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20 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | FEBRUARY 2015 PROJECT UPDATE - REBRANDING due dates, cost estimates, respon- sibilities and next steps. "It was a lot." Carpenter said Keller began to communicate with the rest of the organization about what was missing and develop awareness, then pinpointed the key stake- holders to show them it was worth the investment. He immediately saw the value. "When I came on board, we were the bus company," Carpen- ter said. "We were dependable, we were reliable, but nobody knew how you had to behave in order for customers to get dependability and reliability." Redmond said one of the big- gest discussions amongst board members during the rebranding was choosing a new logo and how their choices compared to those of the focus groups. "One thing when you talk about a brand promise, you have to make sure you're aligned with the cus- tomers' actual experience," he said. "And if it's not, then it's going to fail. You have to know if you're de- livering a solid product, if the buses are on time, if the buses are clean, if the buses are safe." External Pushback Changing the name of a transit system is not only a challenge in planning, it's also expensive. Rochester had to spend about $1 million to complete the project. Tis meant explaining to the pub- lic why the authority is going to spend nearly $1 million to rebrand itself and why it was a good idea. Keller said there was some pushback in the community for using taxpayer money in such a manner, especially when some would ask if the $1 million was better spent on creating new routes or services instead. "At the time, the image of the organization hadn't been exam- ined in decades and decades and we're working hard to build a pub- lic transit system resource avail- able to residents," she said. Carpenter said he wasn't put of by the $1 million price tag because half of it fell under items needed even without a new brand, such as replacing bus stop signage and getting new uniforms. "Te board had to look at this signifcant investment we were pro - posing and they agreed it was worth the investment and time," Keller said. "It really mattered to the on- going success of the authority. Not only were we trying to transform the experience for customers, but we're building a transit system to attract more and more customers and the future generation." Redmond said the proposal was something the board needed to give consideration to given how the agency transformed itself in the past decade. In 2004, he said the author - ity was in dire straits, but has since adopted a private sector mindset to get back on track, so a rebranding follows the same mentality. "What this does is it gives us consistency because branding as one organization means we have one name and one look and that's important when you're seeing a product," he said. "We want to be providers of a choice. We know that people have options. It's not one of those things where we're the only game in town. We compete basically with drivers. "In Rochester, commute times are ridiculously short. On average, commute times take 22 to 25 min- utes, so to convince people it's worth their while to take public transit, you have to be a good product. You have to be clean, you have to be safe and you have to be on time. "And secondly, it has to have a sharp look about it." Going Live Once all the plans were set, Roch- ester was ready to roll out the RTS brand in August. "Te buy in, it was a signifcant investment not only of time and resources, it's a signifcant invest- ment because you want people to believe it's worthwhile," Keller said. "I was kind of overjoyed how supportive employees throughout the processes adopted it and em- braced it and had to be supportive. "But equal to that, you've got to be able to deliver it and it's a very big leap to make such a change in brand and have people believe it." Jasinski said the new RTS brand is being marketed using television, radio and social media, including new messages targeting millenni- als using animated commercials of daydreams while riding the bus. Before the message went to the public, Jasinski said the rebrand- ing was marketed to employees. By the numbers Started with: 10 different brand names 32 different bus pass designs At brand launch they set out to: replace 920 employee ID badges remake an entire website with 100+ pages of content, and update 3,400 bus stop signs AFTER , THE RGRTA and its subsidies now share a common name and logo for each county it runs within. BEFORE UNDERGOING a rebranding, each county within the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority had a different name, making the system confusing. Before and After