"There's More to the Ride" to increase awareness and education

Target Audience: We are targeting adults age 18+ residing in The Rapid service area, urban, suburban, and rural populations. Our campaign messaging seeks to reflect the diversity of Greater Grand Rapids' demographics: mostly Caucasian with significant Hispanic and African-American populations, majority Democrat within Grand Rapids while leaning Republican countywide by 60/40, younger (median county age of 35 and 31 in Grand Rapids). The campaign's special interest groups include senior citizens, community influencers (media, business/political sector), current riders (low-income, middle working class, choice), as well as "Important/Affected Partners" (businesses and entities whose staff and/or customers rely on the service).

Strategy Objective:Inform target audiences how everybody in Greater Grand Rapids wins with a strong public transportation system ' even if you never ride a bus. Promote awareness of The Rapid's impact by explaining how our community is stronger, more economically vibrant and successful when everyone has the opportunity and access they need. To achieve our objective, we are providing glimpses into the lives of a few of our riders. We asked them to share ' in their own words ' how The Rapid is a part of their lives AND a part of our community's fabric. Our marketing campaign integrates broad awareness media vehicles (print, TV, radio and outdoor) and content-rich platforms (social media, digital, and video content marketing) in market simultaneously with traditional public relations and grassroots outreach.

Situation Challenge: In preparation for the next local funding ballot initiative (date TBD) we commissioned a phone survey and two focus groups in 2015 to gauge current support levels and perceived benefits of The Rapid as well as to explore attitudes and beliefs about public transportation within our service area. The results show nonriders are familiar with The Rapid generally but did not feel as if they knew a lot about the system, including how it is funded. Survey participants have limited or no awareness of current news coverage (positive or negative) about The Rapid. And by a significant margin, participants ranked transportation for those without cars and to help people reach their jobs as transit's top benefits to Grand Rapids.

Results Impact: Our current media buy runs March 14--Sept. 1. As of April 15, we have elevated public awareness by reaching 85% of the target audience 5-7 times per month, far exceeding the industry standard of 50% reach and 2-3 monthly connections. We have delivered over 5 million impressions to nearly 72,000 households during our first 30 days in-market, including niche-marketing efforts to reach minority groups. These impressions include 109,181 YouTube video completions (paid, organic) and 52,201 Facebook actions (comments, likes, shares, etc). As one commenter posted after viewing our inspirational ad on how one young man uses The Rapid daily to manage autism and his job: "Kudos to the Rapid. Healthy people could learn a lesson from Joel for being a productive citizen to this community."

Why Submit: Our campaign is successfully educating Greater Grand Rapids about the merits of public transportation through simple, powerful, consistent and, most importantly, positive messages about the experience. The analytics prove this, as well as the positive response the campaign has gotten from individuals in the community, stakeholders, and riders. We are going beyond a transactional "getting from point A to point B" thinking and presenting a value proposition that transcends the numbers (ridership, cost per trip, etc.) traditionally reported. Data is important, but telling the story is much more powerful.