Thursday, May 1, 2008

An airline has a Eureka! Moment



Wednesday, April 16th- again, my computer would not let me sign into blogger.

Ever since I have been doomed to delayed flights, lost baggage, and being treated like an incompetent child (aka FWC- flying while collegiate), I’ve always wondered—how come nobody cares about us?! The huge population of flyers who pay full price when they can’t afford it to run around to connecting flights just to go home to spend Easter weekend with the family?

As reported by Adweek, AirTran finally realized my dear market segment and has created a campaign dedicated solely to collegiate-aged folk- the “Fly free til you’re 23” campaign. The campaign started the week of April 9th; the company will release one 30-second and two 15-second viral videos featuring senior citizens posing as 23-and-under kids using fake ID’s and disguises in order to qualify for their new sweepstakes; a chance to win two round trips per calendar quarter until the winner turns 23. At the end of the viral videos, watchers are led to airtranu.com to register for AirTran's frequent flyer program, A+ Rewards.

The videos will be released on websites such as collegehumor.com and ESPN.com, and has been featured in college town theatres and print promotions have been placed in college campus newspapers. The campaign is also in partnership with NBC on Campus, a concept incorporating NBC and University Network, which is a digital out-of-home company that broadcasts programming to 283 screens on 181 campuses.

People such as Henry Harteveldt, an airline and travel analyst at Forrester Research, are singing their praises about AirTran’s strategic approach; “Going after younger travelers is a smart approach, since most of them haven't formed brand loyalty yet” he says, "the promotion requires everyone to join AirTran's rewards program and it's a good way to build loyalty with customers.”

The promotion ends June 9th, so to all my fellow college students out there, get on airtranu.com and sign up! I did!

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