When tasked with refreshing the image of the M6 Toll, creative agency One Black Bear didn’t simply consider functionality or logistics. Instead, the agency approached the project with a bold artistic vision, injecting a burst of life into the motorway’s brand through a campaign that embraces energy, colour, and optimism. At the heart of the campaign is the desire to reposition the M6 Toll not just as a route from point A to B, but as a part of the journey that adds value to the travel experience.
M6 Toll, often viewed as a practical bypass to the heavily congested M6, has historically marketed itself through messages of time-saving and convenience. While those elements remain essential, One Black Bear saw an opportunity to go further, redefining the emotional experience of motorway travel. Their creative concept revolved around presenting the M6 Toll as a more joyful, refreshing alternative to the stress of traffic-clogged routes.
The agency’s design ethos for this project involved more than just visual flair. It focused on storytelling, emotional resonance, and brand alignment. One Black Bear asked how the motorway could be perceived not merely as a utilitarian structure but as a lifestyle choice, a smarter, brighter, and more satisfying way to move. This meant taking bo,ld creative risks with both the visual and narrative elements of the campaign.
Reimagining Motorway Travel with Colour and Movement
To translate their vision into a compelling campaign, One Black Bear introduced a visual strategy bursting with motion and saturated hues. Using lively animations, sweeping gradients, and tactile textures, they crafted a series of visuals that are as eye-catching as they are dynamic. The ad campaign celebrates the act of movement itself—cars speeding through open landscapes, colours trailing like streamers, and messages that highlight emotional benefits as much as practical ones.
The campaign’s identity revolves around themes of fluidity and liberation. This is not just a road; it’s a means of escape from urban congestion. Every design choice, from the typography to the motion graphics, reinforces the idea of lightness and speed. The creative work evokes a feeling of freedom that aims to resonate with both regular commuters and occasional drivers looking for a hassle-free route.
One particularly striking execution of the campaign is its use of playful kinetic energy. Whether it’s a digital billboard flickering with animated roads or a social media clip that mimics the rush of passing landscapes, the materials pulse with energy. This not only captures attention but also aligns with the brand's desire to feel alive and in motion. The result is a campaign that doesn’t just inform but compels, persuading drivers to choose a more vibrant, less stressful way to travel.
Telling a Human Story Through Design
While the campaign is full of saturated colours and dynamic visuals, it’s the human storytelling that grounds the concept. One Black Bear avoided generic stock imagery and corporate-sounding messaging. Instead, they crafted scenes that reflect real experiences and feelings—families laughing in cars, lone drivers savoring peaceful journeys, and workers arriving at meetings on time without the burden of stress.
These human moments allow the M6 Toll to become a character in its own right, supporting stories rather than just facilitating logistics. This change in narrative tone was a key differentiator for the campaign. The ads don’t just say “take the M6 Toll to save time”—they suggest “this road helps you keep your day on track, your mood elevated, and your mind focused.”
Designers paid special attention to how these emotional notes were communicated across all brand touchpoints. The website was reimagined with smooth transitions and vibrant icons. On the radio, the tone was conversational and friendly rather than authoritative. Social media posts emphasized personal benefits rather than promotional claims. Across the board, the campaign successfully uses design to tell a human-centric story.
A Collaborative Process with Bold Results
The success of the campaign lies in the close collaboration between One Black Bear and the M6 Toll brand team. From the outset, both sides were clear about their goals and open to experimentation. The agency was given freedom to propose unconventional ideas, and in turn, they committed to aligning those ideas with the brand’s strategic goals.
Early on in the creative process, mood boards and style references helped align expectations. The design team gathered inspiration from street art, modern editorial illustration, motion design trends, and even abstract painting. Rather than mimicking competitors or falling back on familiar motorway marketing tropes, the team forged a unique visual identity that speaks to a broad, diverse audience.
