One of our enduring pet peeves at The Source is the misbegotten idea that government should be boring, dry, complicated, bureaucratic, technical and always play it ultra-safe when communicating with the public.
In that spirit, Metro’s marketing team recently put their collective heads together to produce a trio of new videos that certainly aren’t boring and/or bureaucratic. Rather, the videos are intended as a fun way to help folks learn to ride the system and remind everyone that taking transit can be fun and interesting.
The first of the new videos features hip hop duo Galactic Flo planning a transit trip and is posted above. We’ll post the other two in the next few days. Please feel free to share/comment/review on social media using the hashtag #metrorocks. Metro is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
One other note: the musicians who appear in the videos (and the firm that made them) are entirely local. If you’re a musician and would like to share your song about local transit, you can email us here.
The Metro Trip Planner is on the metro.net homepage. If you prefer, Google Maps can also be used to plan transit trips.
Categories: Go Metro, Metro Lifestyle
In the pantheon of ’80s flashback-themed transit videos, this is right up there. Love it. I just downloaded the app.
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If Metro’s idea of being “in with the times” is cheesy hip hop videos, then they’re about a generation behind the Millennials. Hip hop is more of a Gen X thing from the MTV era. Kinda getting cheesy by today’s standards.
If you want to attract Millennials, I suggest working with Youtubers. You can look at what’s cool today by watching Kids React and Teens React shows on the FineBros channel – and it ain’t hip hop.
If “Video killed the Radio Star” then the “Internet killed the Video Star.”
Why does Metro have a budget for this when they’re not even making money?
Similar to nearly all Metro ads, everyone in this video (besides the rap duo) is a Metro employee doing this in their free time. Also videos like these are filmed on Metro property or property owned by Metro employees. It cost almost nothing to make and is an effective way of communicating information to the public.
Besides having a twiter feed, this blog, a FB account, an Instantgraham, and Flixer (all intentionally misspelled), what actual advertising venues does Metro use? I know that they use the legacy newspapers (and occasional space on AM/FM and over the air TV) and the advert space on their own busses, trains, and facilities. Do they purchase cable ads? Actual web ads, not just presence (there are several different platforms, like Youtube, yahoo)? Alternate newspapers? How about vehicle based ads on city trash trucks, the BBB, or other carriers? Is there an offical Metro Pinetrest, Tumbler, do they Readit? Maybe ads on different streaming video services available through ‘set top boxes’.
One venue that could do a lot of good would be through employers. Many have to worry about the commutes of their employees (because of AQMD). Prepare a website with an easy name (like LAcommutes.la). Work with employers to get their jobsite locations on their own page (like LAcommutes.la/vons). The employee could then go to that site (after the employer send out an e-mail or flyer from Metro), select their work location, and then enter their home address and shift times. The site would use the already existing Metro (and BBB, Metrolink, etc.) infrastructure to check for commute options. It would also check for existing vanpools and other rideshare options. Future development would also search for biking options and more multi-modal options. Once the search is finished, the user would be presented with a one page summary of their options. They would then present this in some form for a small reward. Maybe the employer would give them something, or Metro could send out a free TAP card with 2 free rides on it, or a participating vendor would take the tear-off coupon part (with a unique bar code) for a free ice cream cone or the like.
You folks need to hire the people who do the Jack In The Box commercials when Jack made a come back.
Jack was blown up, but due to advancement in cosmetic surgery, he was brought back and blasted out the boring old men in suits, J-Box took back control and he is now cooler than ever.
The Dos Equis guy is at least 1000 times more interesting than Jack!
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
“I don’t always Go Metro, but when I do, I always TAP.”
“I don’t always Go Metro, but when I do, I find my bus with Nextrip.”
“I don’t always Go Metro, except when I do. Stay car free, my friends.”
Anna Chen
Writer, The Source
“I don’t always go Metro, but when I do, I fight off a man-eating land shark and find the buried treasure.”
Yours are probably better 🙂
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Almost, A missed opportunity. You guys needed to play the joke straight, remove all of the party and HD bits, and have just posted the video the retro 80s VHS look with no explanation. Just here is a hot new video explaining how Metro’s online stuff works!
Then you could have been playing into the idea that government bureaucracy is behind the times with whats new and cool.