This morning I took the Orange line train of the DC Metro system to work. It was not as busy as usual, perhaps because Fridays tend to be days when some of the city workers have already completed their assigned hours by working a compressed work schedule.
Aside: One thing I tend to notice while riding the rails is that you can often get some clues about your location by the nature of the ads that are displayed. For example, I often ride short trips on the Yellow and Green lines to stations like Crystal City, Pentagon City, Pentagon, and the Navy Yard. The ads in those stations tend to be for companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, EADS, and Panasonic (Toughbooks). End Aside.
As the train pulled into Capitol South, one of the two or three stations frequented by Hill staffers and lobbyists, I noticed that the station was festooned with enough display signs and banners to decorate a big tent during one of the old time revivals that some of my relatives invited me to attend when I was a kid. I was so impressed with the effort to reach people who are employed in the business of writing legislation – particular energy and climate legislation at this point in the calendar – that I stepped off the train to take some photos. Since it was early, there were few people in the station to wonder what the heck I was doing.
Here is the line of signs I saw this morning from the train when coming into the city from Maryland.
As I stepped off the train, this is the sign that I saw wrapped around the post. Of course, if you are waiting for a train and have a restless brain that does the city thing and seeks to avoid eye contact, you will probably read the words on that post several times before the next train arrives.
As I made my way to the escalators, here is the view that I saw as the escalator did its slow work.
I then went to the right, aiming past the station attendant structure and saw the below signs along the rails.
At the exit gates, I noticed the below sign, but did not want to leave the station – I did have to get to work.
This is what I saw on my way back down to the platform where I would meet my train.
I apologize for the photo quality – the lighting in the Metro is purposely dim to save on energy costs, and I only had my phone. I think there is a saying about the best camera is one that you have with you. That one certainly applied this morning.
Please understand – every one of the above pictures was captured at a single Washington, DC metro station on a single day – February 19, 2010. The next time someone tries to tell a story to me about how the natural gas industry is just a mom and pop business, I will try to refrain from laughing. This is a well capitalized energy competitor that is run by adults with a strong sense of mission and a willingness to spend money to obtain favorable market rules. That is a good thing – this is, after all, America, where companies and industries have a right to free (or paid) speech.
It is also a place where a guy with a camera, a keyboard and a few spare minutes can share a short picture story that is worth at least 18,000 words.
Rod Adams
Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.
11 Comments
Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to run an ad campaign like that?
I have no idea, but this marketing effort on behalf of the natural gas industry represents a large – explosive, even – use of resources.
Natural gas–only kills 5 people when it detonates…
When we are lucky and the explosion happens on a Sunday when most workers are not on the site. Of course, since gas is also used in direct applications like building heat in large commercial buildings, there is no reason to believe that the “worst case” is a power plant with trained workers.
Wow, maybe we need to advertise like that next.
The gas industry was criticized last year for not participating in many of the discussions when Waxman-Markey was passed in the House, it looks like they’re trying to make up for it with all those ads.
David: The challenge that we would have would be finding space in the station for any additional signs. Nearly every vertical space was taken, and the Clean Skies Foundation even had to resort to putting one sign on the ground – below our feet.
All kidding aside, it would be good to think about more aggressive advertising from the nuclear industry. I know a good podcast that would be willing to run some commercials and provide stats on their effectiveness. I am also pretty sure I can find a blog or two that can do a pretty decent job of getting eyeballs on message.
Having been in self-employed private practice where, essentially, you are 100% commission-based for your livelihood (no one in your chair = no income), I can appreciate marketing campaigns and don’t begrudge my competitors’ efforts – provided it’s done honestly.
Clean Skies seems to want it both ways: by including other forms of energy in their broadcast, they appear to be open-minded and balanced but by lending their brand to the CNG message they betray that appearance of indifference- a “We don’t really care what form of energy is used, as long as it’s American” attitude.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then perhaps, as David Bradish states above, the NEI ought to take some cues from this effort? Get in the game — and not just with the Capitals. (Go Ovechkin!)
@Doc – please do not be confused about the relationship between the American Clean Skies Foundation, Clean Skies News, and the domestic natural gas industry. They are all very open about who works for whom. Just follow the information in the “About” pages on the web sites.
Clean Skies is not lending its brand to CNG – the natural gas industry ESTABLISHED Clean Skies News to talk about clean energy and the way that natural gas fits into the picture.
As you say – I am not begrudging the competition their right to advertise. I am simply pointing out the ads and asking people to look at them carefully to see how that advertising is positioned and what message it is sharing. If the nuclear industry chooses to perform the sincerest form of flattery . . .
Thanks for the clarification, Rod.
One comment you made that I think requires a little more thought.
‘a willingness to spend money to obtain favorable market rules. That is a good thing – this is, after all, America, where companies and industries have a right to free (or paid) speech.’
One of the problems in the US has been the slow ‘capture’ of the government by corporate executives. The worst examples are the Banksters, Health Insurance, and Pharma (maybe you’d like to include the oil companies). The slow erosion of the ‘free market’ (those ‘favorable market rules’) is leading to an economy run more and more for the benefit of a small number of people.
That is an amazing marketing campaign. It is interesting how the posters, pole etc. are sequenced given the flow of passengers in a metro station.
Some passengers (Departing) enter the station, swipe their Metro Pass, go down the escalator, wait for a train, enter the train, and then ride to another station. Other passengers (Arriving) get off a train and quickly walk through the station to the escalators, ride upward, and then rather quickly exit the station, probably via a turnstile.