Workshops and feedback sessions allowed key stakeholders to respond to concepts iteratively. This agile model enabled rapid refinement and responsiveness, resulting in a campaign that feels polished yet fresh. By the time the campaign went live, everyone involved had a clear sense of ownership and pride in the creative output.
Targeting Perception, Not Just Awareness
One Black Bear’s campaign doesn’t stop at increasing awareness of the M6 Toll—it seeks to change how people feel about using it. This distinction is crucial. Many ad campaigns aim for reach but fall short of shifting public sentiment. This campaign, by contrast, is built on emotional branding and experiential storytelling. It seeks not just to tell people the M6 Toll exists, but to make them want to experience it.
This is reflected in how the visuals and messaging are positioned. Rather than defaulting to transactional language, such as cost or distance, the ads lean into lifestyle language. Headlines reference clear roads, peaceful drives, and arriving refreshed. The benefit isn’t just “time saved” but “peace of mind.” This subtle yet important shift elevates the brand narrative and positions the M6 Toll as a premium experience.
Such positioning appeals not only to daily commuters but also to leisure travelers and families, expanding the brand’s reach. The result is a campaign that resonates across demographics without diluting its creative core.
The Role of Animation and Motion Graphics
A key component of the campaign’s impact is the use of animation and motion graphics. These aren’t included as mere embellishments but are central to how the campaign communicates energy and joy. One Black Bear invested heavily in creating bespoke animated assets that extend across digital billboards, social media, and online ads.
Motion is used to represent the very idea of seamless travel. In one piece of creative, a car is shown gliding through colourful tunnels that morph into rolling hills and cityscapes. The transitions are smooth and rhythmic, almost musical in their pacing. In another ad, road signs spin playfully while words like “Freedom” and “Flow” emerge in vibrant lettering. These creative choices bring a sense of charm and personality to what might otherwise be seen as dry infrastructure.
This use of animation also serves a strategic purpose. It captures attention in busy digital environments and reinforces the campaign’s theme of continuous movement. Importantly, the animations are crafted to be scalable and adaptable, working just as well on a phone screen as on a highway billboard. This flexibility makes the campaign cohesive across media.
Integrating Campaign Elements Across Touchpoints
To ensure consistency and maximum impact, the campaign was carefully integrated across a wide range of touchpoints. One Black Bear didn’t treat the project as a set of disjointed deliverables but as a connected experience that travels with the audience.
Print ads, digital media, roadside signage, and audio spots were designed as parts of a larger whole. A user might see a bold animated clip on social media, then encounter a similar colour palette and message on a motorway billboard, and later hear a matching audio tone in a radio spot. Each instance reinforces the campaign narrative and aesthetic, deepening its impression.
The web experience mirrors the campaign’s design principles, offering users an intuitive interface and vibrant visuals. Key information like route maps and toll costs is presented clearly, but always within the visual language established by the campaign. The goal is to ensure that every touchpoint speaks with one brand voice—optimistic, fresh, and full of vitality.
A Fresh Chapter for M6 Toll’s Identity
Through its partnership with One Black Bear, the M6 Toll has entered a new chapter in its brand story. The road is no longer just a bypass or convenience—it has been reframed as an experience. By placing design, storytelling, and emotional connection at the centre of the campaign, the motorway has gained a renewed relevance in the eyes of the public.
This campaign challenges conventional approaches to infrastructure marketing. It shows that even a road can have personality, appeal, and narrative depth. Through bright colours, animated sequences, and human-focused messages, the M6 Toll becomes more than infrastructure—it becomes a symbol of better travel.
As this fresh identity continues to unfold across new platforms and campaigns, it sets a precedent for how design can elevate and transform public perceptions. One Black Bear’s work is not just an ad campaign—it’s a strategic, creative reimagining that puts joy back into the journey.
Exploring the Colour Language of the M6 Toll Campaign
At the heart of One Black Bear’s revitalised campaign for the M6 Toll lies its striking use of colour. Unlike traditional transportation advertising, which often leans into cool blues, muted greys, or sterile whites, this campaign turns that norm on its head. The palette is vivid, unapologetic, and emotionally driven. It plays a key role in building a narrative that sees travel not as a chore, but as something joyful and even energising.
