Inclusion awareness day

Target Audience: For the last several years, the STM has been promoting accessibility in all areas of its operations, including infrastructures, vehicles and all services provided to the public. In particular, the STM has launched various initiatives to make its bus and metro networks more accessible. When the STM talks about accessibility, it addresses: - STM bus, metro and paratransit customers - STM customers with functional limitations - STM employees, particularly those in the paratransit department - The disabled community - Elected officials, the media and the community at large

Strategy Objective:Obj 1: Utilize the Quebec Week of Persons with Disabilities to promote STM initiatives that facilitate public transit use and raise awareness of the importance of inclusion Strat 1: Compiled video and written testimonials to share as part of an inclusion awareness day on June 6 Obj 2: Create an accessible, sensitive and compassionate customer experience Strat 2: Tandem learning experience held where a person with a functional limitation guides an STM employee, a customer or a media representative through the transit experience Obj 3: Highlight various bus and metro accessibility measures and ways to be more inclusive Strat 3: For transparency, tandem learning was not scripted, instead showing an imperfect transit system in which many initiatives are in place to foster inclusion

Situation Challenge: For 2021, the STM wanted to position itself as a key player in accessibility and social inclusion in Montreal, as well as raise awareness about the initiatives it had implemented to make it easier for people with functional limitations to use public transit. Internally, the STM wanted to inform staff—particularly those on the front line—about the initiatives implemented and the role employees could play as ambassadors. Recent STM communications on accessibility have mainly revolved around the commissioning of elevators, but the company's initiatives extend far beyond that. The STM wished to speak on the issue from a much more human standpoint. It saw the perfect opportunity to do so in the Quebec Week of Persons with Disabilities, which was observed this year from June 1 to 7.

Results Impact: A short campaign (video and written content) was published via STM social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram), press room, newsletters, internal communications and website. The video received great traction on social media: - Most-viewed long-form video in the history of the STM Instagram account and by far the most shared - All 13 tweets in the campaign exceeded expectations for engagement rate - Engagement rate of 5.2% on LinkedIn, the highest of any video on the STM account - Engagement rate of 15% on Facebook (over 5% is considered excellent) There was also a rich, nuanced radio report from one journalist who participated in one of the tandem learning experiences guided by Laurence Parent, Vice-Chair of the STM Board of Directors, who uses a wheelchair.

Why Submit: The campaign budget was $10,000, which was used to produce the video. The other actions used in-house resources and free communication channels. The complementary elements of a more human video and more pragmatic content shared on Twitter yielded great results that met our objectives. The campaign showed that compassionate content with diverse representation is very well received by our audiences. The video content was honest and unfiltered. It painted a picture not of a perfect network but of one that was trying to do better. Transparency and humility resulted in more nuanced feedback. It was also a great way to get STM employees involved in the initiative. After this highly successful first edition, the STM now intends to make this an annual initiative.