MATBUS Video to Increase Ridership and Community Awareness

Target Audience: This video was created to catch the attention of personal vehicle owners that were not already utilizing public transit in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. The video format allows us to target young, curious choice riders through social media campaigns, where video is very effective. We can also reach older adults by running the video as a commercial on network television, targeting local news and other highly rated programming.

Strategy Objective:Our goal was to use humor and surprise to allow the public to see MATBUS in a new light. We used a style more dramatic than our usual marketing efforts, because we wanted to pique the curiosity of viewers at the top of the video. Melancholy music and a somber narrator tell the tale of the "abandoned cars." Then, the tone and music shift, revealing a bright, clean bus full of happy people. We wanted to present an environment that could help reduce the stigma of being a bus rider. We included a diverse group of people in the video, with a variety of ages, genders and ethnicities, allowing viewers to see themselves on board.

Situation Challenge: MATBUS has a yearly commuter challenge promotion called the iGoEco Challenge, which took place in March. The purpose of this promotion is to encourage the public to try MATBUS, rather than their personal vehicles, for at least one trip a week. We wanted to create a video that could be used to encourage drivers to try MATBUS during this promotion. We also wanted to make it general enough to be useful when the promotion was complete.

Results Impact: This video was posted to our social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Our younger populations are most easily reached through social media efforts, and in April 2018, our college ridership increased 10 percent system-wide over the last year. This video also began airing on the Fargo-Moorhead ABC affiliate TV station as a commercial on November 1, 2018. This has helped increase community awareness for public transit and more accurately depict MATBUS riders. The video is especially effective in the midst of a North Dakota/Minnesota winter and presents a clear comparison between cold, lonely cars and warm, friendly bus service.

Why Submit: MATBUS is truly "a place for everyone," and we thought that the community should be made more aware of that. Our video effectively uses humor and cinematic storytelling to encourage viewers to re-think their transportation choices, as well as their views of those who use transit. This video represents a shift toward more representation for our riders, and how an important message can be delivered creatively.