Colour was treated as both a visual and psychological tool. It helped transform the identity of the M6 Toll from being merely functional into something that connects emotionally with drivers. For instance, saturated gradients evoke the warm hues of sunrise or the peaceful calm of a dusky sky, aiming to mirror the emotional rewards of choosing a quieter, more efficient route. Bright tones of orange, pink, and turquoise suggest speed, comfort, and vibrancy, all characteristics the campaign sought to highlight about the driving experience on the M6 Toll.
The agency deliberately used colour combinations that would stand out in fast-moving environments. Whether on a moving vehicle, a billboard glimpsed from a car window, or a mobile screen scroll, the colour story needed to be instantly recognisable. In doing so, One Black Bear not only elevated the aesthetic value of the campaign but also ensured maximum visibility and recall.
Typography That Moves and Communicates
Complementing the colour work is the campaign’s unique approach to typography. The choice of fonts was not incidental; it was deeply strategic. One Black Bear selected a typeface with bold geometry, smooth curves, and open counters to convey clarity and motion. These fonts not only echo the physical flow of vehicles on an open road but also ensure legibility across all applications, from large roadside signs to small mobile ads.
In many animated executions, the text itself moves. Phrases glide, spin, or stretch across the screen, echoing the sensations of driving. The typography isn’t static—it participates in the story. This approach turns the messaging into a living, dynamic element that reinforces the campaign’s themes of freedom, flow, and modernity.
Where traditional motorway branding might use stoic, conservative typography to appear dependable, this campaign flips that model. It proves that reliability and excitement are not mutually exclusive. The type treatment balances clarity with charm, turning every headline into a visual cue that speaks the same energetic language as the visuals.
Character-Driven Content for Deeper Engagement
Another standout feature of this campaign is its embrace of character-driven content. One Black Bear understood that for a road like the M6 Toll to become emotionally resonant, it needed more than vehicles and maps. It needed people. The campaign introduces a variety of illustrated characters who populate the advertising landscape, from solo commuters enjoying a calm morning drive to families embarking on stress-free weekend escapes.
These characters were illustrated in a style consistent with the campaign’s broader visual identity—fluid lines, bright colours, and expressive features. They serve as visual anchors for the narrative. Each represents a different type of M6 Toll user, helping the brand speak to a wide range of demographics without relying on generic imagery.
Incorporating characters not only enhances relatability but also gives the campaign a sense of warmth and friendliness. It invites viewers to imagine themselves in these scenes, to feel what it’s like to drive on a purpose-built road to make life easier. That imaginative leap is where brand loyalty begins.
Social Media as a Playground for Campaign Evolution
Rather than treating social media as an afterthought, One Black Bear made it a central arena for the campaign’s creative experimentation. Each platform—Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn—was treated as a unique environment with its tone, format, and behavioural patterns. As such, the campaign assets were tailored specifically for these contexts, ensuring not only fit but also impact.
Short animated clips optimised for mobile feeds became miniature stories in their own right. These animations often used bite-sized storytelling: a driver avoiding gridlock by taking the M6 Toll, or a character arriving on time to an event with time to spare. These vignettes maintained the campaign’s cheerful tone while adapting the message to digital consumption habits.
Interactive stories, polls, and car-themed GIFs encouraged user engagement. In doing so, the campaign didn’t merely talk at its audience—it invited participation. Comments, shares, and reactions extended the campaign’s organic reach and allowed the brand to monitor sentiment and adjust messaging in real time.
Social media also gave One Black Bear a space to evolve the campaign as it ran. User-generated content inspired fresh iterations of assets, and emerging trends in motion design or digital storytelling were quickly incorporated. This made the campaign feel alive and responsive, a rare quality in transportation marketing.
