CASE STUDY: CONTINENTAL AIRWAYS

Service: A new flight from Shannon Airport to the USA

Background: Continental Airlines had established an office at Shannon Airport to handle ground arrangements for their Irish operations. They announced a series of new flights to the US and wanted to target specifically the Dublin and Limerick areas to promote these flights. Their main UK agency, Mediavest, was handling the Dublin promotion and GHM were appointed to help promote the Limerick project.

Target Audience: The flights from Shannon Airport were targeted at those passengers living within a 50-mile radius of the airport. This would incorporate people living in the Counties of Limerick, Clare and parts of Tipperary. We established that there were over 200,000 adults living in this catchment area.

Advertising Strategy: The campaign strategy was dictated by two key elements. The advertising budget was not to exceed £5K and had to incorporate an inaugural flight.

Media Strategy: The timing of the inaugural flight did not fit well with local weekly newspaper deadlines so it was decided to concentrate heavily on local radio.

Using a 40" length commercial we bought a three week campaign on the two main local stations Limerick 95 FM and Clare FM. The spot timings were a combination of drive time and depart. Weekend spots were also important because of flight timings.

The campaign delivered over 80% reach of the target audience and achieved an average OTH of 7 over the three-week period.

The result was a big increase in locally generated enquiries to the Continental Airlines office in Shannon Airport.