TCRP Project B-33:
Practical Measures to Increase Transit Industry
Advertising Revenues
Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
September 2008
Agenda
I.
Background
II.
Research Findings
III.
Conclusions & Recommendations
3/14/2016
22
U.S. Advertising: Current Situation
 US advertising in a “severe slump”
 Down 1% in 2007 to $230B
 Down another 3% in 2008
 Important developments in media industry
 Decoupling of advertising and media services
• Advertisers no longer look to one agency to both develop media plan and develop
advertising
• Recognition that there are many more media choices than TV, print, radio
 Advent of specialization
• Internet
• Out-of-home
• Direct marketing
3/14/2016
33
U.S. Advertising: Current Situation
 Advertiser trends
 Intense pressure to show results of marketing spending is driving
demand for media that:
• Can deliver sales and prove it
• Are highly targeted for maximum efficiency and effectiveness
• Can accommodate multiple ads (tailored by audience)
• Can break through the clutter
• Can “get in the face” of the consumer
• Promote consumer loyalty
• Are easy to change quickly
3/14/2016
44
Transit advertising revenue down 2% in 2007
$1,200
50%
1109
994
$1,000
889
1046
40%
883
821
816
756
$800
$600
30%
801
20%
10%
574
0%
$400
-10%
-20%
$200
-30%
$0
-40%
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Transit Media ($ Millions)
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Percent Change Vs. Prior Year
2007 Out-of-Home Media Spending = $7.2B
= 3% of Total U.S. Media Spending in 2007
($230B)
3/14/2016
Source: Outdoor Advertising Association of America
55
Agenda
I.
Background
II.
Research Findings
III.
Conclusions & Recommendations
3/14/2016
66
Conclusions
 Transit advertising has serious image and product deficiencies, particularly
among media generalists serving local and regional advertisers
 Transit advertising’s positioning is neither highly motivating nor
differentiated from billboards
 The level of product innovation is insufficient
 Aside from sales activities, there is no promotion of the product to its target
audiences
 The challenges of growing ad sales is greater among transit agencies not in
top 20 media markets
 Transit advertising sales materials are not as effective as they could be at
“making the case”
 The overall level of satisfaction with transit media sales reps is low
3/14/2016
77
Media Planner Survey: 153 Respondents
Media
Generalist
Out-of-home
Specialist
TOTAL
Clients advertise
nationally
42
32
74
Clients advertise
locally-regionally
60
19
79
TOTAL
102
51
153
 Director-level and above
 Employed by advertising agencies, general media agencies and out-ofhome media agencies, but not advertisers
 Balance of major media agencies (annual billings >$50 million) and smaller
agencies
 National distribution
 20-30 minutes, $100 incentive to participate
3/14/2016
88
Out-of-home specialists have greatest familiarity and
recommend most frequently
FREQUENCY OF RECOMMENDING TRANSIT MEDIA**
FAMILIARITY WITH TRANSIT MEDIA*
60
80
53.3
52.9
70.5
50
Percent of Media Planners
41.8
60
40.540.5
51.7
49.7
40
30
BB: 86%
70
50
29.4
27.5
28.3
40
24.8
45.3
BB: 67%
37.3
35.7
35
30
20
21.6
15.7
11.9
10
10
7.1
5.9
20
8.3
0
13.4
7.8
10
2
19
13.1
0
Total Sample
Extremely familiar
Out-of-home
Specialist
Generalist/National
Clients
Very Familiar
Moderately familiar
Generalist/LocalRegional Clients
slightly familiar
Total Sample
Out-of-home
Specialist
Always/Frequently
Generalist/National
Clients
Occasionally
Generalist/LocalRegional Clients
Rarely/Never
 There is an opportunity among all segments to increase familiarity, which
drives recommendations
*“Which of the following best describes your familiarity with transit media, e.g., its products, benefits, product
requirements, purchasing, etc.?”
3/14/2016
**“How often is transit media included in your recommended plan?”
99
