TriMet's branding coup

Branding in motion: a TriMet bus in downtown Portland.

If there has ever been a shining example that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to build a brand and achieve marketing success, that example is TriMet, the transportation agency serving the greater Portland area.

TriMet has built one of the country’s elite public transit systems and it has done so, in part, due to a willingness to embrace branding as a fundamental element of doing business. Specifically, TriMet has defined its role in the region, staked out its own unique position based on that role, and committed to delivering a positive, cohesive experience at every opportunity to reinforce this position and encourage people to ride. It is because of these achievements that we can all learn something from TriMet’s success.

Of course, the national accolades TriMet has received are evidence of strong performance in one respect, but for the organization itself, success is measured in another form — ridership. While public transit agencies have often been challenged to maintain ridership, TriMet has managed to increase year-to-year ridership over each of the last 16 years. In 2003, TriMet grew ridership while 74 percent of the transit agencies in the country lost riders. While TriMet’s service district is the 29th largest in the U.S. in terms of population, its ridership ranks an admirable No. 13 (as of November 2004).

These numbers have grown while marketing expenditures have actually declined. TriMet’s advertising and promotion budget represents approximately one-fifth of 1 percent of the total agency budget; in a recent campaign year the group achieved $2.1 million in media value and over 50 million in gross monthly impressions from a campaign budget of just $250,000.

So how has TriMet done it? Tactically speaking, TriMet has excelled at setting priorities and using a mix of traditional marketing tools such as collateral materials, a Web site and

Advertising, along with far more innovative approaches such as on-board elements like “Poetry in Motion” and an award-winning commemorative poster series that celebrates Portland landmarks and destinations reachable via TriMet. Additionally, TriMet has taken a traditional approach to determining who does what — using its agency of record for certain elements and in-house staff for others — to minimize the impact of out-of-pocket expenses. However, TriMet’s true success has not been driven by its tactical execution but rather by the branding structure and philosophy to which it has remained faithful. The topic of brand structure is crucial to understanding TriMet’s success. Specifically, TriMet understands the need to develop a unique position in the market and use that position to inform and drive all branding efforts. By defining this position, TriMet has had a clear benchmark against which to measure all creative initiatives and a clear articulation of its vision to inform all communications, regardless of whether it is executed internally or through its outside agency. TriMet’s position concept, “Essential to Livability,” is simple yet lofty in the expectations it sets and extremely rich in meaning.

This concept bears repeating: Essential to Livability. We can probably all agree that the proliferation of alternative modes of transportation is essential to livability, but if ever there was a bold declaration of the importance of a brand, this is it. With it come certain expectations and requirements if it is to be seen as an authentic brand statement and not the kind of false, arrogant claim that drives so many people to maintain an “anti-branding” point-of-view. In TriMet’s case, you could not choose a position that is more closely aligned with the organization’s values, nor better embodied in the approach it takes.

This is the second core driver in TriMet’s success story. The organization has wholeheartedly embraced the philosophy of brand experience — it believes a brand is the accumulation of impressions in the minds of its customers. Informed by its position concept, TriMet had the guidance it needed to set about improving its brand experience. The organization redesigned its logo, advertising and signage to reflect the new position, but it also redefined how it thought about branding. TriMet took its branding efforts into relatively uncharted territory, redesigning its ticket kiosks to be more user-friendly, infusing art — designed to reflect the strong culture of the local community — with functionality along its Interstate MAX line and integrating a trip-planning kiosk at the Pioneer Square information center, to deliver a more engaging, consistent brand experience. In taking its position and using it to redefine the experience (in ways that span beyond the typical definition of branding), TriMet is increasing its ridership and solidifying its position as being essential to livability.

One of the sweetest rewards for TriMet that comes with delivering these authentic, consistent brand experiences on a limited budget is that the organization’s position becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As more riders connect with the brand and it becomes further interconnected with the people of the region, TriMet’s positive impact on livability can continue to grow through route expansion, enabling more people to experience TriMet’s service benefits.

Of course — as anyone who has managed a brand through a period of growth can attest — it becomes harder to manage the experience as the number of possible touchpoints grows. Yet given the open arms with which TriMet has embraced the need to be consistent, and its commitment to gain maximum value from its investment in branding, the odds are in the favor of the organization continuing to flourish.

Scott M. Davis is senior brand strategist at ID Branding in Portland, where he develops and manages brand strategies for clients such as TriMet. A native Oregonian and TriMet commuter, Scott earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Portland and an MBA from the University of Oregon.