Good Practices - Italy
#lamusicastacambiando, roadshow´s campaign for the presentation of the new rolling stock in main Italian cities
#lamusicastacambiando is a roadshow´s campaign for the presentation of the new rolling stock (Rock and Pop trains, Jazz, Vivalto, Minuetto and Swing trains will be added) in the main squares of the most important Italian cities.
This promotional campaign aims to present to commuters and citizen the new rolling stock in a fascinating and innovative way using music events developed in collaboration with a popular Italian radio network (RTL).
This promotional campaign, organized by the Italian Railway operator “Trenitalia”, started in 2017 and it is still ongoing. In these two years of activities, events were organized in Bologna, Roma, Torino, Firenze, Genova, Verona, Napoli, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Bari. In each city, a copy of the new train’s carriages was placed in the main city square and it is possible for citizen to enter in the train and visit the new equipment. During the day, dedicated music events are been organized in the proximity of the train with the dissemination of informative materials regarding the characteristics of the new trains and regional train services.
3. Challenges and barriers in implementing /introducing selected good practice and respective ways used in order to overcome or limit risks
The new commuters’ trains will entry into passenger service in Emilia-Romagna Region from mid 2019. The challenge of these promotional initiatives is to increase the quota of commuters using the train for their daily trips. In particular this innovative promotional campaign is a way to disseminate information on investments made by the Regional authority to purchase and put into operations these new and high-quality trains for commuters.
4. Funding mechanism, cooperation schemes developed and institutional reforms made
The new trains are partly financed by FS Group using a €600m Green Bond issued in November 2017. The Rock trains are expected to offer 30% lower energy consumption than the current fleet and are more than 95% recyclable, enabling them to obtain ‘white certificates’ for investments in energy efficiency. The national railway operator and each regional authority define their cooperation and their regional train development plan signing a “Service contracts”. The aim of this promotional campaign is also to increase awareness of regional authority in improving and strengthen the sustainable transports in their territory. This effective financing scheme allows to organize such an expansive promotional campaign.
4. Funding mechanism, cooperation schemes developed and institutional reforms made
Key factors of success are:
- Innovative promotional campaigns in the main Italian squares using new communication strategies and an intense use of social networks;
- Strong collaboration among regional authority and Italian railway operator in improving the commuter train services;
- Strong involvement of the national railway operator both from economical and promotional point of views.
6. Recommendations, transferability
This case study is easily transferable as not strictly related to Italian context.