Judging by the soaring mentions of Facebook and Twitter alone Jet Blue has scored big on its Car-megeddon promotion offering four dollar flights between Long Beach and Burbank California this weekend.
Offering just 2 flights in each direction per day this is hardly disruptive to their schedule nor will it successfully transport a significant number of people, but just wait until local stations cover each end of the inaugural flight – just wait till some enterprising network reporter does a ride along. You can’t add up the amount of free promotion on multiple platforms. A little creativity at the airline or agency will be paying major dividends in the public’s mind share. And – just to note their strategic view – by offering this on Wednesday they pretty much guarantee three days of run-up pre-publicity plus the weekend itself.
Why is this grist for a media column? Because when a company does it right – manages an event – grabs the headline and manages the story – it’s worth a tip-of-the -hat.