MATBUS Bus Advertising Wrap to Enhance Public Awareness and Perception

Target Audience: The target audience for the Fargo "A Place for Everyone" bus wrap was all citizens of the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. The intent behind projecting this message to such a wide audience was to let residents from diverse cultures, professions, ethnicities, and ages know that MATBUS is an option for everyone.

Strategy Objective:The strategy behind this bus wrap was to show people of all kinds riding the bus, so that onlooking Fargo-Moorhead residents would be able to envision themselves riding with MATBUS. We included professions such as a nurse and a construction worker, while also incorporating families, couples, and college students to demonstrate various rider demographics. We also incorporated individuals from a variety of ethnicities, in order to reflect the diversity of the Fargo-Moorhead population. The "A Place for Everyone" tagline seen along the top of the bus encourages residents to see themselves riding MATBUS.

Situation Challenge: The Fargo side of MATBUS was in need of a flagship bus for marketing and public outreach purposes. Essentially, this bus wrap was created in order to spread the message of MATBUS being an option for everyone on a daily basis, while also creating a unique and eye-catching bus wrap that we could use when we bring a bus to public events.

Results Impact: This bus wrap has served to increase MATBUS's public awareness. Not only has the new bus wrap been widely well received on social media platforms, but both riders and non-riders have made numerous comments on the quality of the bus wrap and how easily recognizable it is. This bus wrap has helped to improve the public image of MATBUS, while also contributing positively to the MATBUS brand. In terms of marketability, this project is serving the purpose of making MATBUS known as the public transportation option for the entirety of the Fargo-Moorhead metro area.

Why Submit: This entry was submitted in order to recognize MATBUS staff in their efforts to improve the public image of their public transportation organization. All too often, public transportation gets stigmatized as inconvenient, unclean, unsafe, and only an option for people who are transit-dependent. Our goal with this project was to push back against those stereotypes, and to help the citizens we serve to envision themselves riding a public transportation system that is available for everyone. We have already received significant amounts of positive feedback in the short time that the bus wrap has been in service, and we have found that the wrap has served the purpose of improving the MATBUS public image, while encouraging new riders to realize that MATBUS is "A Place for Everyone."