Your client
wrapped around a train
The sight of those brilliant colors rushing toward you
By Diego Vasquez
Jan 19, 2010
At its best, out of home advertising offers advertisers the opportunity to break beyond clutter and be seen where few or no other advertisers are visible.
At its very best, it delivers a dramatic visual impact.
Those are two qualities in abundance when an advertiser chooses to wrap his message around a moving train.
Trains often travel through areas where outdoor advertising is limited or restricted, and there's nothing like seeing a train coming at you wrapped in brilliant colors.
The wraps are seen by a cross-section of people, whether it's a coast-to-coast, a suburban commuter or a light rail train.
Train wraps are widely available, and they're likely to become more so with new light rail systems popping up in cities such as Columbus, Detroit, Kansas City and Milwaukee.
To find out how to get your client’s message wrapped around a passenger train, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Wrapping cross-country, suburban commuter or light rail passenger trains with your client’s logo or message.
Who
This emerging outdoor arena is dominated by the major players in transit advertising, including Titan Worldwide, CBS Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor, working with the individual transit systems.
Amtrak does not actively promote train wraps, but it does accept them. Advertisers and their agencies can pitch ideas through the company’s real estate department.
How it works
Think of trains as the ultimate mobile billboard, traveling across the country, or for that matter across town, for riders and drivers to see.
 |
Train wraps offer more flexibility for advertisers than buses or taxicab tops because they are so much bigger, offering more room for creative. They're also very customizable and have a relatively short turnaround time, two weeks.
In most cases advertisers and agencies come up with the creative content they’d like on the wrap. Once approved by the train company or city transit authority, the art is sent to a design company that creates the actual wrap.
The designer makes a template using measurements and photos of the train being wrapped, and the creative is created from that template. The graphics are then printed onto an adhesive vinyl, which is heated when it is applied to the train in order to conform to its contours.
It takes a team of five or six people two to three days to apply the wrap, working at night when the train is not in use.
 |
Train wraps are available in just about any market, and they connect with a wide swath of demographics as they move though neighborhoods and from town to town, typically traveling along routes where billboards are restricted or banned outright.
Train wraps can also be very targeted. In late 2007, History Channel wanted to advertise its special "1968 with Tom Brokaw" to business decision-makers.
It chose to wrap an Amtrak Acela Express commuter train that went through Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston, reaching the businesspeople who take that train regularly as well as anyone who happened to be in sight of the track.
Train cars can also be wrapped interiorly, but that obviously limits the ads' audience to the riders on the cars. Exterior wraps can be supported by in-car materials such as static signage and street teams handing out pamphlets.
 |
Wraps can remain on the train or train cars for up to three to five years.
Markets
There are light rail and commuter rail lines in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Newark, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C., with plans for similar lines in many other markets, according to the Light Rail Now Project, an organization that supports efforts to develop rail transit.
Train wraps are available in most of these markets. If they are not, buyers can always pitch the idea to city transit authorities in the hopes of being the first to wrap a train on that system.
Numbers
Numbers vary by individual market. For example, Chicago’s Metra suburban commuter rail line serves 87 million passengers annually.
Amtrak had 2.39 million riders in November 2009, up slightly from 2.33 million in November 2008.
How it is measured
There is no formal metric for train wraps, but passenger counts and traffic data can be used to estimate ad impressions.
What product categories do well
Frequent advertisers include TV networks, supermarkets, beverages, movies, banks, electronics, telecommunications and radio stations.
Demographics
Demographics vary by market.
In Chicago, commuter rail riders are 56 percent female and 44 percent male, according to the 2008 Metra Ridership Report. Seventeen percent are under age 30, 23 percent 30-39, 29 percent 40-49, 23 percent 50-59 and 8 percent 60-plus.
Eight percent of riders have a high school education or less, 25 percent have some college, 38 percent have an undergrad degree and 29 percent have a postgraduate degree. Five percent have an annual income of $24,999 or lower, with 8 percent between $25,000 and $39,999, 31 percent between $40,000 and $74,999 and 56 percent at $75,000 or more.
More broadly, U.S. train riders are roughly 45 percent white, 30 percent black, 15 percent Hispanic and just under 10 percent Asian, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Roughly 20 percent of U.S. train riders make less than $25,000 annually, with about 50 percent between $25,000 and $75,000, a quarter between $75,000 and $150,000 and 5 percent at $150,000 or above.
Making the buy
Pricing varies by market for wraps on commuter rail and light rail trains. An ad on one car in a smaller market could cost as little as $1,000 per month, while a month-long campaign on an entire train in a large market could cost $30,000.
Amtrak has no set costs for wraps, but presumably wrapping a train running between markets such as Washington and New York would be considerably more expensive.
Who’s already wrapped on trains
Recent advertisers include Pepsi, Target, AT&T, Cub Foods, Apple, Harris Bank, History Channel, McDonald’s, Stanford University Athletics, Super Cuts and Illinois Tourism.
What they’re saying
“People do them because they want to make a splash. They can have a breathtaking impact and, in conjunction with other media, including interior, you can communicate an additional message. And also they can be in places where other outdoor media are restricted.”–
David Etherington, senior vice president and worldwide marketing director at Titan Worldwide.
Web site info
Amtrak
http://www.amtrak.com
Executive Media Network
http://www.emnworldwide.com/
Clear Channel Outdoor
http://www.clearchanneloutdoor.com
Titan Worldwide
http://www.titanoutdoor.com
CBS Outdoor
https://www.cbsoutdoor.com
SuperGraphics
http://supergraphics.com
DGI-Invisuals
http://www.dgi-invisuals.com
Lamar Advertising
http://www.lamar.com
|
|
|
