This paper describes a publicity and marketing campaign carried out by Madrid's Public Transport Authority (Consorcio Transportes Madrid, CTM) which was directed at encouraging public transport use at the expense of private car use. The objectives of the campaign were to improve the image and prestige of public transport while at the same time emphasising the environmental damage done by heavy use of the private vehicle. A special attempt was made to make the message entertaining and clear but not offensive. CTM was established in 1986, and dedicated its first several marketing and publicity campaigns toward informing the public about the various aspects of the new travel card fare integration scheme. However a change of emphasis was made for the 1989 campaign which was directed at changing the public's attitude toward public transport and to make them aware of the environmental consequences of transport choice, particularly in respect to air and noise pollution. A high profile publicity campaign was carried out using: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, along with publicity on the buses, at metro stations and bus shelters, and on telephone booths. The presentation will include videos of the television spots and posters showing the type of publicity used. The results of a post test will be presented which shows the high level of public awareness of the campaign, which received the Spanish Press Association's award for best publicity of the year in 1989 in the field of transport.
Abstract