Another bobblehead promotes toll roads in Austin..
Now pitching for toll roads: A mouthy doll
State begins tollway marketing campaign today with billboards, to be followed up radio, TV.
October 02, 2006
By Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
So, will Central Texas buy toll roads from a smart-aleck runt with the shakes?
The Texas Department of Transportation's $1.8 million ad campaign for the three toll roads opening Nov. 1 will kick off today with billboards and, later this month, bus-wrap and print ads, radio spots (in English and Spanish) and a targeted direct-mail pitch. But when the most visible part of the blitz shows up in November — TV commercials — the star will be Dash, a computer-generated bobblehead doll with an attitude.
Dash will typically be clad in an orange T-shirt and jeans but is prone to playing dress-up and will make one appearance as Big Tex from the State Fair. He'll stand on the dashboard of a harassed driver, ragging on him to get a toll tag and to use what presumably will be free-flowing tollways.
"Are we there yet?" Dash asks his human escort in one spot as they sit motionless in traffic. "Seriously, are we there yet?"
The 15- and 30-second ads are actually pretty funny and, in contrast to the cartoon toll road pitch this summer from the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, seemingly more attuned to the Austin vibe. But, given all the controversy in the Austin area about toll roads, will they succeed?
Depends on how one defines success, University of Texas advertising professor Neal Burns said. After all, usage of the roads is currently zero, and the Austin area has never had a toll road before. About 6,500 people in the Austin area have gotten toll tags (called TxTags) in the past few months without advertising. When the campaign is done in March, what will be considered good numbers? Fifty thousand TxTag holders? A hundred thousand? Is the proper measure traffic?
"Let's establish a baseline," Burns said. "We can't look at usage, obviously, but we can look at awareness."
As for the campaign, having reviewed the basic elements of the plan and some of the images (including Dash), Burns described it as "solid. . . . It might be a bit more conventional than I'd like."
As for his students, who aren't the most likely target audience for suburban toll roads, Burns said they found Dash to be "a caricature of a caricature."
The Transportation Department will open three tollways or pieces of tollways one month from now, 26 miles of an interconnected system that will stretch to about 70 miles by the end of next year. The agency already has announced what may be its most effective marketing tool: giving the product away.
Driving on the Loop 1 extension, Texas 45 North and Texas 130 will cost nothing for the first two months. Starting Jan. 6 (by that time, another 14 miles of Texas 130 will be open), cash customers will begin paying, but those with an electronic toll tag will continue to drive with no tolls. In February, drivers with TxTags will pay half price.
From March on, everyone will have to pay, though toll tags users will get a 10 percent discount.
With all that in mind, a focus of the marketing campaign will be getting people to sign up for TxTags. The jingles and voiceovers between the music and TV images time and again use the slogan, "Toll roads are fast. TxTags are faster."
"This really is new for most of those in Austin," said Catherine Sanchez, head of toll operations planning and development for the Transportation Department, referring not only to tollways but also the use of electronic toll-reading equipment. "We're selling consumers on the value of both of those."
The billboards popping up today say "On your mark, get set . . ." and note that the toll roads open Nov. 1. Later, after the roads open, the billboards will change to note that and ask the public, "What are you waiting for?"
The minute-long radio commercials come in four musical flavors: country, blues, hip-hop and pop, in each case featuring local musicians such as Dale Watson and Cole Williams.
Then there's Dash.
"He doesn't have a last name," said Janet Lea, with Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, Dash's creator. "He's like Cher."
Actually, he's more like Sonny: short, mop-haired and a wise-acre. By design.
"He can mouth off about traffic, and he can wear a T-shirt that says, 'I'm with stupid,' " Lea said, referring to a spot in which Dash chides his driver for not having a toll tag yet. "That's not something anyone from Greer Building would ever do."
The Greer Building is the downtown Austin headquarters of the state Transportation Department, a place where you see a lot of dark suits and close-cropped hair. Dash would not be comfortable there, although he is likely to end up bobbing away on a few desks. The agency, at least for a while, plans to give away actual bobblehead Dashes to people who sign up for pre-paid toll accounts.
Burns, the UT professor, said the most effective part of the campaign may be the agency's direct mail pitches, which will be targeted to about 300,000 households in 20 ZIP codes roughly in the vicinity of the roads. And he liked the agency's plan to take its show on the road to community events. Television, in this instance, may be inefficient, no matter how charming Dash turns out to be.
