Clipper START Marketing and Branding

You can travel on transit throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area with just one card—the Clipper Card. And to make it easier for eligible low-income riders, Clipper START offers 50% fare discounts. But first, you have to know about it.

As the marketing partner for Clipper, MIG has worked on marketing, branding, and education initiatives for a variety of Clipper programs. The Clipper START campaign began with extensive research—an online survey, focus groups with START participants and eligible riders, and in-depth interviews with community-based organizations that serve this population. The resulting campaign headlined “50% OFF” to highlight the financial benefit and included “Instant savings on every ride!” to indicate the immediate discount.

The campaign distribution strategy covered transit-targeted touchpoints like car cards and transit shelters, supplemented by online marketing such as digital display and social media ads. In a concerted effort to reach recent immigrants, Clipper ran the campaign in Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog, investing 78% of the digital media budget in multicultural marketing.

When the campaign launched in January, the number of unique START site users jumped 39%. The number of program applications submitted and approved increased by over 50%!—with an undeniable spike when a campaign direct mail postcard dropped. Campaign engagement and application activity remained consistently high during the entire six-month campaign.