Outdoor Advertising Reimagined with Motion and Play
While much of the campaign thrived in digital contexts, its impact was perhaps most visible through its outdoor executions. One Black Bear didn’t treat roadside billboards as static relics—they approached them as dynamic canvases. Where permitted, they used digital billboards to display motion graphics that caught the eye and conveyed narrative sequences within seconds.
One memorable execution featured a stylised vehicle coasting along a ribbon of colour, with signs emerging that pointed toward benefits like “No Congestion,” “Arrive Relaxed,” and “Faster Commutes.” These short bursts of animation captivated attention and delivered value-driven messages efficiently, right at the point of potential decision-making.
Even in traditional static formats, the campaign remained lively. Print billboard designs featured exaggerated perspectives, layered compositions, and surprising visual metaphors. One showed a tunnel made of bright threads, symbolising speed and lightness. Another used oversized illustrated signs to guide the eye and drive home the messaging about time saved.
These visual experiments brought a fresh energy to the landscape of roadside advertising. Rather than blending in, they stood out, serving both as informational tools and artistic statements.
Campaign Metrics and Initial Impact
Within the first few months of launch, the M6 Toll campaign began to demonstrate measurable impact. Digital ad engagement rose significantly, with click-through rates well above industry averages. Website visits to the M6 Toll’s main route planner increased as more drivers considered switching from the congested M6.
More importantly, sentiment tracking indicated a shift in perception. Survey data showed that viewers exposed to the campaign were more likely to describe the M6 Toll as “refreshing,” “modern,” and “a better option.” These terms signified success in moving beyond the utilitarian image of the motorway and tapping into something more aspirational.
Social media reach expanded organically as the vibrant visuals and animations were shared widely. This wasn’t a campaign people just saw—it was one they interacted with and passed along, which is particularly rare in the context of road infrastructure branding.
The creative work even began attracting attention within the design and marketing industries, cited as an example of how imagination can transform even the most unlikely of products into something worth talking about.
Accessibility and Inclusivity in Design
An often-overlooked aspect of transportation campaigns is accessibility. One Black Bear made this a priority from the beginning, ensuring that all digital assets met high accessibility standards. Text contrasts, font sizes, and motion pacing were all designed to accommodate users of varying abilities.
This commitment extended to the language used in the campaign. Messaging was simple, clear, and inclusive, avoiding jargon or assumptions about the viewer. The tone remained conversational and welcoming, aiming to connect across age groups and lifestyles.
The character illustrations reflected a broad spectrum of users as well—young, old, solo travellers, families, and professionals. The campaign doesn’t speak to just one type of user; it opens the conversation to anyone who might benefit from a smoother, less stressful drive.
In doing so, One Black Bear demonstrated that high-impact design doesn’t have to come at the cost of inclusivity. When accessibility is embedded into the creative process, the results are often stronger, more resonant, and longer-lasting.
Building Long-Term Brand Equity
The vibrancy and visibility of this campaign may feel bold and immediate, but its real power lies in the long-term brand equity it’s helping to build. One Black Bear’s work positions the M6 Toll not just as a functional product, but as a thoughtful brand—one that understands the emotional state of its users and responds with empathy and imagination.
This emotional branding makes the road more than a toll route. It becomes a trusted solution, a preferred choice, and eventually, part of users’ lifestyle habits. The creative choices made in this campaign will continue to pay dividends, not just through traffic increases or digital impressions, but through improved customer loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations.
A campaign of this nature is not a flash in the pan. Its tone, style, and messaging create a platform for future storytelling. It lays the groundwork for future seasonal campaigns, user-generated content strategies, and even real-world activations that could extend the brand experience beyond advertising into experiential design.
Strategic Thinking Behind the Campaign’s Emotional Shift
At the foundation of One Black Bear’s campaign for the M6 Toll lies a key insight: emotion drives decision-making. Traditional motorway advertising tends to rely on factual messaging—faster routes, shorter queues, time savings. While these are valid, they rarely stir the imagination or connect with drivers on a deeper level. One Black Bear flipped that approach by beginning with an emotional hook.
