Here's a another creative brief for those of you wanting to develop some ad concepts on your own.

1. S C H O O L O F V I S U A L C O N C E P T S
CREATIVE BRIEF
DATE:
CLIENT: Amtrak
JOB TITLE: Cascades Magazine Ad
JOB NUMBER: ---
ASSIGNMENT What, succinctly, are you asking us to do?
Develop a full-color magazine ad to run in Washington CEO Magazine to promote ridership of the Amtrak
Cascades route between Seattle and the Business Journal of Portland.
AUDIENCE Who is this effort aimed at? What are they like?
We’re after business travelers who are now either driving or flying when they need to make business trips
between Seattle and Portland. The audience includes both men and women, 35-65, who tend to be better
educated and of higher incomes. As a rule, these are people who are pressed for time, so convenience and
lifestyle are more powerful motivators than saving money.
OBJECTIVE What specific results are we after, when must they be achieved? What do we want the audience to do?
We would like to see a 10% increase in ridership on this route among business travelers during the months
of September through December.
SITUATION What’s the current environment--especially with respect to competitors?
People who have never experienced the Amtrak Cascades are surprised at the comfort, style, and
professionalism of the experience. If you haven’t, you might think of trains as being just one notch above a
Greyhound Bus. However, rising gas prices and continued issues with freeway congestion have made
Amtrak a more appealing alternative to driving. It continues to be a desirable alternative to flying for those
who have some cost-consciousness or don’t want to deal with the security lines at airports
ATTITUDES What does the audience think now? What do we want them to think?
Now: I usually drive to Portland (Seattle). But it’s getting to be an expensive, stressful headache.
Future: I’m thinking about taking Amtrak Cascades next time. It’s a bargain and sounds pretty nice.
STRATEGY/TAKE-AWAY “You should (action) (product) because (reason with NO conjunctions).”
You should take the Amtrak Cascades on your next business trip to Portland (Seattle) because it’s less
stressful than driving for roughly the same cost.
TONALITY/PERSONALITY What’s the personality and style of this brand?
Amtrak would like to portray itself as contemporary, professional, and solid. Consider United Airlines
personality as one Amtrak would like to emulate.

2. COPY POINTS/CAUTIONS/MANDATORIES Other things that should or could be mentioned.
• Need to use Amtrak Cascades logo
• The train itself is different from typical Amtrak trains—might want to feature visually
• Direct consumers to http://www.amtrakcascades.com/
• You can leave at 7:30 am from Seattle, arriving in Portland by 11 am, then return that afternoon at 6:15
p.m., arriving in Seattle at 9:45 pm
• You can leave at 8:45 am from Portland, arriving in Seattle by 12:15 pm, then return that afternoon at 5:25
pm, arriving in Portland at 8:52 pm.
• Other times also available; typical fare if $51 round trip (same route on Horizon Air is $292, gasoline at
$2/gal. would run about $40)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Photos available at http://www.360360.com/trains/cascadestalgo.html
http://www.photosbystevenjbrown.com/narp/cascades/talgo.html