Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 16, 2017
Subject/Action
SUBJECT: CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER QUARTERLY REPORT
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE the Chief Communications Officer’s Quarterly Report.
Issue
ISSUE
The LA Metro Chief Communications Officer provides a quarterly update to the Board of Directors on the efforts of the Communications Department. The last CCO Quarterly Report was provided in October 2016. This report is a FY17 mid-year report, covering the first and second quarters of FY2017, as well as a look-ahead to the coming quarter.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Metro’s Communications Program is implemented through the six departments within the Communications Department: Community Relations, Customer Relations, Customer Programs and Services, Government Relations, Marketing and Public Relations. The department’s overarching goals are:
• Lead the development and coordination of internal and external communications
• Enhance the customer experience
• Optimize Metro’s brand
• Grow constituencies for Metro’s programs, projects and services
• Set the agenda and advocate for local, state and federal funding and policy opportunities
Measure M Public Education Program
The biggest effort of the Communications Department in the first half of FY2017 was developing and implementing the Measure M public education program. The program was implemented through four main sectors: Elected Officials Engagement, Key Stakeholder Engagement, Public Engagement, and Media Engagement.
The team deployed a multi-faceted program through a variety of tactics including bus, rail and shelter ads; billboards; print advertising; news blogs and articles; press events showcasing project progress; web updates; social media campaigns; telephone town hall meetings; employee information sessions; and educational videos.
Some of the measurable outcomes of the program:
• Social media campaign generated 18.5 million impressions
• The videos featuring four personal stories of transit riders garnered over 1.3 million views
• 425 community presentations and events
• 50 press and special events
• Handed out nearly 31,000 packets of M&Ms reminding people to cast their vote on Measure M
Annual Report to the Community
The Communications Department developed Metro’s Annual Report to the Community on the current status of the agency, its financial stewardship, progress of its programs and projects and accomplishments. The content of the report frames the key points of agency accomplishment as a transparent report back to the public on the progress being made through their local investment.
Corporate Sponsorship/Naming Rights Policy
As part of CEO Phil Washington’s Risk Allocation Matrix (RAM) process to explore ways to generate additional revenue for the agency, staff developed a Corporate Sponsorship/Naming Rights Policy. The policy allows Metro to expand its revenues through potential advertising partnerships with firms that will pay Metro to be associated with certain facilities, services, programs or events for a defined amount of time. This effort is a prudent means of maximizing the value of the agency’s capital investments and assets. The Board of Directors approved the policy in December 2016, and all major sponsorship proposals will be brought to the Board for action.
Marketing
The Marketing, Design Studio and Production teams completed over 1,050 projects from 7/1-12/31/16. Major campaigns included:
• Concept, creation and production of Measure M public information materials
• Bike Share design and launch
• Design and launch of Office of Extraordinary Innovation
• Sexual Assault Awareness
• Final design for new metro.net website
Social Media
• Executed 39 paid social media campaigns that reached over unique 4 million people, generated over 20 million impressions and drove over 1 million engagements
• Continued to develop efficient research survey campaigns with the Bike/Bus study which drove 2,101 completed surveys at a CPA of $1.15
• Reached over 2.3 million unique people in LA County for the Measure M Education Campaign and garnered over 1.3 million video views
• Launched metrolosangeles Snapchat account with a current score of 1,025
Social Media Metrics
• Facebook
o 65K fans total (4K+ new fans since 1st quarter)
o 22M page impressions
o 289K organic video views
• Instagram
o 26K followers
• Twitter
o 65K followers to date (+4K new followers since 1st quarter)
Digital Campaign Performance
• Bike Share
o Delivered over 44 million impressions while reaching 8 million unique people
o Generated over 141K clicks to Bike Share website
• Measure M Public Education (Phase 3)
o Delivered over 72 million impressions and garnered almost 8 million video views
o Generated over 298K clicks to theplan.metro.net
• Express Lanes
o Using mix of display, native, Waze, and SEM, delivered 11.7 million impressions
Commute Services
• Annual Employer Pass Programs (EAPP) - ATAP/BTAP 2017 renewal completed at highest retention rate to date with 94% of clients renewing and 91% of revenue collected vs. 2016 totals.
• Promotional Employer Pass Program - Three companies have participated in the three-month program so far with 40 total employees represented. One of these companies is interested in transitioning to the EAPP.
• U-Pass Program - Fall 2016 Launch
o U-Pass Pilot program had 8,367 participants in Fall 2016, which is a 13% increase over previous ITAP participation.
o There have been 924,767 U-Pass boardings through December 2016.
o Cal State LA and USC have joined the program for Spring 2017.
Community Relations
Construction Relations
Community Meetings and Events
Crenshaw/LAX Project hosted a total of 10 community meetings or events.
Purple Line Extension Project (Sections 1 and 2) hosted a total of 10 community meetings or events.
