CSX Radio Ad

I was just listening to KISS 108 and I heard a 10 second ad for CSX. It said "CSX how freight moves" and a horn blast. I gues they are reaching out to people still trying to decide on a career.

They've been running those consumer-oriented ads a lot in the Boston market for months now on WBZ and WEEI, but it's not like I can call up CSX if I want to ship a box of widgets to my uncle in New Jersey or whatever. Their customers are high volume freight shippers, and there aren't that many of those left around here. I assume that the purpose is to create a warm fuzzy feeling for Chessie Seaboard Ex, but how they benefit from that proportional to the cost of the saturation ad campaign is a mystery to me.

I believe these ads are targeted to the general public to improve their image regarding some of the "negative" images created by: 1) their board proxy fight; 2) local anti-CSX attitudes such as those promoted by Lt. Gov. Murray during the negotiations for the purchase of the Framingham-Worcester portion of the B&A; and, 3) sentiments regarding railroad re-regulation that have been floating around and were inflamed over the fuel-surcharge issue. There has been no shortage of CSX-bashing...some deserved, some not.

Edit: I'd also add that the intersection of issues relating to energy, environment, infrastructure and now the economy, will make this upcoming time very active with government decision-making and policies promoting and/or regulating various transportation modes. So it's probably a good idea to build positive public awareness, as these ads do, regarding energy effiiciency, and by extension, environmental friendliness.