March 12, 2009 at 12:08 am

New Amtrak Commercial

STB tipper Max Jacobowitz say this during King Five news the other day:

Pretty cute ad.

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Comment by EvergreenRailfan
2009-03-12 00:44:56

I hope they keep it up. They got to quit relying on bad news that makes the news to get the word out.

 
Comment by Andrew
2009-03-12 00:57:25

The ad is pretty adorable I think, and it is a workable ad concept for transit, too.

Comment by EvergreenRailfan
2009-03-12 01:08:07

I would like to see Metro and ST advertise more. Also, placement in the opening montage of a news program on TV or other kind of show wouldn’t hurt. New Mexico RailRunner has had that, it is in the opening montage of images of Good Day New Mexico on KOB-TV, and has appeared in one TV show on USA, but could not remember the name.

As for what I meant by relying on bad news for advertising. In the editors note of the 40th Anniversary Edition(really 30th) of Passenger Train Journal, that bookings often went up after accidents, and the new riders were saying that they did not even know Amtrak was still around until they saw it on the news, even though it was bad.

Comment by joshuadf
2009-03-12 07:33:49

Unfortunately right now Metro doesn’t have enough revenue for the riders it has!

Comment by Chris Stefan
2009-03-12 08:50:25

A better idea would be for a trade association to take on the advertising. Since the ads would be for a public service they might be able to get reduced rates or free airtime like the AD council or various PSAs.

ST certainly should do a bit of a media blitz with both paid and free media.

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Comment by Chris Stefan
2009-03-12 08:52:00

That’s a cool ad. I saw it during “24″ the other night.

 
Comment by Squints
2009-03-12 08:53:56

Yay, that last scene is San Luis Obispo, California, where I went to college. I miss it.

Comment by runnerodb83
2009-03-12 09:24:26

ditto, I noticed that as well. Good old bishops peak and cerro san luis/madonna mountain

Comment by Squints
2009-03-12 13:23:24

Did you go to Cal Poly as well?

Comment by Runnerodb83
2009-03-12 23:21:22

Yes class of 2007

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Comment by akbar
2009-03-13 14:06:55

Native SLO boy here:

While the vista IS Cerro San Luis and Bishops Amtrak obviously did a little trickery with this video.

There is only one set of tracks right there.

This was shot very close to where Amtrak shot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayhem/2360914886

 
 
Comment by Squints
2009-03-12 08:55:16

By the way, that was the Coast Starlight.

 
Comment by Matt the Engineer
2009-03-12 12:33:31

Ah, the Coast Starlate. “The train will be arriving sometime within the next three hours.”

I feel like train travel could dominate all other forms of transportation in the range of 50-400 miles if only we could get reliability and frequency. But I’d settle for reliability and let frequency come with time.

 
Comment by Nathan from Tacoma
2009-03-12 13:01:39

What can we say, that kid with the train set has the right idea…

It’s about time Amtrak did some adverts. America’s Best Kept Secret indeed.

 
Comment by L. Smith
2009-03-12 19:32:15

This reminds me of the Mass Transit Now! ad, which had little kids and toy cars in it too.

 
Comment by SFJoe
2009-03-12 22:00:36

Nice ad. It effectively shows that trains are (or should be) a viable transportation option when compared to cars and planes. My only quibble is that one of the kids playing with the planes shouts “I gotta get to Cleveland!”. Too bad that Amtrak doesn’t have decent service to Cleveland – only two long distance trains that stop in the middle of the night.

 
Comment by Clarence
2009-04-09 21:29:40

Very nice piece of work, I just wish they had a bit more of Amtrak in it at the end.

It is always fun to play with toy cars! We’ve done that with Donald Shoup!

 

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