Helpful Civic Suggestion #1,987

Now that everyone, including the former head of the state Department of Transportation, is riding Metro, can some savvy Seattle ad agency please put some thought into campaigns that revitalize an under-used resource? I'm talking about those dreary, pathetic interior overhead advertising rack cards. Can it really be that the only paid advertiser in town is Jobdango?

Crosscut archive image.

(Chuck Taylor)

Now that everyone, including the former head of the state Department of Transportation, is riding Metro, can some savvy Seattle ad agency please put some thought into campaigns that revitalize an under-used resource? I'm talking about those dreary, pathetic interior overhead advertising rack cards. Can it really be that the only paid advertiser in town is Jobdango?

Now that everyone, including the former head of the state Department of Transportation, is riding Metro, can some savvy Seattle ad agency please put some thought into campaigns that revitalize an under-used resource? I'm talking about those dreary, pathetic interior overhead advertising rack cards. Can it really be that the only paid advertiser in town is Jobdango?

The ad cards are beyond stale. When they're not reminding you of the ancient dot-com era, they feature public service filler announcements reminding cretinous riders to wash their hands and to keep their voices down when they blab into their cell phones (yeah right). Or we're treated to poetry by 6-year-olds.

Surely there's an enterprising agency or client that can figure out a creative campaign or two to catch the eyes of a captive audience of eco-minded urbanites who are packing themselves onto Metro buses in record numbers and whose eyes have to turn somewhere when they don't have a window seat or aren't watching Lost on their iPhone. I'm sure Metro can use some extra dough to to cover all that high-priced fuel they're burning.

If not, Metro should consider turning the rack cards over to citizens so they can either become like mobile utility poles plastered with band posters, or maybe even a kind of Craigslist for folks who want to sell stuff. Surely, we can improve on staring up on a daily basis to see who was named Vehicle Maintenance Employee of the Year.

  

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About the Authors & Contributors

Knute Berger

Knute Berger

Knute “Mossback” Berger is an editor-at-large at Cascade PBS.