Strategic Re-branding & Marketing Plan for Behavior Change

NVTA new bus design

NVTA old bus design

The Challenge

To increase ridership and public awareness to raise necessary funds for the Napa Valley Transportation Agency (NVTA), formerly known as Napa County Transportation Planning Agency (NCTPA).

The Solution

NVTA hired a WSC partner, Amber Bieg, to lead the agency strategic re-branding, using Human Centered Design and comprehensive community engagement. Starting with a transportation analysis, Ms. Bieg established a baseline for public transit use, then used Human Centered Design methodologies to understand the user needs, create the appropriate look, feel, messaging, and marketing as well as establish behavior change goals. Then, through in-depth community research, including multiple facilitated meetings, working with multiple private and public sector stakeholder groups, the team developed a new brand and a cohesive outreach strategy that increased ridership.

New Bus Line Logo

To approve the strategic rebranding for Napa Valley Transportation Authority, the twelve agency board members consisting of Napa County municipal mayors and council members unanimously voted to approve the agency rebranding in 15 minutes.

“After all the years in government, I have never seen a political body make a unanimous decision in such a short amount of time, what sort of magic did you work?”  – Jill Techel, Mayor of Napa

The rebranding effort was so successful not by magic, but due to a six-month stakeholder engagement process the team led, informed by the Human Centered Design process.