Mountain Line Drive My Ride Recruitment Campaign

Target Audience: Mountain Line identified three target audiences for the Driver Recruitment Campaign: Recent college graduates / first job seekers; individuals seeking a career change or new opportunity; and older individuals not quite ready to retire. Because each of these unique audiences are motivated by different factors, Mountain Line developed an overall campaign theme of "Drive My Ride," but used different messages for each target audience. Existing Mountain Line employees that fit into each of the target demographics starred in the campaign, giving it a more personal feel and creating a greater sense of authenticity. The campaign featured specific messaging for each audience (i.e., "Desk job got you down?" for those seeking a career change).

Strategy Objective:The primary goal of Mountain Line's Drive my Ride campaign was to reduce driver shortages by recruiting qualified candidates to apply for open driver positions. A secondary goal was to create general community awareness of the Mountain Line Transit Bus Operator position as a positive career choice for the three target audiences. The strategy was to use Mountain Line's existing assets (buses, shelters, etc.) in combination with other outlets that had not previously been used for recruitment (Facebook, movie theatre, print, radio) to saturate the Flagstaff market over a two-month period and drive traffic to the Drive My Ride landing page. By creating unique messaging for each demographic under the umbrella of one campaign, Mountain Line was able to cost effectively reach a larger audience.

Situation Challenge: Like many transit agencies, Mountain Line was experiencing a driver shortage in early 2018. Existing drivers and supervisors were working overtime to cover the shifts, which could have a negative impact on morale and turnover in the long run. The Human Resources department was actively recruiting for new drivers, but in a competitive job market, qualified candidates were not applying. In addition, Flagstaff is a relatively small media market, so there are limited opportunities to reach the public and advertise open positions. As months of driver shortages dragged on, it became obvious that traditional recruiting methods were not working. The Marketing Department was engaged to create a compelling campaign that would reach new audiences and ultimately fill the empty driver seats.

Results Impact: All traffic from the Drive My Ride campaign was directed to www.mountainline.az.gov/drivemyride. This landing page featured the campaign video, benefits of the Transit Bus Operator position, and a link to apply. Since the page went live in May 2018, it has received more than 1,300 visits, with nearly 1,000 coming in the first month when most campaign activities were live. The 3-week Facebook advertising campaign, which individually targeted each demographic, had 146,000+ impressions and generated 657 clicks to the landing page. For the May 2018 recruiting period, more applicants than ever before reported learning about the job from the Mountain Line website and by October 2018, Mountain Line staffing was at its highest level in more than a year, and all full-time positions were filled.

Why Submit: Many transit agencies are stymied by the driver recruitment and retention challenge. For years, Mountain Line addressed the issue by using the same recruiting tactics and hoping to see different results. By transforming it into an engaging marketing campaign as opposed to a traditional recruiting campaign, the agency finally saw the results it needed to right the ship and fill empty driver seats.