Marketing & Branding

1. Unit 8: Improving Transit Quality Marketing & Branding

2. Outline • BRT Branding • Social media • Transit image

3. How do we sell cars?

4. How do you perceive transit?

5. Promotion in bus rapid transit goes beyond marketing BRT “branding”

6. Role of Branding in BRT • Clearly differentiated transit service • Enhanced outreach efforts • Increased customer loyalty • Improved employee satisfaction and retention • Increased brand value • Potential for attracting development activity

7. Characteristics of Branding • Marketing Classification of BRT Service • How BRT fits within the rest of a transit system • Branding Devices • Attributes or identifiers that customers associate with a product

8. Marketing Classifications

9. Branding Devices

10. BRT Branding Tactics • Name of service and lines • Color schemes, graphics and logos • Elements of the BRT system • Operating features and performance • Customer information such as signage, maps and schedules • Publications, media, public relations and marketing information • Employee selection and training

11. High-Comfort, Amenities • Interior Finish • Large Windows • Luggage Racks • Information • Grab Bars • Rear Window • Multiple Doors • Circulation • Seat Comfort • Fast Securement

12. Survey Said: “Sleek, Modern Image; Quiet; Safe” New Flyer Invero i40 LF NABI 42-BRT NABI CNG 60 BRT Stylized Artic Stylized Std Artic Specialized Standard Gillig 40 BRT Irisbus Civis New Flyer Hybrid Electric 60DLF-BRT

13. Case Study : Eugene’s Green Line EmX • 4 miles (60% exclusive RoW) • $23.5 million project, • Opened January 2007 • 46% ridership increase • 6 hybrid advance-design NFI artics • Branded as “new spine”

14. Case study: Las Vegas • Service features: • Hi-tech French made Civis • 5 mi exclusive lane • Distinctive stations • 12-20 min. headways, 17 hr./day • Same fare, but pre-paid • Image and brand essential in land of glitz • Huge success, at least 3 more corridors planned

15. Simple route layout: easy to find/use Frequent: 3-10 minutes during peak Fewer stops: ¾ mile apart Level boarding (LF buses speed-up dwell times Enhanced stations: maps, lighting, canopies, “Next Bus” displays Same fare Minimal investment: Signal priority Passenger information Strong branding (buses, stations etc.) LA Metro Rapid: Incremental BRT • Results after demonstration: • 23-29% reduction in travel times • 38-42% increase in riders/weekday • 1/3 of total choice riders, Samecost

16. Branding Summary • Most successful systems have strong branding • Largest System Performance Impacts: • Capacity (Vehicles + Frequency + Route Speed) • Speed and Acceleration • Reliability/On Time Performance • Largest System Design Impacts • Branding • Vehicle Styling • Cleanliness/Maintenance/Advertising Policy • Driver/Customer Service Courtesy • The Brand Invites ’Em, But Performance Keeps ’Em

17. The evolution of information and promotion Social media

18. Social Media Connections • Agencies interact directly with their consumers (previously used press as intermediary) • Enables agencies to tell story with words and images • Communicate at lightning speed, often responding to request or providing emergency information in a minutes • Multitude of transit agencies use

19. Social Media Platforms • Each social media platform has particular strengths and reaches different audiences: • Microblogging • Twitter, Tumbler – Short, focused, and time-sensitive updates • Networking • Social (Facebook, Google+) – User engagement through conversations and sharing • Professional (LinkedIn, GovLoop) – Connections to stakeholders and employees • Media- and document-sharing • YouTube – Entertaining and/or instructional videos • Flickr – Photos of agency news and events to share with the public and the media • Social curation • Pinterest and Storify - Consolidation of posts to tell a story about an event • Blogs • Longer and more detailed updates about agency policies and events • Geolocation applications • Foursquare – Check-ins to share information or discounts, gather data

20. Uses of Social Media • Marketing • Promote activities • Tell people what agency does - how they spend public funds and make policy decisions • Reach out to citizens for feedback on projects • Community activism • Mobilize citizens around issues that matter to them • Planning • Widen reach of agency and include those who cannot attend public meetings • Brings younger residents who may not otherwise attend meetings into the fold • Real-time communications and emergency management • Send alerts about major issues • Communicate with partner agencies

21. Marketing • 4 E’s of social marketing • Entice customers to participate • Exchange information • Engage them in a social media dialogue • Experience that leaves an overall impression • Contests and promotions to engage customers

22. Future of Social Media • Social media allows agencies to tap into large numbers of participants for techniques such as: • Citizen science – People working as sensors to relay information • Crowdsourcing – People working together to identify the assets and issues in the system • Participatory sensing – Mobile phones as instrumentation or sensors • Survey research - promote survey opportunities, test survey questions, and supplement traditional surveys • Data mining - Status updates, media sharing, and geo-located check-ins can be used to understand people’s behavior, choices and opinions. • Visualize urban dynamics • Understand activity participation, location choice, • Sentiment analysis

23. The bigger picture comes down to improving Transit’s image

24. 2003 GM ad in Vancouver

25. 2011 GM ad

26. How would you advertise transit?

27. God Created Transit Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6neVqNfmW7U

28. Conclusion • BRT has been branded as a “premium” service to attract choice riders. • Social media allows agencies to communicate directly with passengers and establish a trust relationship. • Perception of transit comes down to how it is (or currently how it is not) marketed

29. Reference The materials in this lecture were taken from: • Cliff Henke, PB TR&S, Inc. from APTA Bus Conference 2007 • Bregman and Watkins, “Best Practices for Transportation Agency Use of Social Media” CRC Press, 2013