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Branding in motion: a TriMet bus in downtown Portland.
TriMet's branding coup by Scott M. Davis - 9.20.05
If there has ever been a
shining example that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to build a brand and
achieve marketing success, that example is TriMet, the transportation agency
serving the greater Portland area.
TriMet has built one of the
country’s elite public transit systems and it has done so, in part, due to a
willingness to embrace branding as a fundamental element of doing business.
Specifically, TriMet has defined its role in the region, staked out its own
unique position based on that role, and committed to delivering a positive,
cohesive experience at every opportunity to reinforce this position and
encourage people to ride. It is because of these achievements that we can all
learn something from TriMet’s success.
Of course, the national
accolades TriMet has received are evidence of strong performance in one
respect, but for the organization itself, success is measured in another form —
ridership. While public transit agencies have often been challenged to maintain
ridership, TriMet has managed to increase year-to-year ridership over each of
the last 16 years. In 2003, TriMet grew ridership while 74 percent of the
transit agencies in the country lost riders. While TriMet’s service district is
the 29th largest in the U.S. in terms of population, its
ridership ranks an admirable No. 13 (as of November 2004).
These numbers have grown
while marketing expenditures have actually declined. TriMet’s advertising and
promotion budget represents approximately one-fifth of 1 percent
of the total agency budget; in a recent campaign year the group
achieved $2.1 million in media value and over 50 million in gross monthly
impressions from a campaign budget of just $250,000.
So how has TriMet done it?
Tactically speaking, TriMet has excelled at setting priorities and using a mix
of traditional marketing tools such as collateral materials, a Web site and
Advertising, along with far
more innovative approaches such as on-board elements like “Poetry in Motion” and an
award-winning commemorative poster series that celebrates Portland landmarks and destinations
reachable via TriMet. Additionally, TriMet has taken a traditional approach to
determining who does what — using its agency of record for certain elements and
in-house staff for others — to minimize the impact of out-of-pocket
expenses. However, TriMet’s true success has not been driven by its tactical
execution but rather by the branding structure
and philosophy to
which it has remained faithful. The topic of brand structure is crucial to
understanding TriMet’s success. Specifically, TriMet understands the need to
develop a unique position in the market and use that position to inform
and drive all branding efforts. By defining this position, TriMet has had a
clear benchmark against which to measure all creative initiatives and a clear
articulation of its vision to inform all communications, regardless of
whether it is executed internally or through its outside agency. TriMet’s
position concept, “Essential to Livability,”
is simple yet lofty in the expectations it sets and extremely rich in meaning.
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