Experience with transit media positive
EXPERIENCE WITH TRANSIT ADVERTISING
Agreement with statement, “I’ve had a good experience with transit advertising”
0%
10%
All Respondents
Out-of-home Specialist
30%
40%
50%
77%
82%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
21%
16%
2%
2%
Generalist/National
Clients
74%
24%
2%
Generalist/LocalRegional Clients
75%
23%
2%
Strongly Agree/Agree
3/14/2016
20%
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Disagree/Strongly Disagree
10
10
Transit’s greatest perceived strength: Reaching captive
audiences
% OF “BEST AT” VOTES AWARDED TO TRANSIT*
Percent of Media Planners
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
Ac
hi
ev
e
R
ea
ch
a
ca
pt
iv
e
au
m
di
ar
en
Bu
ke
ce
i ld
ts
at
/e
ur
xt
at
en
io
d
n
fre
Bu
qu
i ld
en
/e
cy
xt
Br
en
ea
d
k
re
th
ac
ro
h
ug
Be
h
cl
clo
ut
C
te
se
re
r
a
t
o
te
R
po
ea
a
bu
in
ch
R
to
zz
ea
a
f
sp
ch
pu
ec
rc
a
ha
i fi
m
c
a
La
se
s
d
s
un
em
a
ch
ud
og
ie
a
ra
nc
ne
ph
e
w
ic
pr
se
od
gm
uc
Bu
en
t
i ld
or
t
se
br
an
rv
ic
d
e
aw
C
Tr
ar
o
ig
m
en
ge
m
es
un
ra
s
ic
ct
at
io
e
n
ne
by
En
w
ha
a
s
c
nc
on
e
s
a
um
br
er
an
d’
s
im
ag
e
5%
0%
 Other strengths: saturating a market, extending reach and frequency
 Not a strength: building brand awareness or building a brand’s image
11
11
3/14/2016
*“Among transit, place-based, billboards, electronic billboards, television and the internet, which medium does the best job at…”
With the exception of “captive audience,” billboards
perceived to do everything transit does, but better
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
R
ea
ch
a
Ac
ca
hi
pt
ev
iv
e
e
au
Bu ma
r
k e di e
i ld
nc
ts
/e
a
e
xt
en tura
Bu
d
t
fre ion
i ld
q
Br / ex uen
te
ea
n d cy
k
th
Be
ro re a
ch
ug
clo
h
R
se
C
c
ea
lu
re
to
tte
ch
at
p
e
r
R
o
a
i
a
ea
nt
sp
b
c
of
u
e
La ci fi h a
pu zz
m
un c d
r
em as cha
ch
s
se
o
a
n e g ra a ud
ie
p
w
nc
pr h ic
e
o
Bu
du seg
ct
i ld
m
o
e
br
an r s e nt
rv
Tr
d
C
ic
a
ig
e
ge om wa
re
m
ra
un
ne
ct
ss
En ion ic at
e
by
ha
ne
a
nc
c o ws
e
ns
a
br
an ume
d’
r
s
im
ag
e
Percent of Media Planners
% OF “BEST AT” VOTES AWARDED TO TRANSIT, BILLBOARD AND PLACE-BASED
Transit
Billboard
Place-based
12
12
3/14/2016
*“Among transit, place-based, billboards, electronic billboards, television and the internet, which medium does the best job at…”
Transit seen as supplemental, second tier media
ATTITUDES and HABITS concerning TRANSIT MEDIA
0%
10%
20%
30%
"Transit's best use is as a
supplement to other media"
50%
60%
70%
80%
77
"Transit is an afterthought in
most media plans"
"Transit is only appropriate
for a small group of
categories"
40%
26
13
"Transit needs to be pitched
to clients; they rarely
request it themselves"
Strongly Agree/Agree
90%
15
33
Neither Agree nor Disagree
8
41
33
56
100%
54
21
23
Disagree/Strongly Disagree
 Over three-quarters of media planners view transit as supplemental
 Over half agree that transit is rarely requested for inclusion in a
media plan
3/14/2016
13
13
Image of transit media needs updating and greater credibility
Fundamental attributes
of a medium: need to
be higher
Only 1 in 4 find transit
media to be innovative
HOW WELL EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ADJECTIVES DESCRIBES TRANSIT MEDIA
Effective
Reliable
Almost 2/3rds of
respondents think
transit is expensive
Not perceived as hip,
sexy or intrusive…
A positive finding:
“Downscale” not as
prominent an issue as
expected
Perceptions of “clean”
are very weak
A positive finding: being
complicated is not a
barrier
3/14/2016
Efficient
Innovative
Expensive
Hip
Intrusive
Downscale
Sexy
Clean
Complicated
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
“Describes extremely w ell” + “Describes very w ell”
“Describes Somew hat”
“Describes slightly” + “Describes not at all”
14
14
