This is NOT a political topic, just something I noticed. During the election coverage last night, at least on CNN, it seemed like every other ad was one of the Norfolk Southern commercials. Did anyone else notice, and I am curious as to why the sudden advertising blitz. Not that I minded but just thought it was interesting how many ads were theirs.
Perhaps it was just a good spot to have a commercial shown in front of a large audience? Kind of like the Superbowl, except less viewers skipping the commercials for beer or bathroom breaks.[:P]
Heh, I was seeing CSX on Fox News Channel.
We spent about equal amounts of time on NBC and ABC. I don’t recall any NS commericals. “Local” commercials can be slottted in a lot more smoothly than they used to be and often give the appearance of a coast-to-coast advertiser. - a.s.
i was watching fox too…and it was 2 to 1 NS adds to CSX ones on that network…
csx engineer
I believe these commercials are only shown on cable news channels. CSX also has a commercial on talk radio. I have never seen a UP or BNSF commercial.
Jeff
I have DirectTV, and I see CSX and N&S commercials regularly.
I NEVER watch Fox news.
One of those NS ads has a small “herd” of forlorn gasoline cans admiring the clean NS train while lamenting over the heavy traffic on a nearby Interstate highway. It has a song background. Has anyone else noticed, in the very first scene of that ad, that the train whistle sounds much more like a steam whistle than a diesel horn???
Bill
Interestingly enough, the CSX radio spot has been airing on the local Classic Rock station (WZLX in Boston). I suspect it may have something to do with ongoing negotiations between the carrier and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (mainly about the state purchasing additional trackage for commuter operations)…
Any online versions of those commercials?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jDk-g02GNw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saqb4MtVm4o&NR=1
Yes, it does ! My wife saw it before I did, and thought the same thing.
NS calls it the “Lonely Gallon” commercial. Here’s the link to the corporate website where you can download 15 and 30 second versions of it (3.7 and 7.5 MB, respectively !), the entire song, and other stuff, including NS’ prior commercials from as far back as 1992, and then most years from 2000 to 2005:
http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Media/Television%20Commercials%20&%20Video/
I believe the CSX ads are also on its website someplace.
- Paul North.
Why are the ads being run? One would think news shows are not targeted at an audience buying freight transportation.
Public policy decision makers and political junkies watch a lot of cable news and its related talking heads. Is this the market segment the ads are aimed at? If so, do eastern roads have more to gain by doing so?
A few years ago Union Pacific ran a similiar campaign on both cable and network tv so it’s not just the eastern roads…
one word… INVESTORS… puts the company name out there for people looking to invest money into…and with the “green movement” that is going on now… the carriers are show caseing how “green” they are compaired to other modes of transportation… and thus drum up some investors looking to put there money into more enviromentaly friendly corporations…
csx engineer
The whistle is part of the song. The gas cans are sad that the train doesn’t need them.