Rather than asking, “How fast is the M6 Toll?”, the campaign asked, “How does it feel to drive on the M6 Toll?” That single pivot made space for a radically different creative direction—one based not on features, but on benefits as they relate to personal experience. The campaign evokes feelings of freedom, tranquility, control, and even joy. It reframes motorway driving from something stressful and unpredictable into something liberating and energising.
This emotional storytelling was key to repositioning the M6 Toll. It allowed the team to move beyond transactional messaging and into the realm of brand-building. Through bold visuals and human-centric narratives, the campaign tapped into a universal driver mindset: the desire for a better journey.
Visual Storytelling That Captures Attention
One Black Bear understood that visuals would need to do more than just look good—they needed to tell a story at a glance. In today’s media landscape, where attention spans are fractured and competition is fierce, the creative has to work instantly. That’s where the campaign’s visual storytelling became critical.
A moving image of a lone driver in a sun-drenched car interior, surrounded by warm, fluid colours, does more than decorate a frame. It says: “You’re in control here.” A billboard featuring a flowing road made of multi-coloured ribbons implies motion, variety, and ease. Every visual in the campaign was loaded with metaphor—lightness, simplicity, direction, comfort—without needing text to explain it.
This strategy proved effective across multiple media formats. The same illustration style and visual cues worked on large-format posters, animated web banners, and even small mobile screen ads. Consistency in design language ensured that each piece, no matter where it appeared, contributed to a coherent and memorable brand impression.
Animation and Movement Add a Dynamic Layer
Static images alone couldn’t fully capture the energy the campaign was built upon, so One Black Bear turned to animation. Movement became a core design principle, used not only in video content but across digital displays and social media graphics.
These animated sequences were brief—often just five to ten seconds—but impactful. They mirrored the rhythm of driving itself: smooth, forward motion, punctuated by moments of interaction. For instance, one animated ad showed a car seamlessly gliding past typical congestion zones, accompanied by text that said simply, “Feel the difference.” Another visualised a journey through coloured environments that transitioned from dark and stressful to light and open, symbolising the shift in experience when using the M6 Toll.
Animation also enabled subtle storytelling tricks. Motion could be used to lead the viewer’s eye, reinforce a message, or surprise them with a clever visual twist. In a crowded ad space, this kinetic quality helped the campaign rise above the static noise and make a lasting impression.
Tone of Voice: Warm, Approachable, and Confident
A distinct and consistent tone of voice played a huge role in this campaign’s success. One Black Bear didn’t just want to inform—they wanted to speak. The language used throughout the campaign materials was intentionally warm, conversational, and positive.
Rather than using technical jargon or transport-industry language, the copy addressed people like a helpful friend might. Phrases such as “Why not take the better route today?” or “You deserve a stress-free drive” invite the audience to consider their daily choices in a more personal way. This tone reduced psychological distance between brand and consumer, making M6 Toll feel less like a corporate entity and more like a trusted companion.
There was also a strong undercurrent of confidence—never arrogant, but quietly self-assured. The campaign never begged for attention or made exaggerated claims. Instead, it simply presented its value in a manner that respected the viewer’s intelligence and autonomy. That kind of self-awareness in tone tends to resonate deeply in modern advertising.
Bridging the Gap Between Practical and Aspirational
A significant challenge for One Black Bear was balancing the practical benefits of the M6 Toll with the campaign’s aspirational feel. While emotional storytelling was front and centre, the team knew that utility had to remain part of the conversation. That’s why they integrated key information subtly but effectively throughout the campaign.
On digital platforms, clear calls to action were included within the animated sequences: route planners, toll fee calculators, and comparison tools. These weren’t hidden, but they also weren’t shouted. They were framed as helpful extensions of the emotional journey, not interruptions.