I am sure the marketing company designed the sequence of the ads in light of these traffic patterns.
It would be really interesting if nuclear folks could get the ball rolling with this sort of innovative marketing.
One of the most cute and relatively inexpensive innovative marketing concepts I’ve learned about was a version of the separator used at the grocery store checkout line. Instead of the usual 12″ long two or three-ounce plastic model that has the name of the supermarket on it, this one was the exact same dimensions, but it was made of iron and thus weighed a few pounds rather than a couple of ounces!! The customer couldn’t see that it was made of iron, because it was covered with a bright yellow marketing message. It said “Gold’s Gym. Join Today.”
Obviously this concept doesn’t translate well at all to nuclear energy, but the creativity behind the natural gas campaign and the Gold’s Gym thing are what I am trying to compare.
I have no idea the cost of the subway marketing campaign, but would guess that it is in the range of some tens of thousands of dollars. The main expenses are the advertising fees paid to operator of the Metro and the fees paid for the concept design and graphic artist work. My guess is the cost of this campaign is substantially less than a TV spot on a major DC local or a national cable channel and somewhat more than the cost of a single billboard or the cost of a radio spot on a major local station.
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Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to run an ad campaign like that?
I have no idea, but this marketing effort on behalf of the natural gas industry represents a large – explosive, even – use of resources.
Natural gas–only kills 5 people when it detonates…
When we are lucky and the explosion happens on a Sunday when most workers are not on the site. Of course, since gas is also used in direct applications like building heat in large commercial buildings, there is no reason to believe that the “worst case” is a power plant with trained workers.
Wow, maybe we need to advertise like that next.
The gas industry was criticized last year for not participating in many of the discussions when Waxman-Markey was passed in the House, it looks like they’re trying to make up for it with all those ads.
David: The challenge that we would have would be finding space in the station for any additional signs. Nearly every vertical space was taken, and the Clean Skies Foundation even had to resort to putting one sign on the ground – below our feet.
All kidding aside, it would be good to think about more aggressive advertising from the nuclear industry. I know a good podcast that would be willing to run some commercials and provide stats on their effectiveness. I am also pretty sure I can find a blog or two that can do a pretty decent job of getting eyeballs on message.
Having been in self-employed private practice where, essentially, you are 100% commission-based for your livelihood (no one in your chair = no income), I can appreciate marketing campaigns and don’t begrudge my competitors’ efforts – provided it’s done honestly.
Clean Skies seems to want it both ways: by including other forms of energy in their broadcast, they appear to be open-minded and balanced but by lending their brand to the CNG message they betray that appearance of indifference- a “We don’t really care what form of energy is used, as long as it’s American” attitude.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then perhaps, as David Bradish states above, the NEI ought to take some cues from this effort? Get in the game — and not just with the Capitals. (Go Ovechkin!)
@Doc – please do not be confused about the relationship between the American Clean Skies Foundation, Clean Skies News, and the domestic natural gas industry. They are all very open about who works for whom. Just follow the information in the “About” pages on the web sites.
Clean Skies is not lending its brand to CNG – the natural gas industry ESTABLISHED Clean Skies News to talk about clean energy and the way that natural gas fits into the picture.
As you say – I am not begrudging the competition their right to advertise. I am simply pointing out the ads and asking people to look at them carefully to see how that advertising is positioned and what message it is sharing. If the nuclear industry chooses to perform the sincerest form of flattery . . .
Thanks for the clarification, Rod.
One comment you made that I think requires a little more thought.
‘a willingness to spend money to obtain favorable market rules. That is a good thing – this is, after all, America, where companies and industries have a right to free (or paid) speech.’
One of the problems in the US has been the slow ‘capture’ of the government by corporate executives. The worst examples are the Banksters, Health Insurance, and Pharma (maybe you’d like to include the oil companies). The slow erosion of the ‘free market’ (those ‘favorable market rules’) is leading to an economy run more and more for the benefit of a small number of people.
That is an amazing marketing campaign. It is interesting how the posters, pole etc. are sequenced given the flow of passengers in a metro station.
Some passengers (Departing) enter the station, swipe their Metro Pass, go down the escalator, wait for a train, enter the train, and then ride to another station. Other passengers (Arriving) get off a train and quickly walk through the station to the escalators, ride upward, and then rather quickly exit the station, probably via a turnstile.
I am sure the marketing company designed the sequence of the ads in light of these traffic patterns.
It would be really interesting if nuclear folks could get the ball rolling with this sort of innovative marketing.
One of the most cute and relatively inexpensive innovative marketing concepts I’ve learned about was a version of the separator used at the grocery store checkout line. Instead of the usual 12″ long two or three-ounce plastic model that has the name of the supermarket on it, this one was the exact same dimensions, but it was made of iron and thus weighed a few pounds rather than a couple of ounces!! The customer couldn’t see that it was made of iron, because it was covered with a bright yellow marketing message. It said “Gold’s Gym. Join Today.”
Obviously this concept doesn’t translate well at all to nuclear energy, but the creativity behind the natural gas campaign and the Gold’s Gym thing are what I am trying to compare.
I have no idea the cost of the subway marketing campaign, but would guess that it is in the range of some tens of thousands of dollars. The main expenses are the advertising fees paid to operator of the Metro and the fees paid for the concept design and graphic artist work. My guess is the cost of this campaign is substantially less than a TV spot on a major DC local or a national cable channel and somewhat more than the cost of a single billboard or the cost of a radio spot on a major local station.