Wisconsin Dept. Of Transportation Taps Laughlin Constable For Branding Campaign To Increase Hiawatha Train Ridership
The route carried nearly 800,000 passengers last year, ranking it among the top 10 Amtrak routes nationally.
CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE – Laughlin Constable has been selected by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) to develop a multi-year marketing campaign to increase ridership and revenue on Amtrak Hiawatha Service between Chicago and Milwaukee. The integrated campaign, which will launch in late May and early June, will focus on growing ridership during non-peak times. It will include developing new creative executions for the Hiawatha coupled with strategic media planning and placement, digital advertising, social media and public relations.
From October through December last year, Laughlin Constable launched a brief campaign to create awareness of late evening train service on Saturdays. During the trial period of the Saturday late evening trains, Saturday ridership increased slightly compared to the same time period in 2014.
“Hiawatha Service is a fast, dependable and economical option for travelers in Chicagoland and Southeastern Wisconsin. We have two challenges – the first is to get business and leisure travelers to recognize how the Hiawatha is a comfortable and stress-free option and the second is to then get those travelers out of their cars and ride theHiawatha,” said Mat Lignel, CEO of Laughlin Constable.
Amtrak Hiawatha Service trains are jointly sponsored by WisDOT and the Illinois Department of Transportation. The route, with intermediate stops in Glenview, Ill, Sturtevant, Wisc. and the Milwaukee Airport, carried nearly 800,000 passengers last year, ranking it among the top 10 Amtrak routes nationally.
Laughlin Constable
Laughlin Constable has been providing integrated marketing services to its clients for nearly 40 years. With offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and New Jersey, the agency provides Full-Circle Branding™ solutions, including brand strategy development, digital marketing, design, advertising, public relations, media research, planning and buying. Its annual billings are in excess of $250 million. The agency’s clients include: Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Bon-Ton Stores, Sears Holdings, Food Network, Lung Cancer Alliance, USA Network, PDC Brands, Medela, Northwestern Medicine, Master Lock, MillerCoors, Paris Presents, Palermo Villa and Bright Start/Oppenheimer Funds. For more information, please visit Laughlin.com, www.Facebook.com/Laughlin Constable or follow LC on Twitter @LaughlinOutLoud.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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The trains are always really busy when I ride at various times during the week & weekend, albeit only a few times a year. If they want to increase ridership, put the money into more runs of the existing trains & adding more rolling stock.
Tim, that’s a good point. Why don’t they add a car to the trainsets? I’ve never even heard this discussed… but sometimes the trains can be very full.
Hiawatha trainsets currently operate with 6 coaches. I *believe* that labor agreements would require an additional assistant conductor if another coach were to be added.