Norfolk Southern: Mountains_Moved
Norfolk Southern (NS) Railroad was created in 1981 as the result of a merger between Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western Railway. Agency J. Walter Thompson utilized a thoroughbred race horse to symbolize the merger, anticipating an assumption that attributes such as speed, efficiency, 'winner', etc. would be readily grasped by NS customers. Instead, there was great confusion and bewilderment: 'What does a horse have to do with a railroad?' To compound the confusion, rail service is a commodity product, which means customer service delivered through innovative thinking is the primary attribute that distinguishes one rail line from another. I was the initiator of this campaign, which began when I learned of the conveyor belt system described in 'Mountains Moved.' As a result, this campaign was the first in the client's history to focus on NS innovation instead of just the thoroughbred trademark. Now, as of 2003, the thoroughbred has been rightfully delegated to a component part of the logo, freeing the advertising to focus on more relevant communications.
To Please A Coal Customer, We Didn't Let A Little Thing Like The Appalachians Get In The Way. Norfolk Southern has been known to move mountains to serve customers. But in one case, it made more sense to jump over them. It began when a coal customer asked for more efficient routing from West Virginia to North Carolina. Problem was, our track and the mine were separated by one troublesome obstacle known as the Appalachians. Norfolk Southern came up with the idea of moving coal over the mountain on a four-mile conveyor belt, reducing the customer's round trip by nearly 350 miles. When we set out to do something, nothing gets in our way--not even miles of skyscraping terrain. We also solve problems on a smaller scale--just ask Jim Hunter, AVP Coal Resources and Marketing Services, at (540) 985-6759. Norfolk Southern The Thoroughbred of Transportation.
Norfolk Southern
Financial Press, Trade Journals
