Posts Tagged: Marketing

24
May

2012

Angry Birds Cable Car – Singapore Cable Car

Angry Bird gondola cabin. Image from CNNGo.com

If you happen to be fan of both the Angry Birds video game and cable cars, you may wanna book a trip to Singapore as soon as possible. The Singapore Cable Car has just redesigned and retrofitted 30 of their cabins to celebrate the opening of an Angry Birds theme park on Mount Faber.

Guests riding the gondola will receive a complementary Angry Birds face mask and mocktail. Image from singaporecablecar.com.sg.

Upon arrival to the theme park, guests can participate in an Angry Birds game booth. To add to the “bizarreness” during June, three of the cabins will, “depict the Angry Birds chasing after an evil green pig“. What exactly that means I have no idea, but if somehow one of our loyal readers does happen to be in Singapore at that time please let us know.

While this design theme may appear silly at first, I think this is another great example of how cable car operators can use a CPT system as a marketing tool. This attracts attention and garner interest in the system. An urban gondola applying similar marketing principles may also spur additional ridership.

The reason I say this is because as we’ve discussed in the past, adding a bit of fun to transit greatly impacts people’s interest in public transport.

In the meantime, for more information and pictures about this promotional event, check out the Singapore Cable Car Facebook page here.



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Marketing Issues
2
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12
Apr

2012

Norway’s Nettbuss – Is This The Sexiest/Best Bus Commercial Ever?

One of the things we often talk about around these parts is the public outreach and marketing aspect of public transportation and how it so often falls short of being effective. A few personal favourites:

I once even suggested without a hint of sarcasm that we might even be able to spur transportation ridership simply by engaging Hollywood to make movies that flatter public transportation and make it look cool.

But generally speaking those are higher level concerns that don’t tend to deal with the most rudimentary of marketing techniques: The advertisement.

For the life of me, I can’t actually think of a billboard, sign or commercial promoting public transportation that actually captivates my attention; makes me smile, laugh and feel good about myself; and actively makes me want to support and use public transit. If anyone knows of one, please post it in the comments because I’m drawing a blank. And remember: I say that as a lifetime non-driver and public transportation user.

And then our own Julia Padvoiskis sends me a link to a Norwegian bus commercial that defies everything I just said and is just about the most wonderful transportation commercial I’ve ever seen.

Now before we go any further, I should mention that 4 seconds of the commercial contains (starting at the 1:46 mark) mild nudity and sexual content that may be considered offensive by some and should be treated as NSFW. As such, while I’d prefer to embed the video directly on this page, I understand certain people may not be amused by the offending parts of the video particularly as public transportation tends to be administered by public government agencies.

Nevertheless, the video is incredibly charming, sexy, heart-warming and does everything a good advertisement for public transportation should – namely, it makes one want to ride it now.

After you’ve viewed it, please come back to us to discuss your thoughts about the commercial; how it made you feel and think about public transportation; and if you think the 4 seconds in question took things a little too far.

I’d genuinely love to hear people’s thoughts on this.

Take a look. 



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Marketing Issues
7
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01
Jun

2011

Could Hollywood Increase Public Transportation Ridership?

This idea is no where near as absurd as John Travolta's mustache in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

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12
May

2011

Selling Ski Lifts to Cities

If you’re the owner of a ski resort and you’re looking to buy a new lift/gondola/tram/whatever, you pretty much know who to call. For all intents and purposes, there’s only two companies out there and you’ve likely done business with one or both of them several times before.

In other words, the lift companies’ respective salesforces already have 50% of their work done for them. All they really have to do is answer their phone messages and ensure the potential client doesn’t defect to the other competitor and the job’s practically done. Time for lunch.

(That’s a gross simplification, I admit, but there is some truth to it.)

That’s what happens in a duopoly and no one can fault the companies for pursuing a strategy that minimizes their marketing and sales costs while still ensuring a constant stream of customers from across the globe.

Who wouldn’t want that business model?

Problem is, as the lift industry flirts with the urban market, that model no longer works. The companies that used to be Goliaths are very suddenly becoming Davids in a market where no one knows them and is dominated by other far, far larger players and technologies.

If you can find an image that better exemplifies the concept of the ski lift industry "flirting" with cities, we'll give you fifty dollars. Image by flickr user thenails.

That’s not to say the industry needs to change their existing model – far from it. The existing model works and should be protected at all costs. But it’s essential to recognize that it works for the winter market but not necessarily for the urban market. To automatically believe that a business model built for ski hills will suffice for cities is optimistic at best, hubristic at worst.

If the industry is serious about the urban market (and all indications suggest they are), then they’re going to have to develop new models and practices tailored to the urban market. Is that going to be difficult? Of course it is. Is that a risky proposition? Sure. But there’s an upside:

Cities are now the single largest market in the history of humankind. When the reward’s that great, a little innovation seems like pretty minor risk.



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16
Dec

2010

Ski Lift Manufacturers or Transit Builders?

A quick thought:

The cable industry positions themselves as Ski Lift manufacturers who sometimes build transit.

Why not flip that around?

Why not be Transit Builders that happen to provide transportation to a whole host of markets, including ski hills?

There’s a difference there. It’s subtle, but it’s there.



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