Train commercials?

[Buckeye Riveter]

There are train commercials in the Pittsburgh area on TV. I've seen them when I have been in eastern Ohio. I asked about these commercials awhile back on the forum and someone from Pittsburgh knew all about them.

[Anonymous]

"Lionel and MTH should have no trouble coming up with advertising funds for TV,"
-------------------------

Tell ya what. Check out the prices for 15-second, 30-second, and one-minute spots--one time network run--on some of the Channels you mentioned (Discovery, History, Disney, or whatever) and then get back to us with the figures. Only then can the assertion be made that Lionel or MTH "should have no trouble" affording such things.

[Anonymous]

Lionel and MTH should have no trouble coming up with advertising funds for TV, and if they pick channels that are like TBS Nickalodeon, or Discovery channel etc, those channels focus on all age groups and have programming for everyone.
I bet they'de do well with the History channel too.

I can understand that smaller corp.s couldn't afford it, but the "Big-2" could...

[eZAK]

They could easily and affordably run adds & comercials in or on cable.
(Even the local dry cleaner & a couple of resturants do this)
I even get fliers from a hobby store 12 mi. away.

They could even have their own TV show.
( A local car collector and toy train operator does just that)

The only reason they don't,.... IS they don't have to!
They can sell $2,000 sets & $1,600 engines by only putting out a catalog!

I think the ones that should run adds are those folks at 'The Worlds Gretest Hobby'.

And YES, I promote my hobby every chance I get!

[underworld]

Dave has a good idea. One of the companies that I work for does just that.....combining advertisg. Not only does it cut the costs for each participant but it makes for a much more unique and memorable commercial. There is not much worse than a commercial that you don't remember five minutes after you watch it. One project that I am working with actually combines four totally different businesses.....all different owners.

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[IRONROOSTER]

Another problem with advertising is: who is your target audience? Kids, potential hobbyists, or collectors? They are different markets and need different magazines, radio/tv shows, etc to reach their audience.

But there must be some interest out there, the train shows Greenberg has here seem to get good turnout twice a year.

The best promotion I think would be to have more mall displays of trains, with brochures on the hobby and a list of hobby stores. Or maybe the MRIA could sponser a trailer with a layout inside. It could tour the country.

Enjoy
Paul.

[FJ and G]

the way I see it, there could be commercials if the toy train companies just get a bit creative.

Perhaps they could partner with Kibbles and Bits and have a train gondolas loaded with dog food arriving at the station with hungry dogs. Cost of commercial would be sliced in half;

the energizer bunny did partnering with other brands and it seemed to work

[Anonymous]

You really want to grow the hobby?

Get busy and do it yourself! Share your hobby with family, friends, and colleagues. Create a display for your local library or some other venue in your community. Invite the local media out to do a story or feature on your layout. Write a story for your local newspaper. Give a presentation to a club, senior's group, school class, or such. Have an open house/tour of your layout. Get together with other enthusiasts in you community and plan a mall show for the holiday season. The list of possibilities is virtually endless!

There's always a whole lot of harping on these forums about how the manufacturers should be doing more to grow the hobby. Well, perhaps they should, but it probably ain't gonna happen. If the hobby is going to grow, it's likely going to come from a grass roots effort with many hobbyists coming out of their shells (they tend to shed them nowadays only for Internet discourse) and demonstrating what makes this such a great hobby. No television, radio, newspaper, or magazine ad can do anywhere near as effective a selling job.

[Anonymous]

Whereas TV and maybe radio ads would be somewhat expensive,
how about some altenatives? Cable-access would allow exposure
fo the hobby if someone would do a show or two. RFDTV used to show
trains (both real and model) but who wants to wait until 0200hrs to
see them there? They don't always keep to their published schedules
either! (Dang!)

Also what about print ads? Not just in the "hobby publications" (Singing
to the choir), but what about an occasional newspaper ad? That kind of
advertising is still relatively affordable, especially in local papers.

Magazines are also fairly affordable compared to other media. I remember
when there were ads in such mags as Mechanix Illustrated, Boys Life and
even Esquire!

Some of that money that goes to bonuses for the ever-changing "upper-
management teams" and for "legal defense funds" could be better spent
on public exposure. I agree...If one can find the funds to hawk "male-en-
hancement pills" to a relatively large market, then the train makers should
have a few nickels to spend for publicity (of a positive kind) as well.

[Anonymous]

Sorry Cannonball, but Allan is right. National commercials are outrageousously expensive. My company ( a national well known brand) looked at doing some commercials. We actually made them and test marketed them in 3 larger cities. After a review, they didn't increase sales so we choose not to go national.

The train companies would do better to spend that money lobbying to make "POLAR EXPRESS 2 " or getting "Thomas the Train" on Thursday nights on NBC. [;)]

[Anonymous]

One would think that would be a great idea. Surely they could stand to profit immensly from TV commercials. You can't make more money, without spending some first.... It costs money to make money.

If a certain male-enhancment TV commercial can make huge profits from "Bob" and his frozen smile, then Lionel, or MTH should be able to do the same thing.
That male enhancement Co. was probably smaller than Lionel, yet they knew the only way to get the word out and make a killing was with TV. More sales from commercials equals more money to air commercials more often, & on more channels.

[Anonymous]

TV commercials are far too expensive these days for any of the train manufacturers to even consider. And you can't just do a one-time run of the spot, which adds to the costs. The annual marketing budget for most of these firms would be pretty well shot with just a couple of national spots.

Besides that, today's TV market, unlike the three-network structure of the 50s and 60s--is split between literally hundreds of available channels, so the share any given commercial reaches is apt to be relatively small, not to mention that it would be hard to determine where to target the ad in the first place.

These are small firms with similarly small budgets, relatively speaking, to devote to advertising. That pretty much rules out TV and even national radio advertising (which would probably not be effective in any case). About the best one can hope for is a local radio spot from time to time, placed by a hobby dealer or pehaps a train show or other event.

[pbjwilson]

There's a very good ad that's run on the radio in Chicago for the great american train show in Wheaton IL. It usually runs for a few days prior to the show. Gets my attention. I don't know what radio ads cost but it must be effective - they've been running it for quite awhile.

[Munster518]

This may sound like a dumb question, but why don't you see train commercials on TV. I mean, back in the 50's, lionel would be advertising on TV like crazy to permote new products arriving. Even on the radio, Lionel would be putting advertisements in?[?]

To promote this great hobby I'm just surprised someone (Mth, Lionel, K-Line,Williams) hasn't decided to make a commercial. With all of the amazing accesories,engines,rolling stock etc, that would be one cool commercial to show in all off.[:D]

Its just a simple question thats been bugging me, thanks.[;)]

-John[:)][?]