connections’ personal ads on Craigslist London to find the station with most postings-per-passenger.
The winner was Bermondsey on the Jubilee Line, where the odds of a fellow traveller falling for you across a crowded platform were 25 times greater than at Tottenham Court Rd, the least romantic stop.
We have since done the same for craigslist in New York, Chicago, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and Montreal, among others.
“... another site, then squatting on the domain www.craigslist.co.uk, rocketed nearly three million places in Alexa.com's rankings.”
Outcome
Coverage included the whole of page 3 and an editorial in The London Evening Standard, plus The London Paper, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Capital Radio, BBC Radio London, several local papers, blogs, and everywhere from The Washington Post to The Dallas Morning News.
The coverage gave a major boost to Craigslist’s London and UK traffic, while another site, then squatting on the domain www.craigslist.co.uk, rocketed nearly three million places in Alexa's rankings of most popular sites.
“"The train was packed, we were squashed... you were gorgeous."”
—Message to "Pretty woman, Jubilee Line", posted on Craigslist London
Key Points
Huge coverage in target media
Large spike in traffic; part of ongoing growth
Repeated idea in several North American cities