Media generalists with local-regional clients have poorest
image of transit advertising
HOW WELL EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ADJECTIVES DESCRIBES TRANSIT MEDIA
Effective
Reliable
Efficient
Innovative
Not Expensive
Hip
Not Downscale
Clean
0
10
20
Generalists w ith Local-Regional
3/14/2016
30
40
50
60
Percent saying the adjective “describes extremely well” or “describes very well”
Generalists w ith National Clients
70
80
90
OUT-OF-HOME Media Planners
15
15
Most important media attributes: reliability, value, targeting,
measurement
IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA ATTRIBUTES
% of media planners who rated attribute as “extremely desirable” or “highly desirable”
100
100
0%
0% 10%
10% 20%
20% 30%
30% 40%
40% 50%
50% 60%
60% 70%
70% 80%
80% 90%
90% %%
MUST HAVE
delivers
delivers exactly
exactly w
what
hat w
was
as bought
bought
is
is aa good
good value
value for
for the
the money
money
can target specific
specific areas
areas or
or demographic
demographic groups
groups
has a credible
credible audience
audience msrmt
msrmt system
system
has
has comprehensive
comprehensive demogr
demogr data
data
is
is flexible
flexible on
on flighting
flighting
REALLY
SHOULD HAVE
has know ledgeable
ledgeable sales
sales representatives
representatives
can deliver
deliver metrics
metrics for
for ROI
ROIevaluations
evaluations
offers
offers innovative
innovative products
products
is
is easy
easy to
to execute
execute aa multi-city
multi-city buy
buy in
in
has
has reasonable
reasonable production
production costs
costs
SHOULD HAVE
has
has ability
ability to
to get
get my
my creative
creative team
teamexcited
excited
simple
simple to
to coordinate
coordinate and
and execute
execute aa campaign
campaign in
in
is
is easy
easy to
to learn
learn and
and stay
stay on
on top
top of
of
NICE TO HAVE
can't
can't be
be TiVo'd
TiVo'd
offers24-hr
offers24-hr exposure
exposure
has
has standardized
standardized ad
ad sizes
sizes
3/14/2016
16
16
Transit media’s strongest attributes not aligned with media
planners’ most important attributes
% of respondents who said the attribute “Describes transit media completely or
very well”
>75%
50% - 74%
25% - 49%
<25%
CRITICAL /
Delivers exactly (47)
Audience msrmt (14)
MUST HAVE
Good value for $ (37)
Comp. demo data (20)
Can target (45)
REALLY SHOULD
HAVE &
Know. sales reps (54)
Flex flighting (40)
ROI metrics (16)
Easy to learn (61)
Innovative prods (33)
Reas. prod’n costs (21)
SHOULD HAVE
Multi-city buy (41)
Simple to execute (45)
Creative team (33)
NICE TO HAVE
3/14/2016
Can’t be TiVo’d (86)
24-hr exposure (58)
GREEN: 0
Std’ized ad sizes (39)
RED: 5
17
17
Billboard’s performance on important attributes
better than transit’s
% of respondents who said the attribute “Describes billboards completely or very
well”
>75%
50% - 74%
CRITICAL /
Delivers exactly (59)
MUST HAVE
Can target (59)
REALLY SHOULD
HAVE &
Easy to learn (77)
SHOULD HAVE
25% - 49%
Good value for $ (41)
<25%
Audience msrmt (21)
Comp. demo data (22)
Know. sales reps (64)
Flex flighting (38)
Multi-city buy (56)
Innovative prods (26)
Simple to execute (62)
Reas. prod’n costs (28)
ROI metrics (7)
Creative team (35)
NICE TO HAVE
3/14/2016
Can’t be TiVo’d (80)
24-hr exposure (77)
Std’ized ad sizes (73)
GREEN: 3
RED: 3
18
18
70
60
50
40
30
10
3/14/2016
61
51
39
ot
he
r
ig
% of respondents saying the new medium would
ita
significantly increase the likelihood of their
ld
is
more transit advertising to their clients
recommending
pl
ay
s
on
D
ig
pl
ita
at
ld
fo
i
rm
sp
Pl
as
la
s,
ys
m
in
a
on
st
sc
at
ra
re
io
il/
ns
en
bu
TV
s
in
s
te
in
Ex
rio
ra
te
rs
il c
rio
a
G
rs
rs
lo
/b
ta
w
B
us
tio
-in
lu
es
n
-d
ewa
ar
to
ot
k
lls
h
di
ca
sp
en
pe
la
a
s
bl
ys
ed
on
po
In
ra
-tu
st
i l/
er
bu
nn
s
el
s
ex
su
te
bw
rio
ay
rs
ad
ve
N
rti
on
si
e
ng
of
th
e
ab
ov
e
D
Preferences for new media point to digital
