Amtrak’s Silver Bullet
Amtrak has gotten, well, on track since it first structured its promotion strategy around property tie-ins last spring. Revenues for 1998 topped $1 billion, a record for the railway, and were driven by Amtrak’s biggest ridership increase since 1988.
Amtrak concentrates its promotions on the spring and fall travel periods that are lighter than busy summer and holiday seasons. This spring, Amtrak teams with Major League Baseball for a $4 million, 32-city campaign starring malaprop master Yogi Berra, who touts special fares. TV, print, and station collateral show Berra offering advice like “Pair up in threes with Amtrak Spring Getaway Fares.”
An All-Star Game sweepstakes will award five trips for two to Boston for the mid-season classic. E. James White & Co., Herndon, VA, negotiated the deal with MLB, and expects to sign 15 to 20 major league teams and several minor leaguers for local-market overlays. Ammirati Puris Lintas and DiMeo Inc., both Chicago, handle advertising.
“We start with the big idea and it literally filters down to each train route and each community,” says Tamra McCraw, partnership marketing director at E. James White. Amtrak wants to reach MLB’s 68 million fans – especially Spring Break travelers. In exchange, the railway offers a captive audience of 20 million travelers, with another 40 million trekking through stations every year.
Amtrak ran its first joint promotion last spring when it tapped Broderbund Software character Carmen San Diego to tout special fares and a sweeps. It followed up with a $4 million fall campaign targeting seniors with cable network American Movie Classics. AMC picked up Amtrak’s “Explore America” fare name for an eight-week series that showed movies with great train scenes or set in cities on Amtrak’s routes.
Amtrak will continue to get more proactive with cross-promotions, especially with partners who offer a distinctive venue.
“Baseball is great for us because it’s a real piece of Americana, like we are,” boasts Amtrak’s acting senior director of marketing John Chatas. ” The minor league teams are very creative. Besides, we provide great content for them: travel prizes. Who doesn’t want to travel?”
