| Good morning, Marketer, here’s how to waste some dollars As previously mentioned, I was in Boston last week for a conference. I traveled up by train from New York. It’s about a four hour ride while a flight takes less than an hour. But of course you have to add on the time to get to and from the airports — and a flight is much more likely than a train to get canceled these days. I bought my Amtrak ticket online. And since that day, every day, my personal Instagram feed is packed with ads for Amtrak’s Acela service. Amtrak must be spending money on these ads — but why? They hardly need to make me aware of the brand; I already bought from them and who doesn’t know Amtrak anyway? And is there any competition on their routes (oh, I suppose I could hop a freight train)? Do they think persistent advertising will make me take more train rides? There’s a lot of smart marketing out there but there’s some crazy stuff too. For the smart stuff, don’t forget to register (it’s free) for MarTech. Kim Davis
Editorial Director | 