Down the Tube

On 29th April 2014, a 48-hour tube strike started after talks broke down between London Underground and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT). It was predicted by BusinessZone that the strike had cost businesses "£600m in lost working hours, business and productivity" alone; without even considering the cost of wasted advertising spend.

Underground advertising is typically bought in 2-week cycles, and it doesn't come cheap. Meaning, 2 of the 14 days of ad space occupancy were totally useless during the strike, because nobody could see them! 14.5% of wasted advertising spend throughout the underground.

Another point to consider is the huge decrease in freesheet newspaper circulation / readership:

In retrospect, the prediction of £600m is a lot lower than the true impact and wastage caused.

Those losing out include names big and small:

Especially Virgin Trains - an outside back cover never to be seen

And as reported by CityAM last week - Gatwick certainly didn't Bank on the major Tube strike either - The

airport had staged a week-long advertising takeover in both Bank and Westminster Tube stations but with the Tube strike, which spanned much of two days, it’s likely to have had far less of an impact than they’d hoped.

#PurePoint