Outdoor and print formats used minimalist signposting—icons or keywords strategically placed to reinforce functionality. Words like “quicker,” “quieter,” and “more reliable” were threaded into vibrant visuals without disrupting their flow. This ensured the campaign maintained informational integrity while still prioritising user experience and aesthetics.
Cohesion Across All Touchpoints
One of the campaign’s most impressive accomplishments was its consistency across a wide array of touchpoints. Whether you encountered it while scrolling social media, passing a digital billboard, watching a YouTube ad, or reading a magazine, the campaign felt unmistakably unified.
This cohesion was no accident. It was the result of rigorous design systems and style guides implemented across all outputs. Colour palettes, typography rules, illustration styles, motion principles, and copywriting templates ensured that every execution, no matter how large or small, reinforced the same central message.
That consistency is critical for brand recall, especially when dealing with something as utilitarian as a toll road. The stronger and more consistent the brand identity, the more likely it is to stick in a driver’s mind when they’re faced with a choice on the road.
Public Response and Cultural Reception
While metrics like clicks and impressions are useful indicators, the real sign of success came from the public response. Conversations around the campaign suggested that people weren’t just noticing the work—they were feeling something about it.
Drivers and commuters commented on the visual freshness and emotional resonance of the campaign. On social platforms, the animated sequences were shared with remarks like “finally, a motorway ad that doesn’t put me to sleep” or “this made me reconsider how I get to work.” That level of cultural cut-through is rare in infrastructure advertising.
The campaign’s ability to influence public perception was not limited to commuters. Design professionals and branding specialists began to reference it as a benchmark in how to bring creative life to traditionally dull categories. In forums and publications, it was cited as a case study in how clarity, charm, and coherence can work hand in hand.
Influencing Future Marketing Approaches
Because of its creative success, this campaign is already influencing how other organisations approach transport and infrastructure advertising. One Black Bear’s work challenges the long-standing notion that marketing in this space must be restrained, formal, or purely functional. It opens up new creative possibilities for other roads, railways, and public transit systems looking to connect with users in meaningful ways.
The M6 Toll campaign proves that bold design, emotional intelligence, and narrative-driven messaging can make infrastructure not only visible but desirable. It sets a precedent for future campaigns to consider the user’s emotional landscape, not just the logistics of travel.
There is now a stronger case for putting creativity at the centre of transport communications. Whether through animation, illustration, or simply more human language, the success of this work shows that design has the power to shift perception in tangible and lasting ways.
Positioning M6 Toll as a Lifestyle Choice
Perhaps the most powerful transformation achieved by this campaign is the repositioning of the M6 Toll as more than a road. It’s now seen as part of a lifestyle decision. Choosing this route isn’t just a matter of time saved—it’s about choosing peace of mind, quality of life, and a smoother rhythm to your day.
By presenting the M6 Toll in emotional and aspirational terms, One Black Bear helped elevate the brand into a category usually reserved for personal technology, hospitality, or health and wellness products. The campaign invites the user to reimagine driving as an act of self-care.
This emotional framing aligns well with modern consumer expectations. Today’s users want to feel that the products and services they use understand them. They gravitate toward brands that communicate with authenticity and purpose. The M6 Toll campaign is a strong example of this trend applied to an unexpected domain—and succeeding.
Building a Campaign That Endures
One of the key strengths of One Black Bear’s M6 Toll campaign is its longevity. Many advertising efforts peak quickly and fade, but this campaign was built with endurance in mind. The use of a distinct illustration style, paired with a tone of voice that remained consistent across formats, allowed for easy expansion and adaptation. As new creative assets were introduced, they didn’t feel like add-ons—they felt like natural extensions of the original vision.
Enduring campaigns typically achieve their success by establishing a flexible framework. In this case, the brand language—both visual and verbal—was defined tightly enough to maintain coherence, yet loose enough to allow creativity to flourish. That balance gave the campaign space to evolve without losing its core identity. Whether adapting the artwork for new seasons or introducing new message pillars, the campaign was never locked into a single visual or conceptual lane.
