I'm watching the FNC coverage, and I'm pretty much seeing all the ads run there. I've seen the Norfolk Southern Railway's "Road to/of the Future" ad several times, and something's struck me about it. As best I can tell, all but a tiny stretch of that has been filmed on single-track line.
I'm not the ad agency handling the campaign, but I'd suggest that the NSR needs to suggest, among other things in its ads, that the physical plant of the railway has sufficient capacity to handle any new business that prospective new shippers would place upon new NSR trains. In other words, I'd show more footage along double- and triple-track lines, if not actually showing a couple of the bigger NSR yards. After all, capacity improves the ability to handle traffic growth which means timely deliveries of shippers' goods, for both existing and new customers.
From what I understand, any problems that the NSR has had in recent years are not capacity related, but still. If David R. Goode's people are reading this, then perhaps their next national ad buy might be improved by my suggestion, which is offered free of charge and without need for attribution. I am, however, very pleased to see my favorite modern railway on television, as opposed to the cursed Union Pacific.
Posted by Country Pundit at November 3, 2004 01:56 AM