Dear Mr. Lacey,

Doing errands yesterday and I heard a radio ad for the Heber Valley and the Thomas event coming up. I realize you have a great population base the in the Salt Lake City area (it was a Salt Lake City radio station I heard it on). Just how effective do you find this advertising campaign for your business?

Thanks
Robby

It got your attention. All good events and/or operations use a sucessful mix of media including web, print, radio and television. The percentage of each varies for your market and how strong your ads are and how big your budget.

Craig can give you some insight on what works for them. I am sure Randy G. can give some insight on percentages of media mix as well. Too often, tourist rail operations focus their money on mechanical needs and not marketing needs. They understand how to change a rivet(and enjoy it) but do not know how or enjoy placing an ad in the local newspaper or creating a new website.

Jason

Been several years since I've conducted up at Heber, but I know that the radio spots tend to run just about year 'round -- tapering off after Polar Express and then picking up with Thomas and running through the summer and fall with mention of the general runs down the canyon, the murder mystery/sunset special dinner trains, Haunted Canyon specials, Cowboy Poetry in November and the Polar Express again. In the past there have been passes "comped" to the radio stations for on-air contests, etc.

I've also noted their use of the calendar of events sections in the regional interest magazines such as Utah Valley Magazine.

They also make use of a billboard prominent at "Point of the Mountain" on I-15 which picks up the major commute between Provo in Utah County and Downtown Salt Lake City. It currently displays "Thomas" and has in the past covered other specials (Haunted Canyon, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day, etc.).

Craig probably can share the billboard stats, too.

sc 'doc' lewis

Robby,

Jason Johnson pretty much hit it on the head (and I've used his advice often)! While most of our patrons for Day Out with Thomas purchase tickets through the Internet, a broad mix of media works well for us. We use e-mail blasts for discount tickets (e.g. $14 "retro" pricing until April 1) through our on-line ticketing partners (SmithsTix and TicketWeb). At one or two weeks out from the event, we will also use "7-second billboards" (sponsorships on the 10:00 television news), as well as on-air appearances of Sir Topham Hatt on women's specialty television shows such as "Good Things Utah". We also place small display ads in all the rural Utah newspapers, and place one or two larger display ads in the major Salt Lake papers prior to the event. We also utilize direct-mail "postcards" in the higher-income population areas and place free ticket coupons in the local city utility bills. It is important to remember that young mothers and grandmothers are our target audience for the Thomas event. We utilize outdoor advertising in a high-traffic area on Interstate 15 by producing a customized billboard vinyl for special events such as Thomas and Haunted Canyon and we pay a nominal amount to reuse the vinyls, changing them out 4 times a year. We also work with the local PBS station and Comcast for sponsorships and on-air promotions.

As "Doc" Lewis stated, some of our radio advertising (especially with the smaller stations in rural central Utah) is done totally in trade (on-air giveaways, swag for station owners and other advertisers, etc.). Since train capacity during Thomas is not an overriding concern, trade-out is a very useful tool. One reason we advertise throughout the year with Bonneville Communications (the largest radio outlet in our market) is to maintain a good working relationship with that outlet. Although Bonneville's base pricing is considerably higher than Citadel, Clear Channel and others, we get a lot of "extras" (extra ad placements, on-air testimonials from celebrities, etc.) in the deal. The per-airing cost ends up being about the same as with the cheaper outlets, but we reach a much larger market due to Bonneville's superior demographics. For Thomas, we also work with the smaller outlets (mostly traffic-and-weather spots), and we produce customized Spanish spots with Bustos Media (to reach Utah's large Hispanic community).

A local resort operator once stated that just over 50 percent of advertising works -- we just don't know which 50 percent that would be! (If I knew, things would be much easier and better for us right now.) With the current soft economy and Utah's low per-capita income levels, people are really shopping the discounts right now. Almost every exposure has to have a "call to action" (discount or offer) attached to it in order to be effective. Most importantly, word of mouth is still the best means of advertising our product. Special events seem to be easier to promote, and a cookbook-type approach can be used. Regular scenic excursions are much more of a challenge, so it is necessary to occasionally change things up in order to maintain interest in the product.

Craig Lacey
Heber Valley Railroad

Dear Mr. Lacey

Thanks for the detailed response it is far more than I expected but it is appreciated. I know that at least a couple of people appreciated it. For the record, I believe the advertisement I had heard was on a Bonneville station in Elko NV as they have a transmitter nearby (I usually hit scan on my radio when an ad comes up). You may not be aware but in White Pine and Elko Counties of Nevada, the satellite and cable network local channels are based in Salt Lake City.
Having watched the struggles of the Austin Steam Train Association and the Cumbres and Toltec at various times it is very interesting to see how people place as their priorities and the effects of those decisions. For Austin they reduced the advertising budget one year due to down revenues only to see the slide continue because people thought they were no-longer running.

When I started with Grand Canyon Railway just as 4960 was coming out of the shop and the first dome car was purchased. It is amazing to see the changes in ridership over the next few years with a lot of people wanting premium service. It is interesting to see that other places have had the same success. Eric Hadder and I have watched how the changes in management at GCR have affected their advertising campaigns. I really think advertising and promotion is one of the places Max and Thelma really got it right. A big part of the promotional success was Jerry Thull and Charlie Zerker. They seem to have had a real knack for promoting the trip weather it was Polar or the trip to the Grand Canyon with AAA. During their time on GCR the foundation of what is the GCR Polar experience was laid and the marketing was a big part of that foundation. I know that the Polar numbers on GCR surpass many places annual ridership and Grand Canyon has enjoyed these numbers for years now. Seeing a 15 car Polar train is impressive.

Knowing your target audience something I do not think many people realize who there target audience is. I will never know how many times I saw Grandma buying something for the Grandkids in the gift shop even thou the kids were not there or heard that they were going to bring the grand kids on their return visit. Again thank you for your time to answer my question. I wish you and your staff the best for this upcoming season.

Robby