This sense of adaptability is particularly important in transport advertising, where messaging often needs to reflect changing road conditions, updated toll pricing, or new user expectations. Rather than reinventing the wheel each time, One Black Bear created a foundational style system that could be applied repeatedly and effectively.
Connecting to the Broader Brand Identity
The M6 Toll, despite being a practical infrastructure feature, is also a brand. That identity had been fairly subdued in the past, focused mainly on functionality and logistics. One Black Bear’s campaign challenged and reshaped that perception. The new creative approach reintroduced the M6 Toll as a brand with a point of view, an attitude, and a purpose beyond mere road use.
Through thoughtful messaging and emotional resonance, the campaign positioned the toll road as a brand that respects people’s time, reduces their stress, and improves their day. It’s a redefinition of what brand loyalty looks like for an infrastructure provider. Instead of repeat users returning because they have to, they return because they want to—because they’ve felt the benefits and trust the experience.
This shift in perception wasn’t superficial. It was rooted in a deeper brand strategy that saw infrastructure as a service, not a commodity. By aligning visual storytelling with the values of ease, efficiency, and quality of life, One Black Bear helped the M6 Toll express what it stands for. In doing so, they brought meaning to what could have easily remained a transactional relationship.
Leveraging Data and Feedback Loops
While the emotional and visual aspects of the campaign carried most of the storytelling weight, One Black Bear also ensured that the work was guided by data. Digital channels provided a wealth of insights into what was working, where audiences were engaging most, and which elements were driving action.
For instance, early test campaigns revealed that users responded especially well to animated formats that showed transformation, such as dark, congested scenes changing into light, flowing journeys. That insight led the team to create additional variations of these animations, doubling down on the moments that resonated most strongly with viewers.
Social media listening also played a role. Comments, shares, and mentions offered a glimpse into how the public was interpreting the campaign. These unfiltered reactions became a source of inspiration for refinement. Rather than treat data as an afterthought, the creative team used it to make the campaign smarter, more targeted, and more emotionally precise.
By designing feedback loops into the creative process, One Black Bear ensured that the campaign didn’t just perform well at launch—it continued to improve over time.
Aligning with Broader Transport Goals
Beyond advertising success, the campaign contributed to larger transportation objectives in the region. Authorities and stakeholders have long encouraged more balanced usage of the motorway network, aiming to relieve congestion on alternative routes like the M6 proper. The creative work indirectly supported this goal by making the toll route more attractive to a wider audience.
More importantly, the campaign highlighted a user-centric approach to road use. It reframed the idea of driving not as a chore, but as a controllable part of the day. In doing so, it spoke to commuters, families, and professionals looking for greater reliability in their routines.
This alignment with policy-level goals made the campaign an example of how creative work can contribute to societal outcomes. Infrastructure advertising isn’t typically considered a channel for cultural change, but in this case, it helped shift mindsets about how and why people travel the way they do.
Expanding Beyond the Traditional AudienceBeforeo the campaign, M6 Toll’s audience was perceived to be limited—business travelers, long-haul drivers, or those avoiding known congestion hotspots. The creative strategy aimed to broaden that base significantly. Through inclusive messaging and relatable storytelling, the campaign invited a more diverse range of drivers to consider the M6 Toll.
Families, weekend travelers, solo drivers, and even younger audiences were targeted through specific creative adaptations. For instance, certain digital ads used animation styles that felt modern and playful, while others leaned into peaceful landscape imagery to attract people craving a more meditative commute. The result was a widening of brand relevance without diluting the core message.
By avoiding niche targeting and instead focusing on shared human experiences—like the desire for peace, control, and comfort—the campaign established a universal appeal. That inclusivity has helped the M6 Toll position itself as more than a utilitarian solution. It’s now seen as a road for everyone.
