Connect Transit

Getting the Connect Transit brand from “A to Beyond”

The primary public transportation provider for the Bloomington-Normal, Illinois area, Connect Transit found itself facing a unique set of challenges: gaining broader community support and increasing public awareness of its services, despite being an established entity since 1972. After a thorough RFP process, Dovetail was awarded the Connect Transit branding campaign, which would include evaluating the brand and developing a plan to communicate Connect’s value effectively to diverse audiences, including non-users, local decision-makers, and existing riders.

Dovetail’s Approach

With this new partnership underway, a goal was set to develop a cohesive branding and messaging campaign to enhance public perception, highlight the benefits of public transit, and build stronger community support.

Our approach, grounded in our REV Process, included comprehensive research and discovery to ensure the campaign resonated with all target audiences. We conducted qualitative research and engaged in public outreach to understand the current perceptions and attitudes towards Connect Transit. This involved interviewing key stakeholders and fielding rider surveys to gather valuable insights.

Dovetail then developed a unique brand positioning for Connect Transit that identified their strengths, benefits, brand promise and reasons to believe.

The Outcome

Armed with a strong brand position and creative strategy, the creative team went to work on developing a campaign that would directly address the challenges Connect Transit was facing. From initial concepting to collaborative brainstorming, and designing, they arrived at a core idea:

“From A to Beyond.”

With this new brand campaign, Dovetail would develop targeted messaging that clearly articulated the benefits of Connect Transit in an entirely new way: through the voice of their riders. Emphasizing its role in enhancing quality of life and addressing local challenges from the perspectives of fellow community members, these rider stories were aimed at creating awareness and fostering positive attitudes towards public transit.