American Airlines ads on fun approach

By Suzanne Marta
The Dallas Morning News

Campaign takes humerous look at why folks travel

In trying to win the hearts and minds of travelers, American Airlines Inc. is taking a cue from local rival Southwest Airlines Co.

Fort Worth-based American's new television ad campaign, which is scheduled to launch today, takes a humorous approach in looking at why folks travel.

Along the line of Southwest's popular "Wanna Get Away" campaign, one of American's new ads features an employee furtively calling the airline to try to book an earlier flight to get out of inane team-building exercises.

In another, a young employee eagerly volunteers for a series of unsexy business trips in an effort to rack up frequent-flier miles to use for a tropical vacation.

The previous ad campaign, which was launched in 2004, took a more sentimental tone.

"We've lightened up the brand a bit," said Roger Frizzell, the airline's vice president for public relations, advertising and publishing. "Perhaps it's a chapter we've stolen from Southwest's book."

Along with the new ad push comes a greater focus on online and interactive ads that more deeply tap into key niche markets and into consumer interests. For example, an online ad for a wine magazine might feature the airline's wine service in its first- and business-class cabins.

The airline also plans to do more advertising focused on specific markets and routes, such as transcontinental flights from New York.

The latest campaign will be integrated with the airline's other promotions and marketing pushes, including using technology to send messages in different ways. Previously, many of those efforts were planned separately from the carrier's advertising campaigns.

Mr. Frizzell declined to say how much the airline would spend on its new campaign, except that it was "a few million dollars." But he did say that the online and mobile advertising portion, which was nonexistent a decade ago, make up about 30 percent of the budget.

American initially planned to create a completely new ad campaign but found that the 2004 effort, which depicted travelers wanting to get home to their families in time for dinner, still had legs.

Consumer research showed awareness for the 2004 campaign had increased from 50 percent in the first wave to as high as 85 percent in some key markets.

Among business travelers who had seen the campaign, 26 percent said they'd take more trips on American. That figure nudged higher to 30 percent among frequent fliers.