Case Study: Which? achieves a trending #RailRefunds hashtag in 3 hours with Brandwatch

How Which? made a hashtag trend in 3 hours

Which? is the UK’s largest independent consumer body with nearly 60 years’ experience and more than 1.4 million members. When it used its super-complaint powers to push for easier rail refunds—after 47 million journeys were delayed or cancelled but only a third of passengers claimed compensation—the challenge was to generate rapid public awareness and make the campaign hashtag #RailRefunds trend on Twitter despite the organisation having only about 30,000 followers.

Which? researched how Twitter’s trend algorithm works and executed a data-driven plan using Brandwatch Analytics and Vizia, Hootsuite-scheduled organic posts, six targeted promoted tweets, influencer outreach (including Marcus Brigstocke), and supporter emails/Facebook posts, while monitoring and engaging in real time. The hashtag trended within three hours after roughly 500 mentions, reached over 250,000 users with about 7 million impressions and 1,300+ hashtag uses that day, and helped secure 43,762 petition signatures to make rail refunds easier.

Which?

Sean Lu

Social Media Manager