
12/12/2023
Commuters through Flinders St Station in Melbourne VIC may have come across Laurence Hewson ... the new Metro Trains Melbourne platform announcer who is adding some spice to the daily commute. Whilst his social media popularity has gone through the roof, there are some interesting learnings that we can apply to workplace safety and wellbeing programs.
Platform announcements are there for public safety. They are important messages that regretfully often fall on deaf ears as people wander through the station with their heads buried deep into their phones.
What Laurence is doing is disrupting that behaviour, or people's Autopilot in Move 4 Life language. He's commanding people's attention through humour and weaving safety messaging in and amongst his announcements. Well done Metro Trains Melbourne for supporting him and not shutting him down.
What safety or wellbeing messaging do you issue that could do with some spice? Do you use stylised generic images in your print material or have you gone to the effort of professionally photographing your staff so they are the feature? Is your video collateral humorous or that little bit different to grab employee's attention? Are you using social media to create message momentum?
We love working with our customers to figure out sticky ways to sell the message. What are your favourite ideas?
Laurence Hewson is the Leading Station Assistant at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station, and he's going viral for his upbeat and informative platform announcements.