Museum of Science and History (MOSH)/MyJTA app campaign

Target Audience: The Jacksonville Transportation Authority's (JTA) target audience for the partnership the organization formed with the city's popular Museum of Science and History (MOSH) to promote the new MyJTA mobile app, was regular customers, the community at large and students.

Strategy Objective:The strategy behind the partnership was to educate the community about the MyJTA app and encourage them to download it to make fare media purchases. The objective was also to increase ridership while giving parents an incentive to do something educational with their children during the summer by visiting the museum. In addition, the partnership allowed the JTA to widely promote the new app without paying money for advertising. The result was more than $100,000 worth of free advertisements that had a positive marketing tie-in.

Situation Challenge: The JTA embraces technology. It introduced the MyJTA app to eliminate the need for ticket purchases, which in turn, makes paying easier for customers, speeds up boarding time and reduces fare evasion. The smart phone application was also a way to appeal to millennials and choice riders who rely on their cell phones. The JTA's Communications and Marketing team initiated the partnership with MOSH to offer free admission to visitors who could prove they rode the JTA to get there and purchased their fare with the MyJTA. The promotion not only appealed to regular customers, but to parents and students looking for something exciting to do in the summer. MOSH is one of Jacksonville's most popular attractions that provides hours of fun for the whole family.

Results Impact: The impact of the MyJTA App promotional partnership with MOSH was far-reaching. It provided education and awareness to JTA customers about a new way to pay when riding the system. It gave Jacksonville residents and visitors another incentive to visit one of the city's treasured attractions. It helps the JTA's multimodal transportation system maintain high on-time performance standards by reducing boarding time. And the app resonates with students and millennials because it's easy and cool to be able to pay to ride by tapping a phone.

Why Submit: The JTA's partnership with MOSH deserves an APTA AdWheel Award because it is a perfect example of how a collaboration can result in a great return on investment. The partnership enabled the JTA to accomplish its goal of increasing the MyJTA app downloads by over 250 percent and it saved the Authority thousands of dollars by leveraging MOSH's marketing budget to promote the MyJTA app. Visits to MOSH also increased, providing families and students with a means to visit the museum multiple times during the campaign.