An Estey-Hoover Case History

Funbus Luxury Travel

FUNBUS provided a regularly scheduled luxury line between Anaheim, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The buses were handled much like an airline with on-board attendants, restrooms, meal service and movies. Estey-Hoover was retained to improve awareness and increase ridership for the transportation service.

Bus service is typically a difficult sale to an upscale, higher profile rider. To counter this image and to increase ridership, a cooperative program was developed between FUNBUS and two Las Vegas hotels (Maxim and 4 Queens). Riders were offered special hotel rates, but were not required to stay at these hotels. A theme of "Fly The Bus" was utilized to communicate the airline-like, non-stop service. Subsequent ads included "The Nicest Cars Are Left In Our Parking Lots" which communicated that the FUNBUS was easier and more comfortable than a luxury car trip. Similar campaigns were run in Las Vegas for the return trip, and also for a San Francisco bus line.

The campaign was supported by newspaper and radio advertisements, rack brochures and at point of purchase displays, all created by Estey-Hoover..

Results

During the campaign period, the number of passengers carried improved 135.7% over the previous year. The improvement for the entire year was 127.1%, showing a residual benefit after the campaign period concluded.

The peak month of the campaign showed a 263.9% improvement over the prior year's production.

Bookings at the participating hotels also increased measurably resulting in a continued cooperative effort.

"...I wanted to drop you a short note expressing our appreciation and complete satisfaction with your staff's performance in the development and implementation of our cooperative advertising program. I think the best expression of our appreciation is that the ads apparently are working with great success. We are receiving substantial increases in ridership and a better than hoped for performance as far as consumer inquiries and actual reservations booked...We anticipate an estimated 127.1 % improvement in passengers carried for the total year, 135.7 % improvement through September of this year....Our peak month was July with 263.9 % improvement over the prior year’s production. I think that dramatically demonstrates the substantial contribution that has been achieved by our cooperative advertising efforts."

Anthony D. Guion, Vice President FUNBUS SYSTEMS, INC.

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