Regional Connector Transit Project hosted a total of 40 community meetings or events.
Status Updates: Social Media
During the project period, the Capital Projects ran engagement and leads campaigns to grow and connect with impacted stakeholders. In addition to regular construction updates, and Eat Shop Play posts, Construction Relations ran 267 individual paid social campaigns, totally $19,671, reaching 719,277 people.
Crenshaw/LAX Transit
• Construction Relations facilitated periodic meetings with City agencies, Metro CEO Phil Washington and key community stakeholders. In addition, Construction Relations continued to work with businesses and residents with an interest in the at-grade segment, including members of the Baldwin Hills Estates HOA, Dulan’s restaurant and the business owners.
• Introduced new WSCC team members to the community to ensure continuity in service.
• Coordinated a community walk with CEO Phil Washington in the Park Mesa Heights area and met with key stakeholders and business owners impacted by construction. Received valuable feedback on construction mitigations, the BIF and the BSC.
• Worked with People’s Coordinated Services, a senior services provider, to allow for continued operations during a 21-day closure of the frontage road in their area.
• Harriet, Crenshaw/LAX‘s TBM, broke through the northern wall of the MLK/Crenshaw Station. The breakthrough was highly publicized through the project social media channels including a live stream of the event.
Purple Line Extension Section 1
• Continued the partnership with Chrysalis, a non-profit organization that hires homeless and low-income individuals, to assist with the distribution of construction information. The partnership allowed for door-to-door distribution of construction information related to project decking operations.
• Held La Brea Decking Completion Press Event announcing completion of La Brea Decking six weeks ahead of schedule.
• Promoted the discovery of mastodon/mammoth fossils during La Brea Excavation. The fossil findings received national attention. It was the first major discovery for the project.
• Convened the initial pre-construction community meeting for Section 2.
• Distributed construction safety materials at Annual Tarfest.
Regional Connector
• Reached steady state in Little Tokyo with the end of long-term closures at the intersection of 1st/Alameda.
• Provided outreach and developed education campaigns to support long-term cut and cover construction activities and closures at 2nd/Broadway station area and Flower St.
• Conducted outreach for stakeholder and community input regarding proposed names for the three Regional Connector stations. Received over 1,000 comments.
• Provided update on the status of construction at fifteen (15) Community Leadership Council area-specific committees.
• Held Tunnel Boring Machine Lowering Event, signifying the start of tunneling operations for the project. Approximately 200 community members were in attendance for the event.
Highway Program
• I-605 Corridor Improvement Project and the WB SR-91 Improvement Project: The environmental phase was initiated for each project, and hosted ten scoping meetings.
• Hosted an Elected Officials Briefing on the I-605 Corridor “Hot Spots” Projects.
• Kicked off the environmental phase for the I-605 Corridor Improvement Project in partnership with Caltrans by hosting eight Public Scoping Meetings attracting 175 attendees.
• Kicked off environmental phase for the WB SR-91 Improvement Project In partnership with Caltrans by hosting two open houses attracting over 140 attendees.
• Creating a community outreach plan for three bike path studies requested by the Metro Board of Directors. Community meetings are anticipated for late March.
• Managing and coordinating with the Hollywood Burbank Airport on content development for four digital screens that will be placed at the airport as one of the I-5 North Construction Project’s mitigation programs. These screens will provide the public with bus and train schedules from the airport and real-time traffic and closure information.
Eat/Shop/Play
• ESP Local turned one year old, with approximately 250 participating businesses.
• Held eight Lunch Meet-Up events at impacted restaurants. Average attendance was 20 people.
• Businesses were invited to host pop-up booths at Metro Headquarters. Metro hosted two vendor days, with eight vendors participating. Growing the catering orders for impacted businesses was a focus.
• Three new ESP businesses were registered/certified as ongoing vendors w/ Metro: Southern Girl Deserts, Dulan’s on Crenshaw, Crenshaw Yoga & Dance
• The ESP social media campaign has been focused on providing content directly to those who live, work or travel along the areas impacted by our construction activity.
Safety Outreach
Rail Safety Education
Transit Safety Programs (TSP) is community-based transit safety education. TSP offers a unique approach to increasing public awareness and teaching appreciation for safety cognizance around Metro’s rail lines. During the months of July-December 2016, TSP reached an overall total of 480,716 community members by various safety outreach efforts.
|
Blue, Gold, Expo, Red, Purple, and Orange Line Presentations and Events |
|
Quarter |
Month |
Presentations |
Events |
Informed About Safety and Rail |
|
Q1 & Q2 |
July - Dec |
307 |
70 |
66,347 |
• Safety Campaigns
o Conducted 2 safety campaigns.
o Conducted 11 pop-up-events to remind patrons to practice safe behavior near Metro trains.
o Rail Safety Calendars were mailed to residents within a .5 mile radius of Blue, Expo, & Gold reaching 217,000 households.
