Making a community fall in love with public transit

Easier said than done, right? With help from visual storytelling, The Rapid was able to drive awareness about the importance of the bus system through emotional resonance and understanding.

There’s More to The Ride was a multiyear campaign to build trust and win support for The Rapid, the public transportation authority of the Greater Grand Rapids area. In the public transportation industry, we’re often faced with the challenge of appealing to segments of the public who don’t utilize our services. Yet, public transit requires community buy-in and awareness to pass the property-tax millages that fund service.

At the heart of this campaign were the stories of real bus riders. We knew these stories were powerful but didn’t have a grasp of just how much conversation they would spark in the region.

This award-winning campaign encompassed:

  • A digital video series hosted on The Rapid’s website and YouTube

  • 60-second commercial spots running on all local news channels

  • Outdoor billboards throughout Grand Rapids

  • Print ads running in a variety of local publications, partner print materials, and beyond. Spanish-language translations were critical to this campaign.

  • Digital display ads and social media ads ran consecutively with the release of each video

  • Media partnership with the local FOX affiliate ran weekly segments each Thursday sharing locations for thrifty shopping on local bus routes

  • Overall, this campaign had more than 7 million impressions and nearly 60,000 online video views

Ask me about my favorite rider story.

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