NS “Train Your Brain” safety campaign hits Alabama
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefNow in its sixth year, Norfolk Southern’s “Train Your Brain” public safety program has reminded more than half a million people “to be smart and alert around highway-rail grade crossings and to avoid trespassing on railroad property,” the railroad notes.
The program’s mascot, Brainy, described as “a hapless, giant, wide-eyed pink walking brain in need of training,” is headed to Alabama, a state that NS has targeted as “a high-incidence state for train-vehicle crashes and trespass injuries.” The campaign will focus primarily on Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Sheffield, and Mobile, Ala.
The Alabama campaign will kick off in Tuscaloosa with Brainy appearing April 14 at the University of Alabama’s A-Day spring football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. About 4,000 incoming Alabama freshmen will be receiving stress “brains,” car decals, and campaign information included in orientation packets distributed by the university. Train Your Brain safety messages will be communicated through outdoor billboards, gas pump ads, ice chest wraps, cinema ads, wall projections, Facebook ads, online banners, radio live-reads, text-to-win sweepstakes, University of Alabama and University of Alabama at Birmingham campus signage, public address announcements, and promotional giveaways.
In addition, Brainy and his entourage will appear at fairs, festivals, and other sporting events. At each event, the NS public safety team will share train safety tips and distribute branded giveaways, such as brain-shaped stress balls, t-shirts, coloring books, children’s activity sheets, z-cards, car decals, and pencils.
Norfolk Southern launched the Train Your Brain program in Memphis in 2007, with the Memphis-based marketing communications firm Archer Malmo providing creative support and coordination. Over the past five years, NS and Archer Malmo have collaborated to expand the campaign to North Carolina, Indiana, and Ohio.
For more information, visit www.brainysworld.com, or Facebook at www.facebook/BrainysWorld.
