Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority NFTA Metro Get Your Pink On Campaign

Target Audience: Female Riders, community members and NFTA-Metro employees.

Strategy Objective:In recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, the NFTA wanted to bring attention to the importance of annual mammography for those living in low income areas within Western New York. Our goals were to reach as many riders as possible with social media and community engagement for exposure. NFTA partnered with Roswell Park Cancer Institute in a GetYourPinkOn campaign and turned its October Metro monthly passes pink and provided a link to information on scheduling mammograms. This collaboration was geared to remind riders and community about the importance of annual mammography for early detection and prevention of breast cancer. Our Transit Authority Police supported the cause by placing pink decals on their patrol cars and donning pink police badges for the month.

Situation Challenge: One out of every nine American women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. There is no known prevention of breast cancer, but if it's found early and treated, there is a good chance for a cure. Metro serves a large portion of income-challenged neighborhoods and women in these areas, are in danger of not getting the proper care due to lack of knowledge and medical opportunities. It was critical for this campaign to remind our riding community that there is no cost for an annual mammogram, and these life-saving screenings can be accessed through the use of public transportation at Roswell and other healthcare agencies.

Results Impact: NFTA Metro introduced its GetYourPinkOn campaign in partnership with Roswell Park Cancer Institute with a media event on October 1. The event received media coverage from all three of our local television channels WGRZ, WIVB and WKBW. The campaign's social media posts garnered 12,984 Facebook impressions and 17,388 on all our social media channels. NFTA Metro also invited riders and employees to wear pink and post selfies in support of the GetYourPinkOn on Friday, October 5. This was promoted during NFTA's traffic reports on WGRZ and social media, resulting in significant community engagement.

Why Submit: It was important for us to reach income challenged women, who are often difficult to reach through general marketing efforts. This was the first time in Metro's history that we created a pass specifically in support of an awareness marketing campaign. This inaugural initiative included complete artwork and color change of approximately 12,500 regular Metro monthly passes and 2,500 half-fare passes. Our GetYourPinkOn campaign was extremely effective in reaching numerous riders, community members and employees through social media, earned media and word of mouth, while keeping within an extremely limited budget of under $500.