Eurail becomes Interrail as one brand launches The Interrail Effect

Eurail becomes Interrail. Since 10 September the two names for the same European rail pass have become one, and the first campaign under the single brand, The Interrail Effect, argues that the point of a train journey is what happens to you between stations, not the cities on the ticket.

Why Eurail became Interrail

For decades the pass had two names for one product: Interrail for people living in Europe, Eurail for everyone else. The Eurail Pass dates back to 1959 and covers up to 33 countries. The company, now Interrail BV, has retired the older name worldwide, so an Australian or American traveller buys an Interrail Pass like a Briton does. Old Eurail passes stay valid and the Eurail websites now redirect.

Özlem Birkalan, chief brand and commercial officer, put the shift in one line: “For years, we’ve asked people where they want to go. The more interesting question is who they’ll become when they return.”

The campaign

Amsterdam agency We Are Pi built the platform, its first work since winning the account in April, with the social agency Butterfly Effect. Rather than shoot a glossy film, The Interrail Diaries gathers footage from 30 creators of every age and travel style who filmed their own journeys: conversations with strangers, missed connections, scenery you never see from a plane, as Creative Review reported. The lead film is called Between Here & There, and the posters show a route map with the destinations left off.

We Are Pi’s Rick Chant framed the insight against checklist tourism, citing research that a third of people admit doing something on holiday purely to post it.

Why it matters

Killing a brand name is usually a loss. This one is a tidy-up, because nobody was ever loyal to the word Eurail, they were loyal to the experience, and the experience now has one name and one story. It is the opposite of Lloyds retiring Halifax, where a name with real affection is being folded into a bigger one.

The creator-led approach is smart for a product whose customers are already its best advertising, and it fits a year in which UK creator spend is passing £1bn. The test is whether footage shot on phones can carry a brand platform for more than a season. Interrail is betting that authenticity beats polish. For a pass sold to nineteen-year-olds with rucksacks, that is probably right.