Ferries launch advertising

Imagine Cirque du Soleil performers strolling though a Washington state ferry, talking to riders and giving mini-performances.

Maybe there would be a concierge on board to sell tickets to a Cirque performance.

Or how about repainting the floor of a ferry with blue taxi lights to look like an airport runway, with pictures of Boeing jets affixed to the walls with the simple message, "Boeing. The Airplane Company."

The ideas are endless for Trans4media, the company hired last summer to sell ads on the state ferries, the first time the ferry system has ever turned to advertising to supplement the cash-starved ferry fleet.

In three months, with four advertisers, the system has made nearly $165,000.

The advertising isn't systemwide yet, but there are ads at the Colman Dock and on one Bainbridge Island boat.

While the state ferries are among the top tourist draws in the state, carrying 24 million passengers last year, the system has no marketing director and has done little to promote itself. But that is changing.

"This is a good-news story about ferries," said Jayne Davis, regional operations manager for the ferry system who's involved in the advertising campaign.

She said the decision to bring advertising to the boats began when Mike Thorne was head of state ferries four years ago and said the system needed to find new revenue.

But that meant working with busy ferry-system lawyers and preparing a request-for-proposals, and it wasn't until last year that the contract finally went out to bid.

Trans4media was the winner among four finalists.

"They were picked because they were the most sensitive to ferries being icons," said Davis. "[The company] gave us the most sense of comfort, and they spoke to us best about tailoring ads to ferries."

Under the contract, Trans4media designs and sells the ads and splits the revenue with the state, 55 percent for the ferry system and 45 percent for Trans4media.

While the state won't say how much money it expects to earn each year from the ads, it has so far made $38,700 from JanSport for ads that were up for a month in December, $84,150 for Lufthansa ads up now, $33,000 for Washington Mutual ads, and $8,800 from Air New Zealand ads promoting its new Auckland-Vancouver, B.C., flight.

The state is starting slowly, said Davis. "We don't want to bombard people with them right away. We're taking baby steps. We want to do it right."

She and Trans4media envision much more than advertising posters on the ferries and in the terminals. There could be food giveaways, and there have been many requests for a children's play area on the boats, so the state may seek sponsorship from a toy store. There's even been talk of having a concierge on board to help passengers book airline, restaurant or theater reservations.

Skip Vose, head of Trans4media, said his firm's campaign will target Northwest companies that have a vested interest in the state and the ferry system.

Vose said he started conferring with ferry officials four years ago after riding the boats and talking to passengers. He asked why the ferry system didn't better market the boats. Why not dinner cruises? How about having a counter at Colman Dock where you could call and order fresh fish and flowers and have them delivered to the ferry before you board in the evening?

The ferries have 15 video screens, said Vose, so why not contract with KING-TV or another station to sponsor a news show on board?

Advertising on the ferries should be an easy sell, he said, because there is a captive audience and a fairly wealthy ridership, with the average household income for riders at $95,000.

"There has to be sensitivity in what we put on the boats," said Larry Adams, director of sales for Trans4media. "We're not putting up clutter. We want to make it stand out and be relevant to riders."

The ads have to be approved by the Coast Guard, and the materials must meet environmental standards. Installation has to be done when no passengers are on board.

"We think this will provide a significant amount of revenue over a time," said Vose. "Nobody's ever done what we're doing. This is fresh, new territory."

As a captive audience, ferry riders offer advertisers a lot of untapped attention. Vose said the average time someone looks at a billboard is 2.6 seconds; the average time a typical ferry rider has to look at an ad is 41 minutes.

"Compared to 2.6 seconds, that's huge," said Adams.

"We have a couple of hundred ideas," Vose added. He said maybe ferries could contract with a local group promoting a performance, and then could put the performers on the ferry as a sampling for riders.

Vose and Adams said the advertising rate could be set by the audience. Because the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry carries the most riders, it could carry the highest rate. But the hourlong Seatttle-Bremerton boat is the longest central Puget Sound route, and that also might factor into the costs.

So far, said Vose, the agency is looking at such local companies as Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Microsoft and Costco. It didn't pursue the two airline companies now advertising on the ferries; the companies found them.

All ads must be approved by the ferries, and the person in charge is Marta Coursey, a ferry spokeswoman with long marketing experience.

"People were concerned because this is a new thing and people have ownership of the vessels," she said, adding that there's been no ad she has rejected. "Somebody has to make sure our customers like what they see."

One thing is not on the table, said Vose. Naming rights. Don't expect to see a ferry named the Microsoft or the Starbuck.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com