Züm is Brampton Transit's new bus rapid transit brand, carefully developed through a year-long process that included stakeholder interviews, best practice reviews and town council approvals. Appropriately enough for a transit service, Züm has an origin and a destination. Züm began its journey in the idea of a speedy, urban, world-class, rapid, modern, forward-looking, cosmopolitan rapid transit system. Züm sounds like zoom, the sound of something moving fast, something speedy. Zoom also means to move closer in, to zoom into something for a close-up. Züm’s graphics evoke speed, linkage, modernity, world-class, a certain euro-style sensibility.

Client: Sue Connor, Kim Moser, Brampton Transit
Agency: Barrett and Welsh

Designer: Rob Segovia

Creative Directors: Gavin Barrett and Mike Welsh.
Art Director: Mike Welsh

Writer: Gavin Barrett

Are Torontonians lucky to have the TTC? Or is it the other way around? In 2005, Spacing magazine introduced a series of buttons commemorating Toronto's subway lines - featuring tiles and type unique to each of the stations. Believe it or not, the TTC actually opted not to market these pins. The TTC's loss was the city's gain. Smart, hip and city-proud these buttons show Toronto at its best: in the hands of its citizens. Available at Swipe books.

"Sweet ride promised in $1.22B streetcars" says the Toronto Star.
"Bombardier wins massive Toronto streetcar contract" says the Globe and Mail.

Yes indeed, this is good news - good news for transit, for manufacturing in Ontario (the new cars will be made in Thunder Bay) and for Toronto.

Can transit be sexy? When it looks like this, it can be. (The livery shown in Bombardier's handout could use some design though).

The new streetcars are great example of what the "product" on the street needs to be, in order to steal the glamour that cars have always had in North America and to convert drivers to riders.

Bombardier's The Streetcar Redefined website does a pretty good job of showing off the Flexity streetcar in use around the world - but I think it could do a better job of showing the world exactly how sexy public transit can be.


Images made available for download by Bombardier.
Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2009

A couple of years ago we were handed a challenging assignment by Viva.
They wanted to make university students a core rider group, and make transit a behavioural choice for a new generation or riders. And oh, while doing that, they also wanted us to change the image of the bus as a loser cruiser.

No pressure, clearly.

Our single, unifying idea pivoted on transit’s promise of connectivity - its very reason for being. But we placed it in the context of the student’s world.

Viva connects you with the world you live in, we told them.
Yes, Viva gets you there on time, reliably, efficiently and comfortably.
Yes, riding Viva is good for the planet, but as importantly, when you ride Viva, you continue to make friends and meet people.

In a car you shut the door and cut yourself off.
On Viva, life goes on. Love goes on. Fun goes on.

The ads simply showed you how.

The campaign went on to win awards at transit and mainstream advertising award shows and was a huge success with students. We extended the campaign with an SMS marketing promotion in which students could win an iPod. If you'd like a case study with more details, write to me here.

Client:
Viva

Creative Directors:
Gavin Barrett, Mike Welsh

Art Director: Mike Welsh
Copywriter: Gavin Barrett

Photographer: Don Dixon


Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2008

A simple, effective campaign done in 2002 by Aaron Kwapisinski, a young art director friend of mine, for the now defunct agency Flavour. In his own words "We took the cost of all the things one would fork out annually in order to maintain their vehicle and compared it to the cost of riding the TTC for a year. The difference was enough to illustrate the benefits." Thanks for sending this in Aaron.

Art Directors: Aaron Kwapisinski & Drew Pautler
Writer: Karin Djelaj
Creative Directors: Craig Cooper & Briony Wilson



Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2008.