Trinity Metro Campaign to Increase Ridership and Grow Brand Awareness

Target Audience: This comprehensive campaign focused on reaching all Tarrant County residents with emphasis on previous and potential riders. The campaign was designed to attract new riders, particularly those who live or work within walking or biking distance of a TEXRail station, bus stop or ZIPZONE service area, as well as those who would use public transportation for entertainment, attending events, work-related trips, plus personal/recreational use.

Strategy Objective:The objective of the campaign was to: o Re-build ridership to 125% of 2021 ridership while simultaneously build Trinity Metro's brand awareness o Educate the community about benefits of Trinity Metro's services o Increase support for transit among the community o Capitalize on customer experience o Emphasize positive organizational culture Focus was placed on specific services, including TEXRail commuter rail, fixed-route bus operations and ZIPZONE on-demand micro-transit services. To achieve these objectives, Pulsar Advertising developed an alliterative campaign by invoking descriptions of riders or sentiments (capitalizing on how non-riders envisioned using the service) that incorporate "TM" in its initials to reinforce Trinity Metro.

Situation Challenge: Despite rebranding just before COVID hit, the Trinity Metro brand has not been fully implemented throughout the service area. For example, many residents still refer to the agency by its former moniker (Fort Worth Transportation Authority, FWTA or the "T"). To learn existing brand awareness, brand perception and understand the audiences, a quantitative market research study was conducted. The study revealed that Trinity Metro only had 22% unaided brand awareness. But non-riders could see themselves using Trinity Metro for non-work-related trips to appointments, entertainment, shopping and recreational use.

Results Impact: By building brand awareness and communicating the benefits of using Trinity Metro services, ridership increased each month (exceeding the goal of achieving 125% of 2021 ridership). a. Ridership i. Fixed-route Bus 1. FY21 – FY22: Increased 21% 2. Campaign May '22-Sept. '22: +14% ii. TEXRail (commuter rail) 1. FY21 – FY22: Increased 74% 2. Campaign May '22-Sept. '22: +7% iii. ZIPZONE (on-demand rideshare) 1. FY21-FY22: Increased 170% 2. Campaign May '22-Sept. '22: +57% iv. All Services 1. FY21-FY22: Increased 32% 2. Campaign May '22-Sept. '22: +11% b. Media Results i. Offline Media total impressions: 23,444,884 ii. Digital Media total impressions: 20,025,772 iii. Digital Media total clicks: 24,287 iv. Social Media total engagement: 1,502 v. Social Media total reach: 40,989

Why Submit: Trinity Metro's "TM" campaign was created to increase ridership on all of its services, while building brand awareness. Since the campaign launch in May 2022, ridership, when compared to the previous year, grew 32%.