Two weeks ago, on a transatlantic flight from New York to Europe: the seat belt had been fastened, the baby three rows up front started its free concert, the guy across the aisle began his cough attack, and the flight attendant made the following announcement: "Welcome aboard flight 1234, .... once we are up in the air, our service staff will come around with the beverage cart and serve you a selection of Coca Cola products for free, alcoholic drinks and beer are seven dollars...".
A similar announcement was made a couple times during the flight, and only the third time around I realized that the beverage cart contained more than just Coca Cola products, and also that in the past the flight attendants announced 'refreshments' or an unspecified 'beverage selection' vs. explicitly calling out Coca Cola. A week later, on the return flight back to New York, the same announcements were made. Obviously, this was neither a one-off, nor the spontaneous inspiration of one flight attendant.
The Coca Cola company must have struck a deal with Delta Airlines to actually write these words into the announcement each Delta flight attendant reads off a sheet during the flight. What a brilliant way of getting your brand name into the consumer's ear!
Why is this so billiant? Well, for a number of reasons:
1) A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
As a marketer, you are facing every brand's dream scenario: a captive audience. They are not just all huddled up together in a confined space without anywhere else to go, they can't even tune out the message or turn down the volume! If you are using the inflight entertainment system, the inflight announcement system automatically pauses your movie, tunes out your music, and all you can listen to is the words coming out of the flight attendant's or captain's mouth.
2) A QUANTIFIABLE TARGET AUDIENCE
The Coca Cola marketing managers must love it: simply take the daily / weekly / monthly number of delta flights and the passenger volume, and you know exactly how often you have gotten your brand name in front of how many passengers.
3) BROAD REACH FOR A BRAND WITH GLOBAL APPEAL
For brands such as Coca Cola, this is simply a fantastic way to catch every consumer group, from the young kid to the middle aged working professional all the way to the senior citizens, reminding all of them across America of its products. Whereas many brands face the challenge to find and target their consumers in a highly fragmented media landscape, Coca Cola and its various brands target everyone. And that is exactly who they get on an airplane.
In times of advertising and promotional clutter, this way of getting the name out is simple, it is subtle, and I'm certain other airlines will follow shortly.
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