UPPER MERION >> The Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board and SEPTA have joined forces to attract visitors to Montgomery County — and offer some perks for them once they arrive.
ISEPTAMONTCO is a campaign designed to show those visiting Philadelphia — and residents — just how easy it is to get to the county by riding SEPTA.
The new program launched this week, and over the weekend drivers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Walt Whitman Bridge, I-95 near Philadelphia International Airport and I-76 near the sports stadiums will see billboards promoting the initiative.
ISEPTAMONTCO provides trip planning tips and highlights things to do in Montgomery County. It is an expansion of the successful ISEPTAPHILLY initiative, which started in 2012.
Once in the county, SEPTA riders can receive discounts to a growing list of Perks Partners, by showing their valid SEPTA Key, TrailPass, TransPass or One Day Independence Pass.
The transit agency is encouraging Philadelphia visitors to expand their trip to the region and discover the restaurants, festivals, shopping and attractions in Montgomery County, according to Edward Harris, chief marketing officer for the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board.
“Basically this is a win-win partnership with SEPTA because we feel we have some awesome stories to tell a wider audience. And SEPTA has the opportunity to increase its ridership on weekends,” he said.
“The partnership and the campaign reinforce that SEPTA is not just for your commute to work. SEPTA runs nights and weekends too,” said Elizabeth Bradford, director of marketing at SEPTA in an emailed response to questions. “There’s a lot of opportunity to bring customers from Center City and/or Philadelphia County to Montgomery County destinations. The service is there — let’s fill those seats.”
Montgomery County has 49 train stations served by SEPTA. That is more than any other county in the Philadelphia suburbs of Bucks, Chester and Delaware, according to the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board, and is second only to Philadelphia in SEPTA ridership share.
“We believe people that travel to Philadelphia may want to expand their trip and hop on a train and get out to some of the towns in Montgomery County,” Harris added.
In addition to the billboards, a social media campaign is planned and there are plans to feature marketing on SEPTA trains and buses.
“We have a lot of big ideas for this initiative,” Harris said.
“We’re excited! Working with the team at Visit Valley Forge has been fun,” Bradford added. “Together we’ve brainstormed new ideas and new creative approaches to bring more visitors to Montgomery County on SEPTA.”
According to Bradford, one of the taglines SEPTA expects to use as the campaign moves forward is:
“With 49 stops in Montgomery County, it’s easy to leave the city behind.”
Among the towns that have businesses participating as Perks Partners in the ISEPTAMONTCO program are: Ambler, Ardmore, Jenkintown and Norristown, and the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board is working to expand the business participants.
“We want to have the business community throughout the county be part of it. We’re trying to connect with small and large businesses interested in promoting their business through SEPTA to bring more business out to the county,” he said.
Harris added that some of the towns may require visitors to use SEPTA buses or Uber to get from the station to attractions, “but we’re getting people close to a world of things to do.”
Meetings between SEPTA and the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board started this summer, according to Harris. He added that within about eight weeks, plans had progressed from strategy sessions to photo shoots with mascots for the two organizations: the tourism agency’s Monty the Fox and SEPTA’s mascot, Paws. The mascots will be seen throughout the region as part of the marketing.
ISEPTAMONTCO is the first official expansion and dedicated campaign to grow out of the ISEPTAPHILLY initiative, but Bradford explained that SEPTA created and secured the domains for the other counties SEPTA serves. She added that the Delaware County Transportation Management Association uses ISEPTAMEDIA to promote SEPTA service in Media, the Transportation Management Association of Bucks County uses ISEPTABUCKS and the Transportation Management Association of Chester County has used ISEPTAPAOLI and ISEPTAEXTON to promote different programs and services in Chester County.
For a list of Perks Partners and for more information about ISEPTAMONTCO visit www.valleyforge.org/septa, and www.iseptaphilly.com/montco
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