Community Transit's Print Media to Promote New Transit Network

Target Audience: The target audience for this campaign was first-time transit riders within Snohomish County, with a secondary focus on lapsed riders. The audience for out-of-home print media was further targeted to Lynnwood residents with custom messaging to Alderwood Mall shoppers and food court visitors. The audience for the direct mail print media tactic was targeted to single- and multi-unit households within ½ mile of a Community Transit route connecting to the new Lynnwood Extension light rail stations.

Strategy Objective:For out-of-home print media: - Reach potential riders locally: Alderwood Mall is one of the most popular destinations in Snohomish County -- 61% of adults living within 10 miles have visited the mall in the last three months. - Visible placements: By selecting the standee and table cling formats, Community Transit was able to have a significant presence throughout the mall. - Custom content: Unique campaign messaging and iconography to help mall visitors engage with the print media. For direct mail: - Multiple Phases: This print media tactic was broken out into two phases: coming soon and post-launch. - Promotional Offer: the mailer offered Snohomish County residents a promotional ORCA transit card - Retargeting: Promo card recipients were retargeted to encourage continued ridership

Situation Challenge: When Lynnwood Extension of Link light rail was announced, Community Transit immediately began planning for the many ways transportation in the region would change and identified opportunities to improve service for their Lynnwood customers. The result of this work was a county-wide network restructure to provide new connections to light rail stations and increase local service in Lynnwood. The new network, in coordination with other agency partners, helps customers connect to light rail and other popular Lynnwood destinations. With the launch of light rail and our new network, Community Transit was looking for innovative ways to reach potential riders and communicate the benefits of the new and improved transit network.

Results Impact: At the end of the campaign, we saw that: - Out-of-home print media was in market for 4 weeks and was viewed by at least 120,00 - Period over period, out-of-home campaign landing page traffic increased by 40% and engaged sessions increased by 70% - Community Transit has seen a 18% increase in ridership YoY, with the greatest growth in new and revised routes. - 41% of campaign engagements were driven by direct mail efforts - Promo offer mailer conversions had exceeded expectations, resulting in: o 3.07% direct mail response rate o 4,196 promo form completions o 3,708 promotional ORCA cards delivered to residents with convenient access to local transit services.

Why Submit: Community Transit's 2024 network restructure represents the unprecedented and necessary change in service that was required to meet the rapidly growing transit needs of the community. Campaign efforts helped boost ridership by 18% from 2023 to 2024, with boardings on routes that serve Lynnwood seeing the highest increase. . Based on the percentage of promo card participants who continue to use their card after the promo expiration, this print media successfully converted non-riders into regular transit users . This print media significantly increased campaign engagement, succeeded in communicating the extensive transit changes coming to the region, and convinced many first-time riders to sign up for a free transit pass.