A video produced by Amotion for the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District’s (METRO) “One Ride at a Time” campaign earned top honors at an internation creative competition.
Originally published on the Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin.
METRO’s “One Ride at a Time” Earns Top Honors in International Creative Competition
By Wendy McKillop
Santa Cruz, CA (May 7, 2024): One Ride at a Time (ORAT), the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District’s (METRO’s) innovative campaign to showcase the environmental benefits of transit, encourage bus ridership and protect Santa Cruz County’s extraordinary natural resources, has earned four Hermes Creative Awards, including three Platinum and one Gold Award. These annual marketing awards, sponsored by the Association of Communications and Marketing Professionals, are one of the oldest and largest creative competitions in the world.
In addition, Danielle Glagola, METRO’s communications and marketing director, received the California Association for Coordinated Transportation’s (CALACT’s) Rising Star Award. The award recognizes a new transportation professional who has made outstanding contributions to their agency and the transportation field. Among her many accomplishments since joining METRO, Glagola is the creator of ORAT.
“One Ride at a Time has brought a wave of interest and positive attention to METRO and the environmental benefits of riding transit. Our ridership is up 22% since last year thanks in part to One Ride at a Time,” said METRO Board Chair Kristen Brown. “We are thrilled to see One Ride at a Time and Danielle Glagola, who has been instrumental in bringing the campaign to life, honored in this way.”
ORAT won Hermes Creative Awards in the following categories:
- Best Strategic Marketing/Promotion Campaign – Platinum Award: This award recognizes the ORAT campaign as a strategic whole. Judges evaluated the collective impact of all creative elements, including bus wraps, print, digital, radio and social media advertising; exterior bus ads; car cards; transit shelter and trash can wraps; and outreach events.
- Best Advertising Photography – Platinum Award: This award celebrates the work of two of ORAT’s creative contributors in producing the stunning photography that is the hallmark of the campaign. Renowned nature photographer Frans Lanting’s images of Monterey Bay wildlife and landscapes grace METRO’s buses and are the heart of ORAT. METRO and local videographer Andrew J. O’Keefe II captured the ORAT buses against the backdrop of some of Santa Cruz County’s most iconic locations.
- Best Print Media Advertising – Other (Bus Wraps) – Platinum Award: Wrapped buses featuring the breathtaking nature photography of Frans Lanting are the cornerstone of ORAT. This award, which celebrates excellence in non-traditional forms of print-media advertising, recognizes the beauty and impact of the ORAT bus wraps.
Best Social Media Video (Fundraiser) – Gold Award
Recognizing the best social media video aimed at fundraising for a non-profit organization, this award was given to a video created by METRO and Andrew J. O’Keefe II. With ORAT, every ride donates to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Bay of Life Fund. To date, the campaign has raised more than $40,000 for these organizations.
Watch the award-winning video.
“To us, Monterey Bay is one of Earth’s crown jewels. We know of no other place in the world where land and sea connect in such an extraordinary way. This is why the opportunity to work with METRO on One Ride a Time really spoke to us,” said Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom, who collaborated with METRO on the campaign’s messaging. “We are so pleased it is receiving notoriety in Santa Cruz County and beyond so we can continue to protect our local biodiversity and promote conservation.”
Daniella Glagola joined METRO in July 2020 and was responsible for developing METRO’s inaugural Marketing Department. Throughout her tenure, she has been a team of one, managing all aspects of the agency’s marketing and communications efforts.
In 2023, Glagola and previous METRO CEO Michael Tree created and launched METRO’s One Ride at a Time program with Frans Lanting Studio as a primary campaign contributor. ORAT links the role public transit plays in protecting the environment with a customer rewards program that allows riders to make donations to local environmental non-profits. In its first year, the program donated more than $42,000 and helped propel a 412% increase in METRO’s earned media, a 32% increase in Facebook followers, and a 22% increase in bus ridership.
“I’m thrilled and honored for ORAT to be recognized internationally. Our hope with this campaign was to connect the environmental benefits of riding public transit back to our community to encourage ridership,” said Danielle Glagola. “The images of local wildlife and landscapes, all sourced from the Monterey Bay and supplied by Frans Lanting are the perfect complement to the campaign.”
ORAT gives bus riders the opportunity to protect Monterey Bay’s extraordinary natural resources just by simply riding the bus. Thanks to ORAT, every ride on a METRO bus contributes to the agency’s partners in protecting the environment, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Bay of Life Fund through the GO Santa Cruz ridesharing incentive program. To participate, riders simply need to log 25 rides to make a $10 contribution to one of METRO’s local environmental non-profit partners.
For more information on METRO visit scmetro.org or to learn more about METRO’s One Ride at a Time program visit scmetro.org/onerideatatime.