Yuengling worked with an advertising agency out of Pennsylvania who helped them coordinate their plan of attack.  They broke Ohio down into 12 markets and decided to make sure they had a strong presence in each market.   The backbone of their marketing plan was their Out of Home campaign.  All 12 markets had a traditional billboard presence while 4 markets (those where transit advertising was offered) added a strong transit advertising presence.  “The capabilities of mobile outdoor I find interesting.  Much outdoor is stationary while transit finds the people” said the spokesperson, Frank G. from their agency. 

Transit advertising is a very popular medium when used to introduce a new product.  Its ability to reach the entire market place can’t be matched!  “When in metro markets I believe that any OOH campaign that doesn’t include transit is dismissing a major portion of the available consumers. Cities are normally +/- 50% commuters and 50% residents. Why anyone only caters to 50% of them or finds them important is bewildering to me” said Frank.  The biggest strength of transit advertising lies with the fact that it follows the crowd, to the most popular destinations in town!

Regina Russo and the Cincinnati Art Museum's Full Bus Wrap

Traditionally, the funding for non-profits’ advertising efforts are very limited, yet they need to get their message out in a big way.  It was Regina Russo’s job to see to it that Greater Cincinnati was aware of their new exhibit, and do so in a cost-effective manner.  She leveraged previously established relationships in the media world to help spread the word about the Cincinnati Art Museum’s “Circus Posters” exhibit.  However, it is a new method that is taking her message to the streets!

Enter Advertising Vehicles.  Regina worked closely with Advertising Vehicles and Cincinnati Metro to create a mass reach campaign that would achieve the Cincinnati Art Museum’s desired goals while staying within her budget.  It was clear she didn’t want to take a traditional, cookie-cutter approach to this campaign; she wanted it to be big!  When the dust finally cleared, her transit advertising campaign consisted of a plethora of displays (sides and backs) and the Cincinnati Art Museum’s first Full Bus Wrap. 

One major piece of the campaign that wasn’t mentioned above were their two “Bus Blips.”  Advertising Vehicles worked out a deal with Cincinnati Metro to take the Cincinnati Art Museum’s full bus wrap off of the street and park it near US Bank Arena, which was hosting the Ringling Brothers Circus the past two weekends.  As you can see, the bus was strategically parked in front of the main parking garage, making it a sight to see as people patiently waited in line!  Talk about a powerful addition to a marketing campaign!!

Article from FOX19.com—

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) – A new METRO bus service taking off this weekend.

The “One for Fun presented by Hollywood Casino” links all of the city’s hot spots together. It will being running on Sunday, Dec. 5.

The route starts at the Cincinnati Museum Center, runs through downtown, Mt. Adams and ends at the Cincinnati Zoo. Points of interest include Music Hall, the Fire Museum of Greater Cincinnati, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the Contemporary Arts Center, the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Aronoff Center, Playhouse in the Park, Eden Park and many more.

The new route map is available on www.go-metro.com. Fare for The One for Fun will be $1.75 per ride. The new route will operate service every 30 minutes, from approximately 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekends.

Read more about Metro’s ‘One For Fun’ program here—

Additional photos below from today’s event:

If a business has a desire to create this, then maybe they need to blend old media with new.  Take our product for example, what if an advertiser used the massive reach of a transit campaign to promote a giveaway on their Facebook Fan page?  Using buses is one of the greatest tools left for reaching a large amount of consumers in your marketplace.  Putting this reach together with the ability to start a relationship with them through social media may be just the spark a business needs to impact the social media scene in a big way.  Imagine driving all over your market and seeing a transit campaign with 40-60 displays barking a brand and a contest to you.  Win (idea here).  Become a Fan to learn more.  Simple and effective.  Potentially thousands of people could join in the first week alone.  Making your online real estate even more valuable.

Media has changed in a major way over the past decade.  Consumers and their media habits have changed in a major way, but one thing that remains the same is a successful media strategy involves a mix of media.  So the next time the conversation turns to social media and getting results for your business; ask yourself how I can leverage the old media to get jump start on new media?

Have you seen any great ideas or ways businesses have leveraged transit advertising to impact a social media strategy?  If so we would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment below.