The discussion of assembling high speed rail lines across Arizona’s desert is not new. But the state recently passed a new plan of action and a group called Arizona PIRG wanted the media to hear more about the possibility of fast tracks. Two forces were moving against this effort: The media has heard much of this before. And if bullet trains one day zip by snakes and saguaros, that day is probably decades down the line.
Arizona PIRG invited the media to a news conference. The speakers’ podium wasn’t centered inside a sleek room at some company headquarters in a dull building. The group set the podium smack in the middle of a street that dead ends at the Phoenix old Union Station where Amtrak once made its horn heard. While waiting for the show to start, TV news photographers shot video of the old station, quickly adding visuals to a story about something deep into the future no one had yet built. The station also inspired questions about the area’s locomotive past.
The group pushing high speed rail also brought an important passenger along: a small business owner named Jade Meskill who owns Gangplank. This small business owner often drives between Phoenix and Tucson and spoke excitedly of a day in which he could get work done while transportation took him from one location to the next. The owner allowed a TV crew to stop by his Chandler business, adding more visuals plus a personal face. Better yet, that small business is near other train tracks, where the photographer shot a reporter’s stand-up plus more b-roll.
Arizona PIRG took simple steps to help transform into a longer TV story what otherwise may have been a brief mention. But too often, people in marketing and communications bypass these steps and derail their own efforts. There was one bump in the ride. That old train station behind the news conference was under a flight path. A few sound bites got swallowed up by jet noise above. But let’s not be too critical. Who knew a news conference about trains needed to worry about planes?
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