Our agency has won a First Place Award in the 2023 AdWheel Awards competition from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for communications and marketing. The winning entry in the "Best Marketing and Communications to Support Ridership" category was the "VTA Summer Youth Pass" campaign.

The 2022 Summer Youth Pass (SYP) targeted families that have, Gen Z pre-teens and teenagers (ages 11 to 18 years) looking for independence during the summer and parents seeking relief from driving duties during summer break.

VTA ridership was down due to the pandemic and usually decreases even further during summer break. The Summer Youth Pass has been an annual summer fare program for over 15 years. 

To successfully reintroduce Summer Youth Pass after a 2-year hiatus, the promotional strategy had to be in line with post-pandemic cultural shifts. As a first for VTA, we partnered with local, woman-owned and minority-owned businesses offering special discounts to SYP customers: Nirvana Soul Coffee, KTea Café; Jackie’s Place Soul Food, and Mayan Kitchen . 

VTA also partnered with local artist Jasmine Yee to design the 2022 pass artwork. This art highlighted the diversity and inclusion of Santa Clara County and highlighted VTA’s partnership with these women-owned businesses. 

As a result, we sold 1,016 passes and exceeded our goal by 2%. With cross-promotion on social media among the four businesses, the artist, and VTA, we were able to reach many new Summer Youth Pass customers throughout the community.  

With this campaign we were able to reassure our customers that VTA is safe to ride even through the pandemic. By working together with local small businesses and artists, we were able to establish goodwill in our communities and help struggling businesses increase foot traffic.

Our efforts to reintroduce SYP are a prime example of how various communities across the world have worked to rebuild post-pandemic. From the diversity-highlighting art, promoting minority women-owned small businesses, to reintroducing public transit as a feasible option for busy families, the Summer Youth Pass program came back strong and shows a promising future.

First Place winners will be recognized and presented with certificates on-stage during the AdWheel Awards Luncheon at APTA’s 2023 Marketing & Communications Workshop in Las Vegas, later this month.

Congratulations to VTA Marketing Manager Dino Guevarra and his exceptional Marketing team!