METRO Wins Prestigious Award

If you're a marketing professional, winning a Crystal Award is a big deal - almost as enviable as capturing an Oscar in the movie industry.

Well, METRO's marketing department recently won the American Marketing Association's 2009 AMA Crystal Award for its "I Ride" campaign.

The "I Ride" campaign hit the airwaves and print last year and featured local celebrities encouraging Houstonians to ride METRO. The celebrities were heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, fashion designer Chloe Dao and Carlos Lee, outfielder for the Astros.  

The ad appeared on broadcast, print, bus cards and train wraps and trumped a Bank of America ad, two Wal-Mart ads and a Centerpoint Energy ad.

"It's not like regular advertising awards in which it's a beauty contest, and the coolest spot wins," said Rob Fritsche Jr., senior writer/producer who wrote and produced the ad. "In this competition not only were you judged on the quality of the ad, but the results from the campaign counted for twice as much as the aesthetics."

METRO met or exceeded nearly all of its proposed campaign goals. If you missed the commercials, you can watch them on YouTube. George Foreman starred in two spots for us - "Battles" and "Dreams."

Chloe Dao, fashion designer who won the Bravo Channel's "Project Runway" (season two), features her designs on METRO's rail platform. Carlos Lee urges Houstonians to get on board while on the playing field.

Brian Rogers, the graphic designer responsible for the print aspect of the campaign, says the image campaign tried to show "everybody and anybody can ride and should ride public transit when they need it. George Foreman himself rode METRO as a child to get to the gym and work out. It was a good testimonial to see how public transit played a role in his life."

And of course, beating out major firms was icing on the cake. "It's huge to show we can run with the big dogs," said Rogers.

In the photo above, Fritsche (left) displays the Crystal Award with Rogers (right).