MOTIVATING POWER OF NEW MEDIA
58
49
35
27
20
7
6
0
19
19
Though comfortable selling transit, two-thirds of media
planners don’t disagree that it’s difficult to sell
ATTITUDES and HABITS concerning TRANSIT MEDIA
0%
10%
20%
30%
"I'm comfortable
recommending transit
media to clients"
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
92
"I recommend transit
more than I did in the
past"
"It's difficult to sell
transit media"
40%
5 3
52
21
"Clients' perceptions of
transit media are
positive"
Strongly Agree/Agree
41
45
46
Neither Agree nor Disagree
7
34
44
10
Disagree/Strongly Disagree
 Only 46% of media planners agree that clients’ perceptions of
transit media are positive
3/14/2016
20
20
Satisfaction with sales reps shows weakness
SATISFACTION WITH TRANSIT MEDIA SALES REPS
0%
Total sample
Planners with multimedia reps (79)
10%
20%
30%
40%
23.5
16.5
50%
60%
70%
80%
37.9
90%
SATISFACTION WITH TRANSIT-ONLY SALES REPS
100%
38.6
40.5
43.0
“My transit rep is reliable for following up
after the pitch”
61
"My transit rep is knowledgeable and
prepared”
51
“My transit rep keeps me current on
new media options”
45
"My transit rep takes time to understand
my needs and my clients’ objectives”
43
"My transit rep provides effective sell-in
tools and materials”
Planners with transitdedicated reps (74)
31.1
35.1
Extremely/very satisfied
Satisfied
Somewhat/not at all satisfied
 More dissatisfaction with multimedia sales reps
 Only 42% of planners with multimedia reps could agree that rep
spends as much time on transit as
on other media
Best in class/Above Avg
31
37
Average
38
20%
12
24
42
32
0%
18
37
39
"My transit rep provides useful
demographic information”
33.8
21
40%
15
24
30
60%
80% 100%
Below Avg/Worst in class
SATISFACTION WITH MULTI-MEDIA SALES REPS
“My media sales rep is as
knowledgeable about transit as other
media”
73
“My media sales rep provides sell-in
tools and materials for transit that are
as effective as those for other media”
51
“My media sales rep spends as much
time selling me on transit as on other
media”
3/14/2016
26
42
0%
Strongly Agree/Agree
17
20%
Neither Agree nor Disagree
29
40%
60%
10
23
29
80%
21
21
100%
Disagree/Strongly Disagree
Summary of the Obstacles to Transit Advertising Growth
1. Transit advertising’s positioning – the benefits its target audience
perceives it to offer – is neither highly motivating nor differentiated
from billboards;
2. Transit advertising has serious image and product deficiencies;
3. The level of product innovation is insufficient to generate interest
and enthusiasm among media planners and advertisers;
4. Aside from sales activities, there is no promotion of the product to
its target audiences;
5. Transit agencies not in top 20 media markets face greater obstacles
to growth than those in the top twenty;
6. Transit advertising sales materials are not as effective as they could
be at “making the case”;
7. The overall level of satisfaction with transit media sales reps is low.
3/14/2016
22
22
Agenda
I.
Background
II.
Research Findings
III.
Conclusions & Recommendations
3/14/2016
23
23
Transit is very well positioned to grow
 Media dollars are shifting out of traditional media and into
alternative forms
 Internet is the fastest growing medium, but out-of-home is the
second fastest
 Public transit ridership is increasing as fuel becomes cost prohibitive
 Advertisers’ demand for new and different formats is what’s driving
out-of-home’s growth…something transit could deliver
 Advertisers also looking to connect in a more personal, one-on-one
way with consumers…something transit does deliver
However, transit advertising has many issues to address
3/14/2016
24
24
Transit’s positioning is neither highly motivating nor
differentiated from billboards
 Today, transit advertising sits in the shadow of the out-of-home advertising
800-pound gorilla, billboards

