Amtrak Marketing

[BobWeaver]

Hi all -

I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?

 

[Guest]

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?1. ..You're at a fun event

2. ..between two states with service

3. ..appealing to the college kids (& older with $)who are frequently on

Amtrak

4. ..perhaps Atlanta is one of the top 20 markets referred to in the

advertising strategy from the Amtrak website

5. ..GA Tech is pretty close to the station and in a larger metro area than

is Charlotte.

6 ..Crescent, going south on Oct 31, was sparsely filled... to create

demand.

7. ..don't recall seeing any other Amtrak advertising locally.

8. ..to increase the numbers going to Charlotte to fill the trains up

there.

9. ..if the game was televised, double exposure for the same price. TV

time is very expensive in larger markets.

10. ..Atlanta's station may be small, but Charlotte's is ugly as h***.

(just had to throw that in).

Ultimately, all advertising is to create demand in a given market.

 

[haolerider]

Hi all -
I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?

Amtrak has been marketing with GA Tech for 6 years - both football and basketball, based on the location of the school on the route of the Cresent for away game travel by fans, based on the demographics of the school and based on the radio and TV exposure GA Tech receives in Atlanta. From what I understand, it is a reasonable financial arrangement and there is a sports marketing company that handles all GA Tech marketing - along with about 30 other schools around the country. Sports Marketing is basically a good deal, since you not only get the students, but also alumni and fans around the country. Amtrak does more of this than you would think and you probably do not get exposure to most of it since it is generally locally focused.

 

[meatpuff]

Hi all -
I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

I know Amtrak's advertising or lack of it comes up from time to time on this forum. And I found another way they advertise that I don't remember being discussed on this forum before - Google sponsored links!

When you search for any number of likely phrases on google.com, a sponsored (paid) link to amtrak.com pops up before the regular search results. Ones I tried that worked included passenger train, travel by train, train trip, train travel, rail travel, california zephyr, washington train, new york train, boston train, philadelphia train and florida train. I'm sure there are more.

Not a bad idea at all, eh? Especially since it builds traffic to their website, and I think a much better customer experience can be had using the Amtrak website (which people may not be aware of) compared to dealing strictly with phone and station ticket agents.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Oh come on. Everybody loves Julie! ROFL :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Guest]

[QUOTE="Ultimately]Ultimately, all advertising is to create demand in a given market.
[/QUOTE]
Not really. Advertising should be designed to solve a problem or serve a need.

 

[had8ley]

Hi all -
I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?

The salesman that was in Meridian, MS was moved to Atlanta. He probably had to make a showing for his bosses.

 

[haolerider]

Hi all -
I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?

The salesman that was in Meridian, MS was moved to Atlanta. He probably had to make a showing for his bosses.

Actually he is in DC and doing a great job.

 

[had8ley]

Hi all -
I went to the Virginia Tech / Georgia Tech game last night in Atlanta since I don't live but 2.5 hours from Atlanta. Much to my surprise, I witnessed Amtrak marketing at the game. Every time that GT achieved a first down, the Amtrak "First Down Whistle" would appear on the video screen and, well, blow its whistle. I also saw paper advertisements at the game as well as Amtrak magnets. This was the first time seeing an actual Amtrak advertisement in paper form, but for those who may have seen one already, it's the advertisement with "For fun or business, Amtrak can get you there!" on the top.

I found it to be a pretty good marketing strategy. It was simple, yet interest provoking enough to make people visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

But I found it somewhat odd that Amtrak would market in Atlanta, with Crescent being the only train that serves that location. I could understand maybe advertising in Charlotte, NC with Crescent, Carolinian, and Piedmont. Can anybody offer some insight?

The salesman that was in Meridian, MS was moved to Atlanta. He probably had to make a showing for his bosses.

Actually he is in DC and doing a great job.

OK..then who does Atlanta? Last I heard he was headed that way from the station agent in Meridian.

 

[Guest]

..don't know the answer to the above questions... but did see a very well done ATT/DSL commercial the other night. It played on the fastness of trains (Amtrak) and the fastness of DSL. It caught my attention and made me wonder if they used actual employees. It flashed back and forth from the cockpit (sorry I don't know what that area is called) to the effect of a fast train on the passengers- showing inside a coach, blue seats and all. The passengers in the coach shot were young (and unfortunately spike haired).

 

[yoohoo]

Amtrak marketing... this got me thinking. Ive been to conventions and expos where there are several airline booths that help promote air travel and I was wondering if Amtrak has anything like that and or if they would be looking for someone to do that? Id be great at that as I am very sociable and influencial to get people to rail.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I suspect just about anyone who lives in Boston and goes to New York City is likely to know someone who would take the train for that route, and so there's probably pretty good word of mouth advertising there these days. (And I haven't noticed any Acela advertising lately, but I also don't own a TV.) A route where Amtrak has less compelling service may be an area where advertising will help to reach the small percentage of the population that would like to use the service, who may not have their friends and coworkers recommending Amtrak to them.

Then again, many of the important factors in choosing a mode of transportation are not easily within Amtrak's control. I've talked to someone who is happy taking the train from Boston to New York, but isn't going to take the train from Boston to DC unless the trains start running significantly faster (which we all know requires a huge investment that isn't likely in the immediate future). Sometimes people will prefer driving in order to get the convenience of having their car at their destination (and the Auto Train's route is only convenient to a tiny fraction of American travelers). The cost of driving a car with one person is approximately the same as the cost of driving a car with five people, which may mean that a family on a tight budget may prefer driving.

Even without owning a car, and even traveling alone, I've gotten the impression that needing a car at the destination anyway can take away a lot of the benefit of riding the train: the cost of a two to three hour ride each way on Amtrak plus the cost of renting a car at my destination is probably greater than the cost of renting a car near my home and driving the whole way, and the logistics of renting a car at my destination may end up being more annoying than dealing with a car rental closer to home. It's going to be a long time before most US cities have good enough public transportation to fix this particular problem.

But this also leads to the question of whether Amtrak could do a better job of working with car rental companies. When you fly into a big commercial airport, you know you'll be able to find car rental companies. And even if you're flying a Cessna into a small airport, it's likely that the FBO has some arrangement with a car rental company that will probably let you pick up your car at whatever hour is convenient for you, at the FBO. Amtrak could probably make its service more attractive by studying how FBOs provide rental cars, and adapting that to Amtrak stations.

 

[Anthony]

Amtrak marketing... this got me thinking. Ive been to conventions and expos where there are several airline booths that help promote air travel and I was wondering if Amtrak has anything like that and or if they would be looking for someone to do that? Id be great at that as I am very sociable and influencial to get people to rail.

Apparently the AAA Travel Marketplace convention next month in Foxborough, MA will have an Amtrak booth.

 

[PerRock]

Amtrak always offers advertised discounted rates for people going to the NMRA conventions (its the same rate as any other convention, but it get advertised). I didn't see a booth for AMTK at the DTW NMRA convention last year; but then I didn't get around much, I was helping staff the Auran table.

peter

 

[meatpuff]

Speaking again of Amtrak marketing in a surprising location...

get a load of this headline!!!!

http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1412452

similarly,

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/r...ses/?id=3605266

This concerns arena football, BTW