"There's a lot of waste in broadcast," Neal said. "To the extent they narrow-cast their expenditures, they become more effective."
bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
State begins tollway marketing campaign today with billboards, to be followed up radio, TV.
October 02, 2006
By Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
So, will Central Texas buy toll roads from a smart-aleck runt with the shakes?
The Texas Department of Transportation's $1.8 million ad campaign for the three toll roads opening Nov. 1 will kick off today with billboards and, later this month, bus-wrap and print ads, radio spots (in English and Spanish) and a targeted direct-mail pitch. But when the most visible part of the blitz shows up in November — TV commercials — the star will be Dash, a computer-generated bobblehead doll with an attitude.
Dash will typically be clad in an orange T-shirt and jeans but is prone to playing dress-up and will make one appearance as Big Tex from the State Fair. He'll stand on the dashboard of a harassed driver, ragging on him to get a toll tag and to use what presumably will be free-flowing tollways.
"Are we there yet?" Dash asks his human escort in one spot as they sit motionless in traffic. "Seriously, are we there yet?"
The 15- and 30-second ads are actually pretty funny and, in contrast to the cartoon toll road pitch this summer from the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, seemingly more attuned to the Austin vibe. But, given all the controversy in the Austin area about toll roads, will they succeed?
Depends on how one defines success, University of Texas advertising professor Neal Burns said. After all, usage of the roads is currently zero, and the Austin area has never had a toll road before. About 6,500 people in the Austin area have gotten toll tags (called TxTags) in the past few months without advertising. When the campaign is done in March, what will be considered good numbers? Fifty thousand TxTag holders? A hundred thousand? Is the proper measure traffic?
"Let's establish a baseline," Burns said. "We can't look at usage, obviously, but we can look at awareness."
As for the campaign, having reviewed the basic elements of the plan and some of the images (including Dash), Burns described it as "solid. . . . It might be a bit more conventional than I'd like."
As for his students, who aren't the most likely target audience for suburban toll roads, Burns said they found Dash to be "a caricature of a caricature."
The Transportation Department will open three tollways or pieces of tollways one month from now, 26 miles of an interconnected system that will stretch to about 70 miles by the end of next year. The agency already has announced what may be its most effective marketing tool: giving the product away.
Driving on the Loop 1 extension, Texas 45 North and Texas 130 will cost nothing for the first two months. Starting Jan. 6 (by that time, another 14 miles of Texas 130 will be open), cash customers will begin paying, but those with an electronic toll tag will continue to drive with no tolls. In February, drivers with TxTags will pay half price.
From March on, everyone will have to pay, though toll tags users will get a 10 percent discount.
With all that in mind, a focus of the marketing campaign will be getting people to sign up for TxTags. The jingles and voiceovers between the music and TV images time and again use the slogan, "Toll roads are fast. TxTags are faster."
"This really is new for most of those in Austin," said Catherine Sanchez, head of toll operations planning and development for the Transportation Department, referring not only to tollways but also the use of electronic toll-reading equipment. "We're selling consumers on the value of both of those."
The billboards popping up today say "On your mark, get set . . ." and note that the toll roads open Nov. 1. Later, after the roads open, the billboards will change to note that and ask the public, "What are you waiting for?"
The minute-long radio commercials come in four musical flavors: country, blues, hip-hop and pop, in each case featuring local musicians such as Dale Watson and Cole Williams.
Then there's Dash.
"He doesn't have a last name," said Janet Lea, with Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, Dash's creator. "He's like Cher."
Actually, he's more like Sonny: short, mop-haired and a wise-acre. By design.
"He can mouth off about traffic, and he can wear a T-shirt that says, 'I'm with stupid,' " Lea said, referring to a spot in which Dash chides his driver for not having a toll tag yet. "That's not something anyone from Greer Building would ever do."
The Greer Building is the downtown Austin headquarters of the state Transportation Department, a place where you see a lot of dark suits and close-cropped hair. Dash would not be comfortable there, although he is likely to end up bobbing away on a few desks. The agency, at least for a while, plans to give away actual bobblehead Dashes to people who sign up for pre-paid toll accounts.
Burns, the UT professor, said the most effective part of the campaign may be the agency's direct mail pitches, which will be targeted to about 300,000 households in 20 ZIP codes roughly in the vicinity of the roads. And he liked the agency's plan to take its show on the road to community events. Television, in this instance, may be inefficient, no matter how charming Dash turns out to be.
"There's a lot of waste in broadcast," Neal said. "To the extent they narrow-cast their expenditures, they become more effective."
bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Monday, October 02, 2006
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