SARTA/Canton Charge Ohio Loves Transit Partnership
Target Audience: General Public/Riders and Partners in Stark County and in the Canton, OH, area.
Strategy Objective:The overall goal of the campaign was to increase awareness within Stark County on the necessity of public transit and show how important it is to the people that live here. Our secondary goal, in partnering with the Canton Charge, was to increase our community standing and the potential supportive partnerships in the future. We started a week long campaign with a new event or aspect occurring on each day of the week, culminating with our "Ohio Loves Transit Day" on Friday, February 14th, 2020.
Situation Challenge: As part of the Ohio Loves Transit Campaign that is put on by a multitude of Transit Agencies throughout Ohio, SARTA partnered with the Canton Charge in an effort to bring attention to the importance of public transit in Stark County for a full week in February 2020. This partnership was also an opportunity for us to educate on what services we offer, how we offer them and who we offer them to.
Results Impact: Throughout the campaign we were able to utilize not only our own channels but those of the Canton Charge to reach a larger audience when it came to public transit in Stark County. This reach from social media channels and the Canton Charger website take-over allowed us to showcase Ohio Loves Transit and SARTA on two separate channels. In doing so, we found that the Canton Charge organization and those who follow the Charge became more aware of SARTA in the community, the services that we offer and the importance of public transit to Stark County.
Why Submit: We were able to utilize a unique resource (Canton Charge) in the community to convey our messaging with regards to the funding and necessity of public transit in Stark County to a secondary audience within their fan base, a lot of which may not have had a lot of experience with SARTA or public transit. This campaign also allowed us to foster a new partnership that will benefit us for years to come with advocates within the Canton Charge that have a greater appreciation for what we do, how we do it, and who we do it for.