Norfolk Southern: Raising_Standards

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.