1. Learning from the car – emotional marketing for public transport
Symbolic and emotional marketing based on 4 symbolic dimensions of mobility
Achim Vorreiter M.A.

2. Project and publication
The Project „Lernen vom Pkw – Emotionales Marketing im ÖPNV“ was a FoPS-Project and therefore sponsored by the BMVBS (German federal ministry for transport, construction and urban development). Start: 2004
This discussion refers to the publication „Symbolisch- emotionales Marketing für den ÖPNV“ from Marcel Hunecke, Klaus J. Beckmann and Armin Langweg published in 2007 (Alba, D‘dorf)

3. Aim and scope of the project
Transfer of marketing experience and best-practice from the automobile-sector to the PT-sector
Taken into account the different characteristics of the systems: which strategies could be transferred?
Which examples for good user-orientated marketing can already be found in PT-marketing?

4. Methods
Expert interviews with marketing CMO‘s from the car industry and from local PT-companies
Content analysis of journals and newspapers
Focus-group study
Two regions: Hamburg (metropolis) and Münster (mono-centric region)
Five types of mobility styles: PT-orientated, PT-sensitive's,
PT-potentials, multimodal pragmatics and car-orientated

5. Expert interviews and content analysis
Both expert groups are the opinion that PT-marketing has to become more active in various fields but that PT-marketing is catching up fast even if car marketing has a lead of decades in building up a strong brand and a good image
The content analysis failed because there were not even one advertisement for PT that could have been found in the selected journals and newspapers during the period of analysis!

6. Focus-group study Autonomy Experience/adventure Status Privacy
Besides some general findings, the study provides some insight regarding the perception of symbolic and emotional aspects in car and PT advertisement
The evaluated symbolic dimensions of mobility (Jahn & Wehling, 1999) were:
Autonomy
Experience/adventure
Status
Privacy

7. Autonomy
This dimension describes the possibility to reach places where social activities take place
Individual autonomy is associated with emotions of freedom, self-determination, flexibility and individuality
The car, by it‘s „nature“, can better serve this demand for autonomy than PT

8. Experience
This dimension describes the positive experiences and the hedonistic value of being en route.
The „thrill-seeking-society“ influences the mobility behaviour
E. g. expectations in recreational traffic offers

9. Status
Describes the forms of social recognition that result from the mobility style and the preferred means of transport
Manner and frequency of mobility depends on socio- economic status
People in modern societies receive social recognition for being able to choose when and how to travel
The car is able to show the status of it‘s owner better than most other products

11. Privacy
This dimension deals with the need for a self- determined private sphere and the avoidance of undesirable social contacts
The regulation of privacy is bound to the cultural background (e. g. the personal distance)
The car is a mobile private room and it allows to control the access of others effectively even when the traffic-density is high

13. Effects on mode selection
The 4 symbolic dimensions have influence on the selection of modes
They are not independent from the physical characteristics of the particular infrastructure and the configuration of the means of transport (e. g. the autonomy dimension in PT is affected by the quality of the PT service and the judgement of the users)
Different people have different experiences and thus the evaluation of different means of transport varied widely

14. Findings: which symbolic dimensions are qualified for PT advertisement?
Autonomy is a strength of the car and should be communicated in PT-marketing together with the dimension „experience/adventure“. Whenever communicating aspects of autonomy in PT, the service has to be very good
Status is a strength of the car. PT-marketing should try to shake of the „poor-people-image“ with „social models“ like sport and culture celebrities. The trial to transport „status“ over intellectuality and moral integrity is recognized as problematic especially together with the discrimination of car use

15. Findings: which symbolic dimensions are qualified for PT advertisement?
Privacy can be served by the car much better than by PT. In PT the sphere of privacy will ever be limited
Experience (adventure) is the only authentic symbolic dimension for PT advertisement. The staging of an „adventure world“ in PT seems to be fruitful. This could be inside (e. g. opportunities for philandering) and outside the PT system (e. g. sport events)

16. Questions to discuss
What do you think about the symbolic dimensions of mobility?
Why do these dimension fit so perfect to the car and so bad to PT?
Aren‘t those dimension more value-driven in the first instance and only in the second instance symbolic- emotional?
What has our societal formation and our way of life to do with it?