Foothill Transit Los Angeles County Fair Campaign

Target Audience: Primary: Current riders and potential riders ' Families in Azusa and across the San Gabriel familiar with Foothill Transit Secondary: Non-riders ' Los Angeles County Fair attendees likely unfamiliar with Foothill Transit

Strategy Objective:Leverage the on-going three-year partnership with the Pomona Fairplex to provide fair-goers with another transportation option ' Line 196 special service to the LA County Fair. Aim to continue to work closely with partners to cultivate a positive brand association by identifying opportunities to: improve service, enhance the ridership/fair experience, save on trip time and make the drop off as convenient as possible. Develop integrated cross-marketing campaign with various community outreach components to drive awareness of the extended service and position Line 196 special service as the ideal mode of fair transportation, and to effectively motivate infrequent and non-riders to try Foothill Transit.

Situation Challenge: Continuous collaboration with the Fairplex marketing team generated an analysis of previous comms efforts and revealed opportunities to further improve comms strategies and tactics to spread the word of the service. As a result, the timing of distribution, leveraging of new marketing mediums (Outdoor digital billboard, Radio tags and community event promotional materials leading up to the Fair season) and greater emphasis on social media and community engagement were employed this year.

Results Impact: Building upon a strong partnership, cross-marketing opportunities have expanded, thus reaching a broader community (Ex: Community events at Costco and city street fairs leading up to the Fair season). Leveraging the "talk-value" / brand equity of the LA County Fair proves to be successful in reaching new audiences likely unfamiliar with Foothill Transit. 68% (2,203) of sessions reported overall as new users visiting the LA County Fair landing page on the Foothill Transit website.

Why Submit: Three years ago, Foothill Transit identified an opportunity to increase ridership and drive positive brand association by aligning its brand with the Pomona Fairplex and providing extended service to the Los Angeles County Fair. Foothill continues to focus on customer safety and convenience for traffic flow, by working closely with both the Pomona Fairplex safety personnel and local police departments to review and improve the operational components of the special service year over year has been laid to provide this special service to the public in the coming years.