condensed innovation feb 2014_#3
TRANSCRIPT
February 2014, Issue #3
Catch Me If You Can
What:
• Airline ‘VIP’ lounges are respites from the more crowded airport concourses. The relative exclusivity of the airline club visitor -‐ whether a frequent flyer or someone who has paid a fee for access -‐ makes this environment arguably one of the richest commercial in-‐terminal opportunities available.
• Airline clubs provide marketers with access to higher affluence, higher education, C-‐level decision makers, opinion-‐leaders and tech-‐savvy innovators -‐ an audience notoriously difficult to reach through terrestrial media channels.
• US airlines have been spending billions collectively on renovations to their clubs in recent years. This was done in order to stay competitive – when compared to international airline lounge offerings -‐ and to meet the overall demand of increased air travel. To demonstrate its commitment, for example, Thom Filicia and Architectural Digest were heavily involved in Delta’s development of its new lounges at JFK and ATL. Even American Express has launched higher-‐end air travel lounges in the US.
So What:
• Extensive Reach. Delta SkyClubs provide advertisers access to more than 12 million travelers per annum. United’s 32 clubs reach over 24 million ticketed passengers per annum. Airlines register all lounge visitors when they enter a lounge, so circulation
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numbers are real hard. Oracle has been one of the first advertisers extending its aviation media reach beyond in-‐terminal advertising. The advertiser has a long running lounge ad program covering key airline lounges in select US hub airports.
• Long Dwell Times. Delta Airlines states the average in-‐lounge dwell-‐time in their lounges is 90 minutes. That is an awfully long time for a relatively confined area. Two years ago, passengers were spending between 1.5 and 2 hours on average in Virgin’s Upper Class flagship lounge in Heathrow. Today the average is 2.5 hours with 10% spending 4 hours plus.
• Product Improvements. RMG’s digital lounge products and United Premium Club Displays have seen national roll-‐outs and now enable advertisers to easily connect with premium travelers throughout the US. As an example, Verizon have started using RMG’s digital lounge products for some of its B-‐to-‐B initiatives, while still utilizing in-‐terminal airport signage for its more consumer-‐oriented campaigns.
Now What:
• The old mantra of simply connecting with premium air travelers through concourse or gate-‐room media may need to be re-‐assessed as many travelers spend more time in-‐lounge vs. concourse and/or gate room.
• Given the relatively long dwell time and generally captive audience, Kinetics' Aviator feels the in-‐lounge environment is particularly well suited for more meaningful passenger engagement. They see this environment to be especially well positioned for data capture and analytics.
• Gone are the days of non-‐backlit poster sites near hidden bathroom entrances. With a more defined and better media offer, the in-‐lounge media touch point has come a long way and is now a viable element in today’s US aviation media mix.
Contributor: Erik Bottema, Aviator