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Transit Agencies: Merchants of Cool

One of the greatest assets a transit agency can have (and which few actually do) is a positive brand identity. In the seemingly tireless campaign of trying to deliver comprehensive information in myriad ways to riders and potential riders, it can be easy to lose sight of the powerful simplicity of a smart logo or a solid design message. The agency’s image literally becomes skewed in the eyes of the public. It leads, in short, to a public affairs disconnect.

Marketing means such as buzz and word-of-mouth may seem like odd choices for a service as deeply engrained in tangible results as public transit, but it is a very effective way to engender influential support and erase divisiveness. Ironically, some of the best promotional tools for reinforcing your brand and generating positive public recognition actually incite a bit of friendly rivalry.

Merchandise is at its most effective when it identifies its wearer by some point of pride, whether it be music preference, wealth, profession, or otherwise. In the case of transit, it is neighborhood.
New York’s MTA has done quite well by the t-shirts circulating the boroughs that simply display a certain subway line’s logo and destination. Why? Because wearers can communicate something about themselves based on where they hop the train each morning. It has the dual benefit of encouraging word-of-mouth and demonstrating that riders are proud to take the subway every day.

This level of merchandise customization is the fuel for successful buzz marketing efforts. Look at the design, for instance, of the Brooklyn subway t-shirt. It uses the actual subway map as a style feature, wrapping the shirt in a blossom of color as seen on countless shirts in the hipster Mecca that is Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. Again, it communicates a sense of pride in being an urban dweller, of which public transit is an integral part. (Note that on the back shoulder, in a sleak, escalating fashion, are the words “NYC Subway”).

In Chicago, local artists have taken the personalization effort even further, placing images from single train stops onto mounted prints. They display simply, as an example, the letter “B” and the word “Belmont” underneath, all against a brown background, just as it actually appears at the Belmont stop on the city’s Brown Line.

At little cost, agencies can produce a variety of merch items and sell them through buzz-oriented retailers such as Army/Navy. Heck, they’ve written songs about subway lines; why not have a clothing line to bridge the divide caused by a poor public affairs campaign?