Designing for Mobile-First Engagement
One often overlooked factor in modern campaigns is how they perform on mobile. In this case, One Black Bear paid particular attention to mobile-first design. Given that many drivers and potential users would encounter campaign materials through their phones—on social media, news apps, or navigation platforms—optimisation was essential.
Creative assets were tailored to small screens without losing their impact. Animations were designed to loop cleanly within five seconds, type was scaled for readability, and images retained clarity at reduced resolutions. Most importantly, call-to-action prompts were integrated in a way that felt natural on mobile, allowing users to take the next step, whether that meant planning a route or saving a toll discount, without friction.
This mobile-conscious approach expanded the campaign’s reach and kept the message relevant in the contexts where people make quick decisions. For a campaign encouraging drivers to try something different, accessibility and immediacy were crucial.
The Creative Team’s Collaborative Process
The campaign’s success was not the result of a single creative mind but of a highly collaborative team environment. One Black Bear brought together illustrators, copywriters, motion designers, and strategists to form a unified creative engine. From concept development to final output, each discipline contributed to the overall tone and rhythm of the campaign.
The illustrators established a visual universe full of light, movement, and emotional nuance. The writers matched that energy with language that was clear, human, and engaging. Motion designers brought everything to life in digital formats. Strategists ensured that the work aligned with business goals and performance metrics.
This cross-disciplinary collaboration was supported by regular feedback sessions, iterative design, and a shared belief in the power of creativity to transform perception. It’s a model of modern campaign development—where silos are broken down and every team member plays a role in shaping the final expression.
As the campaign enters its next phase, there is a natural question: what’s next? With such a strong visual identity and successful messaging platform in place, One Black Bear has laid the groundwork for future work that can go even deeper.
There’s potential for storytelling to branch out into documentary-style content, featuring real drivers and their experiences. There’s space for partnerships with travel or wellness brands that align with the campaign’s themes of ease and quality of life. Even educational extensions—like digital experiences that help young drivers learn about alternative routes—could emerge from the current foundation.
What’s clear is that this campaign has more to give. It’s not a one-off message, but a multi-dimensional platform with the power to evolve alongside the needs of its audience.
A Lasting Example of Creative Transformation
The M6 Toll campaign, led by One Black Bear, is a case study in how infrastructure advertising can evolve. It proves that creativity doesn’t have to be sacrificed for clarity, and that emotional resonance can be just as powerful as practical information in motivating action.
Through illustration, animation, relatable messaging, and a thoughtful tone, the campaign made people feel something about a motorway—something positive. It turned a stretch of road into a brand, a brand into a story, and a story into a shared experience.
Its success lies in the seamless integration of strategy, storytelling, and design. It’s an example that other agencies, transport providers, and marketers can look to when seeking to redefine what is possible in unexpected spaces. And it’s a reminder that, when executed with intention and care, even the most functional services can inspire and delight.
Final Thoughts
The M6 Toll campaign by One Black Bear stands as a compelling example of what happens when creativity meets infrastructure with purpose. It reimagined what a toll road could mean to everyday users, transforming it from a forgotten utility into a brand experience that is warm, memorable, and human. Instead of relying on dry, transactional messaging, the campaign delivered vibrancy, storytelling, and clarity through a carefully crafted visual identity and tone of voice that respected its audience.
From the outset, the campaign took risks. It leaned on illustration instead of photography, chose color and optimism over convention, and trusted the audience to engage with a deeper message. Those decisions not only set the campaign apart—they also created a consistent emotional arc that made users feel understood. The execution wasn’t just polished, it was thoughtful at every level: from mobile design and social integration to narrative sequencing and seasonal adaptability.
Crucially, One Black Bear’s success wasn’t just about aesthetics. The campaign aligned itself with broader business goals and public service outcomes. It helped increase brand visibility for the M6 Toll, but also reinforced its role in easing traffic congestion, improving the quality of road journeys, and reshaping how drivers plan their travel. The message wasn’t just to use a road—it was to choose a better experience.