Canuckflack

Takin’ the ‘A’ Train – to increased sales

// March 29th, 2004 //

Siemens has invested $16 million in designing, building and moving a 14 car train to target markets around the world. The promotion is intended to provide trade customers with an opportunity to view product lines and speak to technical experts about the range of Siemens products.

Jammed with technology, the 14 rail cars house 224 plasma screens and monitors, 189 DVD players, four servers, nine miles of electrical cables and almost two miles of data lines,

The train has been featured at major trade shows in Asia, Europe and North America. It has stopped in central locations like Grand Central Station and on sidings near major customers. Siemens has supported the effort with a detailed website and has drawn visitors in with giveaways like Masters golf packages, Alaskan cruise/train advertures, golf clubs, and Bose theatre systems.

For interest’s sake, here’s the website for the Chinese tour, the swing through Portugal and the site in Germany. And here is related advertising.

But is this effort worth the investment?

As the NYT notes, Siemens has good reason to expect the trouble is worth it. In Spain, where the train made its debut, Siemens’ market share for energy and automation products spiked 3 percentage points, to 16 percent, after the train went through.

There are ancillary benefits as well. Vendors have capitalized upon regional appearances of the train to reward current customers and reinforce their sales programs: for example, one NY lighting company encouraged customers to be their guest on a visit to the train.