Winner of Brand the Bus 2022-2023

Oxford Bus Company has launched its latest eye-catching bus backing good local causes, with a double-decker emblazoned in SeeSaw branding.

A vehicle has been wrapped in the colours of SeeSaw, after the Oxford-based good cause won the latest “Brand the Bus!” competition. The charity provides grief support for children, young people and their families in Oxfordshire. It scooped the “Brand the Bus!” first prize worth £50,000, which includes £20,000 worth of radio advertising on JACKfm.

The SeeSaw bus which hit the streets today will be used across various Oxford Bus Company services, to help spread its message as widely as possible. Oxford Bus Company has previously backed Oxford Pride, Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group, GirlGuiding Oxfordshire, Blue Skye Thinking, Restore and Home-Start Oxfordshire with new liveries for buses.

SeeSaw was selected by a judging panel from a top ten group of good causes which had earned the most public votes from 79 original entries. SeeSaw worked with Oxford Bus Company to design the bus wrap and they’re now also working with JACKfm to launch their advertising campaign

Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, said: “It’s fantastic to introduce another brilliant, branded bus into our fleet backing another excellent local charity. We’re proud to support such an important good cause and we hope the bus will help raise awareness of its services.”

Steve Simms, JACKfm Programme Controller, said: “We’re really pleased to see the winning bus design and are looking forward to getting the radio commercials on-air too. It’s a great cause and hopefully this dual platform exposure will help to make a big difference.”

Judith Mulligan, SeeSaw Director, said: “We’re thrilled to have won the Oxford Bus Company and JACKfm Brand the Bus! competition. Working together to finalise our bus has been a real privilege, giving us the opportunity to involve young people in both the design and the messages portrayed.

“Our intention when we entered the competition was to raise awareness of SeeSaw's services, so that any bereaved child or young person would know there is support available for them. Having the SeeSaw branded bus on Oxfordshire's roads will bring us a step closer to this. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible.”

More than 11,000 unique votes were cast online for the entries made by charities and good causes. Oxford City Angels and Sobell House were runners-up and are benefiting from on-bus digital advertising support worth £2,000 each. Oxford City Angels is a voluntary run female-focused support team for women at night in the city. Sobell House Hospice specialises in palliative care to those facing life threatening illness, death and bereavement in Oxfordshire.

Mr Marion added: “We adjusted the competition to make it more accessible to good causes and then partnered with JACKfm to make the prize bigger than ever. Collectively, it made a real difference and resulted in a record number of entries and further highlighted the wide variety of good causes helping people in our community. We’re now looking forward to launching this year’s competition soon.”