The Shuttle Page 4.
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Here's Stuart Elliot of the New York Times with an advertising campaign Spotlight. How do you sell a service that seems like a luxury? By marketing it as a necessity. THat's the idea behind the campaign introduced by a company called US Helicopter. THe company scheduled later this month start flying regular helicopter service between the Downtown Manhattan Heliport and Kennedy International Airport. Service to Laguardia and Newark airport is also planned. The campaign with an agency called the Gate Worldwide is composed of print and online advertising. The add seeks to promote the service by branding it as the 8-minute airport shuttle. Calling the scheduled flights a shuttle is of course evocative of the airlines that have for decades connected NY with Boston and Washington. THe target audience for the campaign is wall streeters, busy lawyers, senior executives and frequent travelers. The goal of the ad is to convince the target audience that the time they save in travelling compared with a taxi cab or car service more than makes up for the cost of the ticket. Tickets at the beginning will cost $139 dollars each way plus tax and fees. The regular fare will be 20 dollars higher. To get across the point of time being worth money, the print ads carry headlines like "faster than a speeding limo" "look down on the airport traffic, literally" and "arriving to the airport shouldn't cost you 2 hours of your life". BO Frasier, Managing Director of the Gate Worldwide says the idea of calling US Helipcopter the 8 minute airport shuttle is meant to deliver the product benefit of what he calls a rational way. Rather than describing as they say a helluva helicopter service. THe introductory ads began running last week in newspapers. They will continue to appear this week. THere will also be banner ads in Search Engine Marketing. Donald Mac Sullivan, chief marketing officer of US Helicopter says a list of as many as 200 keywords have been compiled for the Search Engine Marketing part of the campaign. They include terms like "limo to the airport" and "helicopter charter". The total budget in the first year is estimated at 1.5 million to 2 million dollars. That would buy a lot of helicopter rides. This is Stuart Elliot, advertising columnist at the NYT.
E-mail to a Friend Page 12.
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Hi Maria,
What’s up? Here in Chicago everything’s going well. I just started a new job and it’s OK. I’m working as a sales assistant for a software company. It’s boring at times, but I’ll stick with it for a while. Sometimes I feel like it’s difficult to adjust to a new city. You know, I just moved here in the middle of December and, well, I’m lonely. Anyway, I’ve made a couple of friends and we go out sometimes. But I still miss my friends back home. Have you heard form Tashi? I got an e-mail from him a few weeks ago and he sounded good. I think he’s in Vietnam now and may want to return here in the future. What’ve you been up to? How’s your last year at the university going? It will be great to see you sometime. Do you have any plans to come to Chicago? Let me know if you’re anywhere in the area.
Take care.
Matt.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the e-mail. It’s always great to hear from you. Yeah, I know what you mean about the job. I think it’s hard to start a new job, especially when it’s boring. Good luck with it. I’ve been doing OK. It’s exam time here, so I’ve had my nose to the grindstone. After February, I’ll be able to take a break. I’m thinking of visiting friends in California in March