• Advertisement and Outreach Materials
o Purchased ad space in the City Of Azusa Activity Guide and included rail safety tips and information about how to request rail safety presentations. Activity Guides were sent to 16,000 homes in the City of Azusa.
o Purchased bus car and rail car advertisements for September Safety Rail Month, reaching 13,688.
o Distributed 70,365 safety collateral materials to rail line communities and stakeholders.
Tour Program
The Metro Rail Safety Orientation Tour Program is a hands-on teaching tool offered to all schools, recreation centers and senior centers within a 1.5 mile radius of the Blue, Gold, and Expo lines, after the completion of a Rail Safety Presentation. The first half of the year, the program benefitted 8,225 individuals.
Field Trip Program
The program is for any school (1st -12th grades) in Los Angeles County. Participation in the program requires successful completion of the online curriculum. Field trips must be from the 21 approved educational destinations. The program reached 3,727 individuals.
On The Move Riders Club
The program is a peer-on-peer training program, designed to provide older adults with the knowledge, practice, and confidence to safely and independently travel on public transportation. October 24, 2016 the program hosted Metro’s first Older Adult Transportation Expo which attracted over 300 attendees including 24 exhibitors. The program reached others through additional efforts:
o 20 presentations: 632 individuals
o 27 events: 1,477 individuals
Rail Safety Ambassadors (RSA’s)
RSAs are retired bus and rail operators that are posted at critical locations, along Metro Rail Alignments, to observe the behavior of both pedestrians and vehicles. The program is a key component of Metro’s Safety Outreach program by posting ambassadors on the Blue and Gold Lines.
Public Relations
Media Relations
• Issued 120 news releases
• Conducted 29 news conferences
• Responded to more than 1,500 incoming media inquiries
Digital Media
• The Source had 1,303,762 page views
• El Pasajero, our Spanish-language blog, had 72,458 page views
• Issued 2,300 service alerts, reaching 23,500 followers on Metro’s Service Alerts
• Increased followers on Metro’s Twitter account by more than 10 percent for a total of 65,100 followers
• Reached 26,300 followers on Metro’s Instagram Account
• Live video event coverage was expanded using Periscope and Facebook Live
• Reached younger followers on Snapchat with weekly video stories
• Coordinated daily messaging on more than 1,000 screens across Metro system
Special Events and Promotions
• Held 52 Measure M and other press and special events in the first half of FY17 including but not limited to Little Tokyo Regional Connector TBM Lowering, Crenshaw Tunnel Boring Breakthrough and Taste of Soul
• Partnered with community groups on 14 events through the Destination Discounts Program reaching an estimated 107,000 attendees.
Local and Municipal Affairs Community Meetings and Events
|
Quarter |
Month |
Number of Public Facing Meetings/Events |
People Reached Out To |
Informed About Rail Operations |
Tour Program |
|
Q1 |
July - Sept |
139 |
27,161 |
96,735 |
19 |
|
Q2 |
Oct - Dec |
153 |
47,205 |
116,000 |
3 |
|
Totals: |
|
292 |
74,366 |
212,735 |
22 |
Government Relations
Federal and State
• Metro Government Relations is closely tracking major federal grant opportunities - including the FASTLANE grant for Fiscal Year 2017. Metro will be vigorously competing for these valuable federal grants by working with key stakeholders, including members of the Los Angeles County Congressional Delegation.
• Metro Government Relations is closely tracking the Federal Fiscal Year 2017 appropriations process which is funded until April 28th, 2017 - where we are working to secure $300 million in New Starts funding for our rail transit projects as well as advance the projects in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2018 federal budget.
• Metro’s Government Relations staff successfully advanced Metro Legislative agenda in Sacramento.
• Metro Government Relations successfully preserved the authority of Metro Board of Directors.
• Metro Government Relations successfully presented the 2017 Federal and State Legislative Program for Board consideration.
• Metro Government Relations has completed preparation of all Metro sponsored legislation for consideration in Sacramento.
• Metro’s Government Relations staff is reviewing all bills introductions, in the California State Senate and Assembly and will be bringing bills forward for Board consideration throughout the coming months.
Customer Relations and Customer Programs and Services
Customer Relations
• Answered 1,016,345 calls for FY17 mid-year on 323.GOMETRO compared to 1,185,670 calls answered during same time in FY16.
• Average wait time for customer calls from July-December 2016 was 21 seconds.
• Held Team Building Retreat for all 125 contract/non-contract employees that enhanced work performance and self-development.
Customer Programs and Services
• Processed approximately 85K Reduced Fare applications
• Customer Center Revenue approximately -$3,500,00.00
• Mobile Customer Center - Visited 55 locations, touched 2,500 customers
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Pauletta Tonilas, Chief Communications Officer, (213) 922-3777
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Pauletta Tonilas, Chief Communications Officers, (213) 922-3777