Transit is seen to have the same uses as BB, but performs less well across the board
 Consequently, 77% of the sample agreed that “Transit’s best use is as a
supplement to other media”
 All 3 media planner segments view “Reach a captive audience” as transit
advertising’s greatest strength, as well as its unique strength
 Our judgment and knowledge of media tells us that this is not a highly
sought after media objective
 Advertiser trends indicate demand for highly targeted media, and for media
that can break through clutter, connect one-on-one with consumers, trigger
consumer action
Transit is lacking relevance and distinctiveness in today’s
advertising market
3/14/2016
25
25
Recommendation #1. Reposition transit to differentiate it from
billboards, elevate its importance and update its image
 Give transit a compelling positioning in its own right
 Transit has something different from billboards to offer…and just as compelling
Transit media are the mass media that get “up close and
personal” with your consumers so that they don’t just see,
they experience your brand message.
 Permission to believe:

Transit advertising is at eye level…in stations, outside stations, on the street, in the cars

Transit advertising can encompass a consumer…whether they are in a station domination or an interiorwrapped bus or railcar

Transit media lend themselves to innovative creative (e.g., bus wraps)

Transit media travel…customers can confront your transit ad multiple times during a day, not just at rush hour

Transit is affordable – you can be in your audience’s faces with one campaign after another
 Test positioning among target audiences before launching
3/14/2016
26
26
Aside from direct selling activities, there is no promotion of
the product to its target audiences
 Many media have industry associations that focused heavily (if not
exclusively) on promotion of the medium to the advertising world
 Promotional tactics include

Websites for providing news and information

Events showcasing the medium’s best uses to media planners and
advertisers, often in collaboration with associations of national
advertisers

Advertising campaigns expressing the unique value proposition of the
medium
 We found no evidence of wide-scale promotion of the medium to
media planners or advertisers
In the highly active and highly competitive media
market, transit’s diminished presence is a liability
3/14/2016
27
27
Recommendation #2. Promote transit media among
both advertisers and media planners
 Commence national advertising, e.g., in professional trade journals and
on websites
 Develop tools to make media planners’ jobs easier

Create a searchable directory of transit agencies with demographic data and
advertising sales contact information

Identify transit agencies in the directory by audiences reached, e.g.,
college students, the elderly, Latinos, etc.
3/14/2016
28
28
Recommendation #3. Create a transit media trade group
 Mission: to promote sales of transit media
 Activities, e.g.:

Organize industry events / showcases

Forge alliances with national advertisers

Advocate for legal and regulatory changes to permit new product
development

Ease access for media planners

Develop national marketing and communications strategies

Organize and promote multi-transit agency offerings, e.g., transit
agencies that serve college populations or senior populations
3/14/2016
29
29
Transit has serious image and product deficiencies
 Most fundamental attributes perceived weakly




Efficient – only 38% said this describes transit advertising
Effective – only 58% said this describes transit advertising
Reliable – only 50% said this describes transit advertising
A good value for the money – only 37% said this describes transit
advertising
 Image perceptions especially weak among media generalists with
local-regional advertisers as clients
 Having audience measurement, demographic data, the ability to
demonstrate that what was bought was actually delivered – are all
“must haves” for media planners
 Transit perceived to not deliver on any
3/14/2016
30
30
Recommendation #4. Develop a credible audience measurement
system
 Develop an audience measurement system to address weak perceptions
of efficiency, effectiveness, value, reliability
 In the short term, conduct a series of market research studies to
explore/prove transit’s effectiveness

Multi city

Multi media (buses vs trains vs stations, etc)
3/14/2016
31
31
The level of product innovation is insufficient
 Advertisers demand venues that are new, exciting, fresh – so that
they can make a statement with their choice of medium
 Perceptions of transit advertising as innovative, fresh, exciting are
low
 The product innovation ideas in the ASCs’ pipelines are not among
media planners’ most highly rated ideas.
 Transit agencies indicate willingness to try new media
 However, advertising sales contractors perceive many transit
agencies to not be fully aligned with this objective

