(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on March 31, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Largest carrier jumps to graphics-rich, information laden Internet presence
It may be the oldest of the big U.S. freight lines, but Union Pacific Railroad this week pushed out an innovative Web site makeover that it says is part of a “brand refresh.”
It is also part of a strategy to woo the public with lots of information, graphics and photo images that anyone can reach.
On this site, UP explains for viewers its service regions and posts announcements relating to those areas. It also offers a “UP Online-public edition” section for employee families and retirees that includes outside news that affects the company or industry.
Donna Kush, assistant vice president for corporate communications, said that even before the new display went live “we have added a tremendous amount of information to our site over the last few months.”
But UP recently asked an outside group to look over its Internet pages and recommend changes. Some suggestions were to make site navigation less confusing, she said, and give better explanations and page organization.
This approach stands in contrast to that of some other carriers, which lock much more content behind firewalls that only customers or employees can reach with passwords. However, some railroads and trade groups have begun using their Web sites to market themselves beyond just freight shippers, and help market the idea generally that rail is the best way to ship goods.
Although UP also locks away some proprietary pages, it now pushes many others into the public domain. Those range from a slideshow of track repair problems to videos on new technology and a trove of UP museum photos.
“Innovative use of technology will be highlighted moving forward, in order to help tell the story of our history and future in a more interactive environment that is expected online today,” Kush said. And UP repacked its branding elements — yellow liverie, shield logo and “building America” slogan – with style accents Kush said are meant to convey “forward thinking and speed.”
UP has not changed the customer pages much. But Kush said the outside review “involved our customer section and we are continuing to work on enhancements to that area.” So, she said, more changes are coming soon.