AdAge Small Agency of the Year
what we did
industry
travel
collateral
brand identity
digital
television
out of home
the challenge
The Alaska Railroad was competing against other leading means of transportation for fully independent travelers: car rentals and tour buses. They were faster, less expensive, and provided more flexibility. Our task was to increase train ridership and sales by seven percent during peak season.
we were curious
We began researching our target, the bucket list traveler, and came to an interesting realization.
The very things that could be considered a negative were very much a positive for them. The slower pace of a train ride gave riders a backstage pass to Alaska, enabling them to savor every view they’d never be able to see on a well-paved public road. In short, for this group, the journey was equally as important as the destination.
genuine human understanding
Bucket lists are extremely personal.
They represent a passion to experience something in a whole new way. There’s a lot to see in Alaska and those who embark on a journey here want to pack in as many memories as possible. Yet as one traveler put it, “The experience was unreal. I couldn’t catch it all on my phone.”
the wild idea
Put them in the window seat before they book.
Bucket-list travelers aren’t buying a ticket. They’re buying the stories they’ll talk about for years. So we made sure they could feel that moment at every step of the trip, from the first daydream to the last stop.
brand identity
The new B2B and B2C identity looked as iconic as the trip itself, and it won an AMA Pinnacle Award.
digital
We moved the media mix to digital first and matched it to how people plan a trip: inspiration while they’re browsing, details while they’re exploring and a clear path to book once they’re planning. A real-time dashboard connected every dollar spent to the revenue it brought in.
out of home
We showed up where trips start, with high-profile digital screens at Denver International Airport and a first-of-its-kind baggage claim wrap at the Anchorage airport.
collateral
The window seat doesn’t stop at booking. We overhauled the onboard materials, from Panoramas magazine to menus and route maps, so every rider could follow along with what’s outside the window.
the result
+10% year-over-year Colorado direct web bookings after Denver airport screens launched
Social click-through performance 379% above benchmark
Record monthly direct booking sales for Alaska Railroad (April 2021)