3/14/2016
“We want to come in and show transit authorities additional revenue
opportunities, but they’re not so interested – it’s the difference between an
entrepreneurial/creative business and a government bureaucracy.”
32
32
Recommendation #5. Introduce digital and interactive
(experiential) technologies to transit advertising
 Get ASCs to collaborate on expediting the introduction of new media to
transit
 Address alignment issues within transit agencies

Appoint a director of new business development within the transit agency whose
entire responsibility is driving higher advertising sales

Alert general managers that their attention will be needed in a timely manner

Explore incentives, e.g., rewarding the department driving business development
with bonuses or extra spending if goals are reached
 Address obstacles/disincentives to new product development in the
ASC-TA contract structure
 Forge a collaborative effort between ASC’s and TA’s to bring about
legislative/regulatory changes needed to permit digital’s use on transit
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Transit has serious image and product deficiencies - more
 Less than 1 in 10 respondents describe transit advertising as “clean”
 Only 1 in 5 respondents perceive production costs to be reasonable
 Less than half think that transit media offers flexible flighting
 Slightly more than half think that it’s easy to do a multi-city buy in
transit advertising
 More than half think that advertisers’ perceptions of transit
advertising are negative
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Recommendation #6. Address transit’s other product and
image deficiencies
 Re-position and promote transit advertising’s benefits
 Disseminate examples of best-in-class creative (ads) used in transit
 Further explore extent of negative advertisers’ perceptions to better
inform media planners
 Further explore perception of high production costs so that it can be
addressed
 In communications
 By introduction of cost-lowering technologies
 Put additional focus on keeping transit ads and their environs clean and
well maintained
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The challenges of growing ad sales is greater among
transit agencies not in top 20 media markets
 General estimates are that 40% of transit media is purchased by
national advertisers and 60% is purchased by local and regional
advertisers
 National advertisers generally want only top 20 media markets
 It is more or less up to the media planners working with local and
regional advertisers to drive ad sales growth for transit agencies
outside of top 20 markets
 This study shows that media planners whose clients are local and
regional advertisers have the least favorable image of transit
advertising
 This group is the least enthusiastic and most skeptical. Most of all,
because they are working with the smallest budgets, they need to be
convinced of transit advertising’s value for the money.
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Recommendation #7. Develop specific strategies to promote
ad sales of transit agencies outside top 20 markets
 Arrange individual meetings with media planners serving local and regional
clients

Advertising sales contractor and transit agency do meeting together

Tailor marketing pitch using each segment’s specific beliefs and attitudes about
transit advertising, as outlined in this study

Use new positioning and market studies to change media planner’s image of
transit advertising’s effectiveness
 Promote groups of transit agencies that reach audiences in high demand

E.g., all transit agencies that serve college towns

E.g., all transit agencies that serve Latino markets

E.g., all transit agencies that serve senior markets

Make this information searchable in the transit agency database
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Transit advertising sales materials are not as effective as they
could be at “making the case.”
 Media Planners see deficiencies in the sell-in tools and materials the receive on
transit
 Media Planners not getting the measurement data they “must have”
Describes
Extremely/very
Desirable
completely/very well
“has a credible audience measurement system”
88%
14%
“has comprehensive demographic data”
86%
20%
Transit
 Many media planners agree that “it’s difficult to sell transit media to
advertisers” (21% agree and 45% are on the fence)
 We found no evidence of a selling message other than “extends reach and
frequency,” which is of value, but not distinct
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Recommendation #8: Arm sales force with information,
research, case studies (and ultimately, measurement)
 Re-position transit to give it a more compelling benefit and to differentiate it
from billboards
 Produce high quality sales materials targeted to media planners
 A brochure expressing the benefits and best uses of transit, as well as success
stories
 Evidence of transit’s effectiveness and efficiency via a credible research study of inmarket usage
 Information on exactly what they’re selling – routes, times, locations for every
market
 Information on competing out of home media – locations, cost, availability, etc.
 In collaboration with media planners, produce high quality sales materials
targeted to advertisers

To use in direct to advertiser sales opportunities

For use by media planners in their pitches to advertisers
 Provide media planners with the necessary information to prepare post-buy
analyses to communicate exactly what was bought
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The overall level of satisfaction with transit media sales
reps is low
Total sample
Planners with multimedia sales reps
Planners with transitdedicated reps
Extremely/
very satisfied
24%
17%
31%
Satisfied
38%
41%
35%
Somewhat/
not at all satisfied
39%
43%
34%
 Media planners with multi-media reps are less satisfied than are planners
with transit advertising dedicated sales reps

