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METRORAIL SPOKESCHARACTERS

This proposal aims to help Metrorail increase revenue, message more effectively and build its brand by creating individual identities for each train line forming a new and original team of characters.

 
 
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Project Introduction

This proposal aims to help Metrorail increase revenue, message more effectively and build its brand by creating individual identities for each train line, forming a new and original team of characters. In marketing, these are called "spokescharacters". Through them, corporations can:

  • Connect, build, or strengthen both the company’s and the product’s image. (1)
  • Lend the warmth of a recognizable personality to their product. (2) 
  • Appeal to many different age groups creating a “cradle to grave” branding opportunity. (3)
  • Use their flexibility to appear cross media platforms ranging from billboards, the Internet, videogames, etc. (2) 

The best, current example of this is the Mars “Better with M” campaign for their M&M brand. Like the Metrorail Team, it uses each color’s unique personality to appeal to the widest variety of both potential and current consumers. (4)  The entertainment industry has also had success with anthropomorphizing / personifying inanimate objects. Specifically in the transportation category, two of the most profitable examples of this transformation are:

  • Thomas and Friends books and television series, which in 2010, for the 10th consecutive year, was the U.K.’s No. 1 license in the preschool category even after 65 years on the market. (5) 
  • Disney/Pixar’s Cars films with brand sales totaling an estimated $1 billion. (6) 

These two examples originated as books and films respectively but have translated themselves into a wide variety of advertising & merchandizing opportunities and theme park attractions.

The creation of the characters should be aimed initially at the tourist rider, and not the daily commuter, as not to give the impression that Metrorail is addressing existing issues with this new branding and marketing campaign. 

 

  1. Wen-Shin Huang, Tsuifang Hsieh & Han-Shen Chen, “The advertisement effectiveness of animated spokes- characters”, African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(23), 9971-78.

  2. “Spokescharacter,” Advertising Age, September 15, 2003, April 9, 2014. Accessed May 22, 2016, Available from http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/spokescharacter/98889/

  3. Dina Gachman, “America’s Favorite Spokescharacters 2014”, Forbes, April 9, 2014. Accessed May 22, 2016. Available from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dinagachman/2014/04/09/americas-favorite-spokescharacters-2014/#6fb6e2693f37. 

  4. Alm544, “‘Better with M’ campaign analysts”, Advertising & Society, Portwood-Stacer’s course at NYU, Spring 2013, May 13, 2013. Accessed on May 22, 2016, Available from https://advsoc2013.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/748/

  5. License Global, “Thomas and Friends is No. 1 in Preschool Again,” Jan 20, 2010. (accessed May 22, 2016); available from http://www.licensemag.com/license-global/thomas-and-friends-no-1-preschool-again.

  6. Katie Marsal, “Disney sells 5 million copies of Pixar’s Cars in two days,” AppleInsider, November 10, 2006. (accessed May 22, 2016); available from http://appleinsider.com/articles/06/11/10/disney_sells_5_million_copies_of_pixars_cars_in_two_days

 
 
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Increase Revenue

Introducing six spokescharacters will create an exciting, all-new merchandising opportunity for Metrorail to better capture some of the 838 millions dollars spent by 20.2 million years visitors to the area (1). Outlets for retail sales can be the existing website dcmetrostore.com, local souvenir stores and new vending machines in select Metrorail stations. 

As the lifeblood of the city, a tourist attraction with timeless architecture and a connector of people, this new branded merchandize would be the perfect way for visitors to remember their vacation to the capital of the United States.  
 

  1. Destination DC, “2014 Visitor Statistics, Washington, D.C.,” (accessed on May 22, 2016); available from http://destinationdc.dmplocal.com/dsc/collateral/2014_Washington_DC_Visitor_Statistics.pdf

 
 
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Message More Effectively

Once personified, each line can have its own voice and message based on its individual personality.  Each train line could then be relaying updates, tips, humorous posts, etc. directly to the riders through social media. Specifically, tourists could be given timely tips about how to have the best experience possible within the system. 

Additional benefits of spokescharacters include the promotion of WMATA's charitable causes and as a vehicle to teach Washington, D.C. history specifically and American history generally. 

 
 
"How to Build Brand Loyalty", University of the West of Scotland

"How to Build Brand Loyalty", University of the West of Scotland

Build Your Brand

Along with creating a new revenue stream and messaging opportunities, spokescharacters may also provide brand-equity protection. Consumers can more easily identify with spokescharacters than an abstract idea of a brand, thus accelerating brand identification and resistance to negative information. They can also improve brand claim recognition and positive brand attitudes. (1)

 

  1. Kristen Calabro, “Humanizing Brand Personalities: Analysis of Consumer-Brand Relationships through an Anthropomorphism Lens,” The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 2014, Strategic Communications, Elon University

 
 

Introducing the Metrorail Team 

Each one of the six spokescharacters is a vital member of the Metrorail team. And each one plays a part in any Metrorail story being told. Their parts are based on the unique personalities that each colored line possesses. These personalities are based on several factors:

  • Attributes of the colors themselves
  • Funny and/or positive D.C. metro area resident stereotypes
  • Tropes of successful entertainment ensembles

Using the destinations of each line as a source for the personalities was not used given their wide variety and their potential for unintended negative stereotyping.

 
 

About & Contact

Moving to the District of Columbia in 1999 without owning a car, the Metrorail system became the way I learned about the area.  It allowed me to go on my first date with my future husband in Chinatown, get to work everyday and to attend friends' birthday parties all over the metro area.  And each time it brought be back home again to the District.  However, I did not appreciate it until things went wrong.  

I would like to help build on the hope that the new leadership has recently created in the system. The current period of change at Metrorail has created the potential for new opportunities and with this proposal, I'd like to play a part in creating a new and better Metrorail system. 

Please contact me if you'd like to know more about this first of its kind idea for a mass transit system and some thoughts on how it can be beneficial to all parties involved. 
 
Sincerely,
Scott Hasty
scottedwardhasty@gmail.com
202 641 3085

 
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