I will say that it has generated considerable publicity and I expect it will do so pretty solidly through the coming year. It is also better publicity than they could get from a simple ad. This puts them in a positive light on a couple of different levels. In addition, there's the word of mouth. I've been telling tons of people about this because it seems like a great opportunity and also, just a really cool thing. I think that my enthusiasm and personal avocation of the program probably has more impact that an Amtrak poster or YouTube ad would have. Financially brilliant? Maybe, if they are also using this as an opportunity to downsize their marketing. AKA axe a couple jobs.
Let's reconvene in 2 years on this post and see what sort of financial impact it had on Amtrak. Once again, for the record I think it's cool that they're doing it but I don't think it's worthy of the "brilliant" claim. Also, as the one person in this thread thus far that has extensive Amtrak experience, I'll say that I hope they've focused time and energy on improving customer service or put these writers on "special trains" or the testimonials that come from this may prove interesting. Also, I'm having a bah humbug type of day. Sorry.
's okay TNG, we all have them. I really only think it would merit the term brilliant if they are basically laying off their whole marketing department because that would probably save them a nice bit of money. However it would also be a stupid long term move. (Unless they know something we don't.)