58% either disagree or are on the fence re: “My media rep spends as much time
selling me on transit as on other media.”
 Our research confirmed that the practice of offering less commission for
transit ad sales than for the sale of company-owned media exists; it is
unknown how widespread this practice is
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Recommendation #7: Address the dissatisfaction with sales
reps among media planners
 Establish sales performance measures and hold ASCs accountable to
them
 To the extent that they exist, remove financial disincentives of selling
transit for multi-media reps
 Conduct further research to gain more detailed insights on drivers of
dissatisfaction
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Recommendations for the Proposed Media Trade
Organization
1. Develop the national transit media advertising campaign
(Recommendation #2).
2. Provide guidance (e.g., selling messages about the benefits of transit
advertising) for the development of sales tools and materials to help
sales reps be more responsive to media planners and advertisers
(Recommendation #8).
3. Commission market research documenting the effectiveness of
transit advertising (Recommendation #8).
4. Lead the effort to establish a more effective way to portray
demographic information depicting transit advertising’s audiences
(Recommendation # 8).
5. Organize conferences that showcase transit media to media
planners and advertisers and include a competition showcasing
best-in-class transit advertising (Recommendation #2).
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Recommendations for the Proposed Media Trade
Organization
6. Lead the effort to develop an audience measurement system
(Recommendation #4).
7. Develop tools and information for media planners to make it easier
for them to use transit media (Recommendation #2).
8. Advocate for legal and regulatory changes necessary to permit new
product development (Recommendation #5).
9. Develop “package” offerings comprising the advertising space of
multiple transit systems (Recommendation #7).
10. Charter a work group to develop strategies to expedite the
introduction of new technologies (Recommendation #5).
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Recommendations for Transit Agencies
1. Commit to supporting the internal effort required to drive
advertising sales growth
 Management needs to make themselves available for timely decision-making on
such topics as introducing new advertising platforms (e.g., digital) and pursuing
lucrative, but possibly new, opportunities with important advertisers.
 Appoint an entrepreneurial advertising director within the transit agency whose
charge is to drive sales as high as possible, within reasonable limits.
 Decide that the agency can tolerate the degrees of risk that typically accompany
new business development efforts.
2. Locally assess the performance of the sales force and address
underperformance as warranted
3. Set performance targets and hold sales organization accountable to
them
4. Find a mutually acceptable approach to pursuing the introduction
of new products and technologies with sales contractors
5. Require sales contractors to deliver periodic new product
development progress reports along with business reviews
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Recommendations for Advertising Sales
Contractors
1. Find a mutually acceptable approach to pursuing the introduction of new
products and technologies with transit agencies
2. Provide better sales training and materials and assess sales incentive
structures
3. Survey clients – both advertisers and media planners – on how their needs
can be better met
4. Apply the information in this study to tailor the sales pitch by type of
media planner
 Out-of-home specialists are transit advertising’s biggest fans. They just need to
be given more reasons to use transit as frequently as they use billboards
 Media generalists with national advertiser clients are also big fans of transit.
Most critically, this audience needs to be convinced of transit’s effectiveness
 Media generalists with local/regional clients, as we have seen, are the least
enthusiastic and most skeptical. Most of all, they need to be convinced of transit
advertising’s value for the money
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Prioritizing Next Moves
IMMEDIATE
Extremely
high value
High
value
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LONGER TERM
 Test proposed positioning
 Create transit advertising trade
organization
 Website /resources for media
planners
 Effectiveness studies
 Focused, compelling sales message
and materials
 TA new business director
 More insight on low sat with sales
reps
 Audience measurement system
 Innovative new products
 Address sales force lack of
satisfaction
 Advertising & promotion
 Address obstacles to new product
development
 Focus on clean
 Collect and disseminate best-in-class
transit advertising
 Joint promotion with other instreet media
 Explore high production costs
 Explore (and seek to disprove)
negative perceptions of transit
advertising among advertisers
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End of Presentation
TCRP Project B-33:
Practical Measures to Increase Transit Industry Advertising Revenues
Principal Investigator:
Jane Alpers, Executive Vice President
Denneen & Company, Boston, MA
jalpers@denneen.com
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