CSX Transportation, North America's largest railroad east of the Mississippi, is hitting the college trail recruiting potential new hires for the company. Their competition for the attention of top grads is fairly fierce - and while awareness of CSX among transportation professionals and businesses that rely on rail is very high, that's not the case with graduating seniors. So, we set out to position CSX as a company that values the creative thinking that Gen Y gravitates to. Eschewing the standard job fair approach, we launched our Text the X campaign on college campuses in the days leading up to the fairs. The teasers, which included print ads, flyers and inflatables, directed students to send an SMS message to the designated number. We responded with clues about the company and instructions to find a specific booth number on the floor in order to discover who this company with all of the great opportunities really was. Students were intrigued, traffic was high and the company was thrilled.

"A lot of big name companies spend a lot of money on recruitment - we didn't want to get into a dollar-for-dollar spending match to capture the attention of the top prospects," said CSX Corporate Communications Manager Terri Wilsie. "Text the X was a smart way to get our brand out there ahead of the rest and in a format that catered to Gen Y sensibilities."

The National Gateway is potentially one of the most significant infrastructure improvement plans to come down the pike in the last few decades. Supported and endorsed by a collective of transportation and logistics experts, the National Gateway will create a more efficient rail network between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets by increasing the use of double-stack trains. It's a public-private partnership that requires upgrading tracks, equipment and facilities in order to work. To help generate support and funding for the program, we boiled the logistical advantages into a clear-voiced narrative that would play in both transportation and non-transportation circles. The materials have successfully aided the cause - key portions of the National Gateway have been approved and funded for development.

With its capacity, fuel efficiency and low transportation cost, rail is an ideal mode of shipping for just about everything you can imagine - especially when it comes to raw materials. Occasionally, when capacity on the line opens up, CSX will target a specific industry to increase rail traffic. Our "Partner for Growth" campaigns have turned integrated uses of direct mail, print and the web into lucrative new food, agricultural and plastics business for CSX. "Taste the Savings," our food effort, generated a 24:1 return on investment, along with a 14% direct mail response and an impressive 80% recall and recognition rate among recipients.

TRANSFLO specializes in the train-to-truck/truck-to-train transfer of commodities being shipped by rail to destinations that are not rail-served. The company can be an incredibly valuable link in a shipper's supply chain, and a tremendous asset to rail - as long as potential users are convinced of TRANSFLO's infallible expertise and safe-handling. We helped TRANSFLO refine their image and messaging to do just that.