MTA 'Heroes Moving Heroes' Campaign Recognizing Transit Workers as Heroes on the Front Lines of the Pandemic


Target Audience: This campaign targeted the 5.8 million daily riders of the MTA's subways, buses and trains, as well as major media outlets and other influencers.

Strategy Objective:To applaud and recognize of the efforts of our frontline transit workers, we endeavored to position their efforts as no less heroic than those of heroic frontline healthcare workers. We introduced the "Heroes Moving Heroes" campaign to achieve this goal. We included a #heroesmovingheroes hashtag. View the campaign here: https://new.mta.info/heroes

Situation Challenge: In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown order gripped New York, daily ridership on NYC's subways and buses plummeted to less than 10% of pre-pandemic volume of 5.8 million daily riders. Yet Heroic transportation workers continued to provide critical transportation service for healthcare workers, first responders, childcare workers, grocery store employees and other heroes who are performing critically essential work during the Covid-19 pandemic. Transit workers were not being recognized by the public and the media for their heroic efforts.

Results Impact: The campaign succeeded in gaining the admiration and respect our frontline transit workers deserve, while capturing earned media and social media attention from major NY metro area news media, including NBC, CBS, and ABC TV news channels, the NY Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Images from the campaign: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos/albums/72157713784398743

Why Submit: We submitted this campaign because it demonstrates the ability to create a simple campaign with zero dollars that still resonates with frontline employees, the riding public, and the media. By equating the heroic efforts of transit workers to move other heroes on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, we succeeded in raising awareness of the critical role played by transit workers in supporting the effort of others tto combat the pandemic ad=nd keeping New York moving.