Transportation

Marketing - Brand Development

Situation

The Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA) is one of seven transportation management associations serving the City of Atlanta and its suburbs. In 1999, BATMA began work on a new shuttle service with the goal of one day serving the commuters, visitors and shoppers in Buckhead, one of Atlanta's most prominent and congested communities.

Challenge

As a quasi-governmental agency, BATMA operates on a very small budget and must also gain the consensus of its surrounding neighborhoods before proceeding with any project. Before launching the shuttle, BATMA needed to create an identity to help brand the new, environmentally friendly shuttle system.

c21 Solution

After participating in a focus group of public relations and marketing professionals, BATMA chose c21 to handle the branding challenge. Not only was the budget limited, the association was unsure when the shuttle system would launch and had not selected a bus design. c21 recommended that BATMA work closely with a local college of art to create a name and logo for the system. After extensive research, BATMA and c21 chose the Buckhead-based Portfolio Center, a private graphic design, art and advertising college. A class of 36 students developed more than 30 names, which were voted on by a panel of BATMA board members and c21 representatives and narrowed to 12. From the 12 selected, six were chosen for development into logos and bus exteriors.

Results

The final six selections (B-Link, Beat, BEV, Breeze, BUC, REV) were presented at a public meeting in October 2000 to more than 300 Buckhead residents and stakeholders, and an online voting system was created to ensure anyone unable to attend could still have an opportunity to vote. c21 promoted the meeting and online voting process through the local news media, with three local television stations, one radio station and three publications covering the meeting. In December, after receiving more than 1,500 votes, a name and logo were chosen - "the buc" Buckhead Uptown Connection.