The Via Rail Experience
Last month I had to travel to Kitchener. My options were 1) drive-which is hardly a relaxing activity on HWY 401, or 2) take the train.
It’s been probably over three years since I’ve taken a train trip. And a number of things have changed in that time. For one thing, the cars are now equipped with electrical outlets to plug laptops into. But best of all, free Internet connections are now available. Needless to say, that made my trip much more productive, since I was able to work instead of just reading a magazine.
So I started thinking about the ViaRail “brand experience.”
From a brand image perspective it was pretty cool to see what ViaRail is doing to make travelling more enjoyable. ViaRail is already a huge brand in Canada; it seems to me that they are really trying to make sure travellers have a “great ViaRail EXPERIENCE.” From Internet connections, to very professional staff, to being notified of delays, I coudn’t have hoped for a better trip. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect; but the good far outweighed the bad. The folks at ViaRail really are trying to live up to their motto: “a more human way to travel.”
Train travel isn’t something I normally think about in my daily routine designing logos and brand image. But this trip did remind me of something very important: as business owners, we tend to concentrate on providing a great END product. But what about all the stuff in between? it reminded me that we need to think about creating a great overall experience for clients, from returning messages, to following up, to delivering a great product. In short, as business owners we need to consider EVERYTHING and every interaction between us and the clients/customers, not just the final delivery.
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This is a great story. I travel VIA RAIl to Toronto a couple of times every year, just because of the experience. When I see the logo on billboards or any promotional material, I get a “feeling” or an “emotion” that reminds me of a great trip. So, branding goes far beyond a single imprint, as you have stated so well.