METRO's Social Media Video Promoting Light-Rail Service to RodeoHouston.

Target Audience: This entry was designed to target social media followers who might be interested in attending RodeoHouston 2018 at NRG Stadium.

Strategy Objective:In our efforts to cut through the monotony of everyday social media, METRO marketing launched a video featuring our own modern day "Urban Cowboy," smiling and dancing all along the METRORail Red Line. This video was featured across the social media spectrum: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube and even our homepage. This fun and light-hearted sales pitch included a not-so subtle message promoting the successful ridership numbers for METRORail's RodeoHouston service for the previous year. The prevailing thought is that no one enjoys sitting in traffic or searching for parking around Reliant Stadium, so the option of riding METRO would at least give viewers pause to consider taking METRO to RodeoHouston

Situation Challenge: Our constant challenge is to increase the number of riders on METRO buses and trains in a car-centric, oil industry city. One of the things we can do to familiarize non-transit dependent residents with public transportation is to persuade them to use it to attend special events. Who knows ' they might like it and consider riding on a daily basis! The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo or RodeoHouston as it is called these days, is one of our city's major annual events and it just happens to be held at NRG Park, located right on our light-rail Red Line.

Results Impact: This fun RodeoHouston video ran wild on multiple social media platforms, including local the local ABC TV affiliate's website, garnering 1.6 million impressions during Rodeo Houston 2018. According to analytics, more than 80% of viewers watched the video from start to finish and that another 35% of those watched video multiple times.

Why Submit: People are constantly hit with information everywhere they turn. We had to break through the monotony of the Internet and do something different and "off the wall" to capture people's attention. METRO marketing did just that with this fun, in-house zero-budget video.