Bus Exterior (System Self-Promotion)
Class I – Bay Town Trolley
Target Audience: Elected Officials
Project Cost: $2600
Description: The objectives to this campaign were to influence ridership during extended hours to reach 1,000 rides, coordinate attendance of at least five of the nine designated elected officials at kick-off press conference, and increase web trends by at least 50 percent. The inital stage in the campaign creation was to develop a theme that would call the community to action. The theme, “Ride Late in ’08,” was then incorporated into a campaign message that spoke directly to all objectives. Trolley officials decided to use their own exterior advertisement space to promote the message and therefore the only expenditure was the cost of promotion. These ads were placed on all 14 trolleys and will continue to run throughout the remainder of 2008.
In the first month of the campaign, the exterior ads helped yield 1,680 riders during the extended service hours and continued to increase every month after. August’s extended service hour ridership reached 3,435, a 104% increase over March. There have been 15,633 rides total from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. since the “Ride Late in ’08″ campaign began. The elected officials were very pleased with the exterior advertisements and eight of the nine designated elected officials attended the kick-off press conference. Many of the officials are currently considering contributing more local dollars to implement weekend trolley service. These exterior ads helped increase web traffic 82 percent in the first 6 months of 2008 from the same period in 2007.
Class II – Palm Tran
Target Audience: Residents of Palm Beach County, current and potential bus riders
Project Cost: $6000
Description: Palm Tran was preparing to enter new territory by transitioning to the use of bio-diesel fuel and nitrogen-filled tires. Palm Tran needed a way to communicate the impact of this change without losing the interest of the audience due to the many technical details. An exterior bus advertisement was the perfect choice. Palm Tran’s marketing staff worked with Lamar Advertising to create an eye-catching, attention-grabbing bus exterior advertisement. The design centered on Palm Tran’s new ‘Going Green’ efforts.
The bus has been a major success. A photo of the bus was featured on the cover of the Feb 18, 2008 issue of Passenger Transport. The bus was used as the centerpiece for Palm Tran’s Celebration of Going Green event. Plam Tran also uses it during presentations at local libraries and schools to introduce youths to transit. The bus has also helped spread the message of environmental awareness to the community while simultaneously improving the image of public transportation.
Class I – Bay Town Trolley
Class II – Palm Tran
