posted
About a week ago I was watching the Weather Channel and happen to see a new Amtrak National commercial promoting Long Distance train travel.
I set my recorder that night, and as lucky enough to pick up the same commercial airing later.
I uploaded it onto my computer, and here is a link to it on YouTube. Enjoy! LinkPosts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I think it's great that they do this but what they need to show is the fantastic scenery you see from a train and not some annimated train. Amtrak needs to sell the experience and promote the destinations and not just give out general information.
-------------------- Remember no matter where you go, there you are - Buckaroo Bonzai Posts: 45 | From: Fullerton, CA | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Thanks for the link--Ive already sent it to a few folks. Random acts of travel---PERFECT
Posts: 139 | From: myrtle creek oregon | Registered: Jul 2006
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At first I liked the "random acts" play on "random acts of kindness," but then "random" started to bring other things to mind, like random delays, random quality in the diner, etc. It was a good idea at first but I think Tommers is right -- we need scenery, not animation. Donner Pass, Gore Canyon, the Cascades -- those will sell Amtrak a lot better, in my opinion.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Thanks for posting that! As a casual rail-fan and one who has not yet taken my first long distance trip on Amtrak, I have to say I can't see how this would motivate anyone to take a rail trip. Some of our friends already think we're nuts for spending four days round trip on a train. I thought the couple toasting in the diner was a nice touch, but it would be a lot more effective if they were real people. I agree, show the scenery too! It might not hurt to have a comercial dedicated to showing the advatages of train travel vs. flying too.
-------------------- Chuck
“Adventure is just bad planning.” - Roald Amundsen Posts: 80 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Feb 2007
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If I were designing an Amtrak ad, I would open with a broad shot of Terminal 3 at O'Hare during a fierce snowstorm with all the flights on the departure board reading "CANCELLED"and people packed into the waiting areas sleeping every which way on baggage ... then dissolve to happy couples toasting each other in the diner to the rumble of the train as the storm roars unheard outside. Unfair....but effective.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
If such advertising increases ridership, especially in the summer when the LD system runs near capacity, how long will it take to get new superliners funded, designed and built? A surge in ticket sales automatically results in this new equipment showing up wherever needed, right?
The ad is nice, but I would rather see the improvement of current service be a priority. I hate to be pessimistic, but I fear that more first timers will just become "never agains".
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Henry Kisor: If I were designing an Amtrak ad, I would open with a broad shot of Terminal 3 at O'Hare during a fierce snowstorm with all the flights on the departure board reading "CANCELLED"and people packed into the waiting areas sleeping every which way on baggage ... then dissolve to happy couples toasting each other in the diner to the rumble of the train as the storm roars unheard outside. Unfair....but effective.
That sounds like an excellent idea. I think Santa Fe once had a slogan "Next Time, Take the TRAIN". Amtrak could really play with that using billboards near airports, etc.
-Anton
Posts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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I hope somebody at AMTRAK monitors this board. In less than a day there are some wonderful ideas for an ad campaign, at no cost to AMTRAK!
We can complain about the animation, but it's cheaper than doing the real thing.
Posts: 518 | From: Maynard, MA, USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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I kinda liked the animation. Clean and simple. I wouldn't consider it the last word on advertising campaigns, but it looked nice.
I agree that Mr. Kisor's "canceled flights" idea has a lot of merit, but such a campaign is necessarily seasonal. It won't work now that we're going into Spring. But in November....
Posts: 2649 | From: California's Monterey Peninsula | Registered: Dec 2000
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I agree with Mr. Toy. I like the simple and clean animation with the driving music behind the voiceover. I would prefer the same voice announces the destinations at the end of the commercial.
Posts: 39 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Mr. Toy: I kinda liked the animation. Clean and simple. I wouldn't consider it the last word on advertising campaigns, but it looked nice.
I agree that Mr. Kisor's "canceled flights" idea has a lot of merit, but such a campaign is necessarily seasonal. It won't work now that we're going into Spring. But in November....
Oh I don't know. During the warm weather they could change the ads to scenes of long lines at the security gates with frustrated shoeless travelers. Then flash to relaxed passengers boarding a train. Flash back to a shot on a plane of cramped 3 across seats and inattentive flight attendants. Back to a scene of comfortable, relaxed people on the wide 2 across seats of a train, with a helpful and polite car attendant. Add to that a scene of the obersavation deck, the scenery, someone with a drink in their hands, well, you get the idea.
This country has become so focused on "hurry, hurry, hurry", that we've fogotten what it's like to take our time. Most people have no idea what train travel could be like. Gee, that's another idea, a "slow down and relax" ad campaign. Hey this is fun!
-------------------- Chuck
“Adventure is just bad planning.” - Roald Amundsen Posts: 80 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Feb 2007
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Although these ads showing the downside of other travel modes might please us rail advocates, there is an historical precedent that might suggest they could offend the political powers that be.
During the 70's there was a period of long gas station lines, Sunday closings, and stations running out of gas. Long distance auto travel became much less convenient, even risky.
Amtrak ran a large, very clever newspaper ad nationally showing a cute rural train station with the heading "Our stations will be open this summer".
These ads quickly disappeared. According to railfan rumors I read, certain officials in the Carter administration were convinced the ads would fuel a panic about gas availability; and even threatened tax audits of newspapers that did not pull them quickly enough.
Now we don't want to suggest that enduring Homeland Security precautions are anything less than an act of patriotism, do we? Everyone should know that if you don't support the oil, auto and airline industry, you are aiding the enemy.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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I heard an Amtrak ad on the radio today. I missed the beginning but the part I heard noted the ability to move about and use the diner and observation cars and quoted fares from LA to Seattle and the Grand Canyon. Ended with "Book your trip now at Amtrak.com". Pretty nice.
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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I wish I were being taped last July as I sat in a cramped commuter airling on the tarmac in Washington DC for 3 1/2 hours waiting for take off. I said to myself many times that day that this was the last time, the next time I get delayed it will be on Amtrak, where it's roomy and comfortable AND a lot more fun. I havent been back on a plane since that trip and I've been a vocal advertisement for Amtrak since.
Posts: 139 | From: myrtle creek oregon | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
One of the old passenger railroads (D&RGW?) had a tongue-in-cheek slogan, "Go Through the Mountains, Not Into Them." I liked that one.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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In today's Minneapolis Star Tribune there is a 7x10 ad with silhouettes of a couple in the diner with wine on the table and moonlight and mountains outside the window. The caption is "The cure for 'We never talk anymore.'"
There is a listing of six sample destination fares from MSP, and the silhouette of a superliner train on the bottom.
Well done.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Room Service: Anton. You're sure stirring things up with your posts lately.
Thanks!
Yeah.
What he said.
Someone (or several someones) is teaching you well!
Regarding 1970's advertising, does anyone remember the National Timetable about 1978 or so that had the Amfleet train squirting out of a bottle of medicine? It said something like "Take Amtrak to relieve gas pains."
Classic.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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