Airborne Critters Catch Fliers Attention
Will Jack the Rabbit
and Foxy ever get together? Will Flip the Dolphin ever get to
Florida? People are asking Frontier Airlines such questions about
its talking animals ad campaign, which has proved to be wildly
popular with consumers. When the animals that are painted on the
tails of Frontier's planes began conversing with each other in TV
commercials last year, the airline garnered a 50 percent leap in
brand recognition. Now the TV and radio commercials are earning top
industry awards.
Frontier Airlines and Ericsson Fina, a division of New York
advertising firm Grey Worldwide, won top honors at the New York
Festivals and Mobius ad competitions last month. Frontier's TV
commercials took six of eight first-place prizes in the
transportation category of the Mobius Awards. AirTran Airways won
the other two spots. The 33rd annual Mobius awards had more than
5,000 entries from 33 countries this year, but Grey Worldwide
walked away with the most awards at the Feb. 6 show in Los
Angeles.
The Frontier radio ad "Jack's song" won a New York Festivals
silver world medal -- the highest award given in the travel and
tourism category. It was produced by New York-based McHale Barone.
Other radio spots won finalist certificates. Frontier's ads
competed against ads from such companies as British Airways,
Hotwire.com and Busch Gardens in Florida, according to New York
Festivals marketing director Anne White. There were 3,000 entries
in the TV and radio category from 35 countries for the New York
Festivals. For nearly 50 years, New York Festivals has overseen six
annual contests with entries from 62 countries.
"People are following Jack and Foxy's story line or how Flip is
always sent to Chicago; people are engaged in the ads," Frontier
Airlines spokesman Joe Hodas said. "We hear from parents that kids
get excited when they fly because they want to know which animal
they'll get on their plane."
When Frontier employees let people know where they work, the ads
are the first thing people mention, he said. People are even
calling the airline just to say how much they like the ads.
Frontier had no way of anticipating the consumer reaction. Before
the ads began last year, fewer than 40 percent of Denver consumers
were aware of the Frontier brand. But after Larry the Lynx and his
cohorts began chatting it up at Denver International Airport gates,
brand recognition jumped to 90 percent among Denver focus groups,
Hodas said.
And it's not just because the animals are cute and cuddly, said
Graham Button, Grey Worldwide creative director.
"They resonate on a deeper level than that," Button said.
When the animals line up at the airport gates and catch up with
each other like friends do, it creates a sense of community and
bringing people together, which is what the airline industry is
about, Button said. The ads also came at a time when smaller,
low-cost carriers were making headway against the large commercial
airlines by offering cheaper fares and better service, he said.
"People were fed up with flying and being treated like the post
office," Button said. "This is a new way of doing airline
business."
Several advertising firms from around the country competed for
the Frontier business and pitched the airline on employee loyalty
and price points. But Grey Worldwide was the only one to identify
with the airline's animals on the tails, which have been on the
planes since Frontier began operating in 1994.
"The secret to the airline is that every plane has an
individual, different animal," Button said. "It shows the airline
recognizes the difference between flights and the difference
between planes, and therefore it translates into 'the airline
recognizes the difference between individual passengers.'
"People are fed up with being treated like cattle," he said.
Getting recognized by his peers dovetails with the satisfaction
of the effective campaign, Button said.
"Being judged by your peers for doing well is very gratifying,"
he said. "It's the hardest thing to do in this businesses, where
there is so much clutter and noise, and where everyone has said it
all."
He hopes for more awards later this year when many of the
biggest advertising contests occur, such as the Clio Awards
scheduled for May in Miami.
"The ads have a cult following -- they're not mean, they're not
shocking, they're just good," Hodas said.