north peace regional airport marketing...

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NORTH PEACE REGIONAL AIRPORT

Marketing Campaign Marketing Campaign

EDAC AWARDS SUBMISSIONOrganization: North Peace Economic Development Commission

Contact Name: Jennifer Moore | Email: [email protected]/Item Name: Take the Pledge to YXJ Campaign | Category: Events

Date Project Began: April 26, 2013 | Date of Completion: September 2013

Photo Opportunities - Pledging Ceremonies Local government, business organizations, industry participants and community groups were asked to ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’. Local media covered these ceremonies which created a buzz for the campaign and raised awareness of the benefits of flying local.

The PledgePledging ceremonies included the pledge recited froma scroll. Once the pledge was completed, pledgers were asked to sign a pledge certificate (shown above). The certificates were then framed and given to each pledger to display at their business or organization.

The pledge reads:I pledge to make the North Peace Regional Airport my �rst choice for travel,

I understand this commitment willbene�t me, my family, my business, my community and my region.

Project BriefThe North Peace Regional Airport worked successfully to recruit a third carrier to service the region. With the explosion of industrial activity in Northeast BC, the growth of the airport to facilitate the development of business and industry, as well as, the movement of the workforce are vital to the successful advancement of our communities.

The arrival of a third carrier opened up access to new markets, achieved competitive fares, and increased capacity for the movement of passengers. In partnership between the North Peace Regional Airport, North Peace Economic Development Commission and Vantage Airport Group, the ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ Campaign was launch in April.

The campaign ran for three months and saw local governments, business organizations, industry participants, and community groups take the pledge, committing to the make the North Peace Regional Airport their first choice for air travel.

Each of the three carriers offered a flight prize as part of the incentive to ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’.

The campaign saw a cross platform approach to engaging the community, including:


pledge! BCEDA AWARDS SUBMISSIONCategory: Marketing


SOCIAL MEDIA

PRINT & ONLINE ADVERTISING

PRESS RELEASES & PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

TERMINAL & ONLINE SURVEYS

A VARIETY OF PROMOTIONAL ITEMS

The ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ Campaign was launched to increase awareness of the cost and time efficiencies in utilizing the local airport over those 2, 4 and 8 hours away. The North Peace Regional Airport is an important part of the infrastructure required to support the massive resource based development in the region and historically has been utilized primarily by industry and government.

The arrival of the new carrier with new destinations increased the opportunity and affordability for residents and small business to utilize this important part of our infrastructure. This new service would only remain if locals were notified it was offered. The region had a goal of recapturing much of the market (personal and business) that was travelling to Grande Prairie, Edmonton, and Prince George for their air travel needs.

Project Goal and Purpose


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Campaign Visuals

Website Banner AdsRotating Banner ads were placed on community websites. The twitter hashtag was #pledgeYXJ used on these banner ads to encourage pledgers to tweet they had taken the pledge.

Why not choose the Why not choose the express route? express route?

#pledgeYXJwww.yxj.ca/flyyxj

REGIONAL AIRPORTNorth Peace

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the

#pledgeYXJ


pledge!

Find out how

www.yxj.ca/flyyxj

Flying YXJ is quick,Flying YXJ is quick,easy & convenient. easy & convenient.

#pledgeYXJwww.yxj.ca/flyyxj


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PLEDGE STATS - APRIL 26-JULY 27, 2013

676

TotalPledges

108WrittenPledges

568

OnlinePledges

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

The campaign generated 676 written and online entries. Of the 676 pledgers, 568 of them were direct page views to www.yxj.ca/flyyxj, where pledgers used the airport’s online pledge form to take the pledge. QR Codes on print ads and social media sites most likely attributed to these direct hits.

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www.yxj.ca/flyyxjREGIONAL AIRPORTNorth Peace

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Take the express route!Take the express route!

Traveling for business? Traveling for business?

CITY CENTRE TO AIRPORT IN 8 MINS

CONVENIENT SECURE PARKING

60 SECOND WALK TO TERMINAL

FAST CHECK-IN

Flying YXJ is quick, easy and convenient.Choose to take advantage of...

Print AdvertisingPrint ads increased awareness of the cost and time efficiencies in utilizing North Peace Regional Airport over those 2, 4 and 8 hours away. Ads targeted personal and business travellers. QR Codes were placed on the print ads so smartphone users had easy access to the online pledge form on the airport website.

Be a superhero onBe a superhero onyour next business trip! your next business trip! Flying YXJ is fast, easy and convenient.We’ll have you on your way in a flash!




FAST CHECK-IN

www.yxj.caREGIONAL AIRPORTNorth Peace

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BCEDA AWARDS SUBMISSIONCategory: Marketing

www.yxj.ca

Guy’s hockey weekend? Guy’s hockey weekend?

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Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Flying YXJ is quick, easy and convenient.Just breeze in and breeze out...




FAST CHECK-IN

Vehicle DecalsThe entire airport fleet was decaled with the ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ logo.


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Campaign Visuals Continued...

Cinema Pre-Show AdvertisingCinema pre-show ads were placed in Fort Nelson, BC to encourage travellers from that area to choose YXJ as a convenient and quick alternative over other airports.

www.yxj.ca/flyyxjREGIONAL AIRPORTNorth Peace

the


pledge!Need to make a connection? Need to make a connection?

Flying YXJ is quick, easy and convenient.Now deep breath in...hold it...breathe out...there you go...you got it!

Loose the stress and relax :)Loose the stress and relax :)

Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Prince George, Kamloops & Kelowna

Convenient daily service to...

Pledge Draw/Terminal SurveyAirport travellers were asked to ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ by entering a draw. Each entry form contained a Terminal Survey to gather information about each traveller’s needs and habits.

Buttons & CoastersButtons were distributed to pledgers after they ‘Took the Pledge to Fly YXJ’. Coasters were distributed to restaurants & pubs. Coasters included a QR Code on the back of the coaster which directed the public to the airport’s website where they could take the pledge through an online pledge form.

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REGIONAL AIRPORT www.yxj.ca

North Peace

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REGIONAL AIRPORT www.yxj.caNorth Peacethe

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Sticker ClingsSticker clings were distributed to businesses and organizations who took the pledge. The sticker clings were displayed in shop windows to show support for the campaign’s message.

Local Media CoverageFree local media coverage of the campaign and pledging ceremonies spanned across internet, newspaper and television news. This created more community awareness and helped spread the message of the campaign.


Ÿ North Peace Economic Development Commission

Ÿ North Peace Airport ServicesŸ North Peace Airport Society

Indigo Designs was responsible for the visual identity of the campaign, including all graphic design components, and management of the social media channels. Indigo Designs worked with Internet Guys for the website-based components of the campaign.

Partners in the campaign included:

Who are the participants in this project?Who was involved in the planning/implementation? Who is affected?


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pledge!

www.yxj.ca

Take the Pledge Take the Pledge

Win one of three prizes to be drawn!

Take the pledge to make YXJyour first choice for travel!

For more details visitwww.yxj.ca/flyyxj

to Fly YXJto Fly YXJ

Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ

Ÿ Vantage Airport GroupŸ Air CanadaŸ Central Mountain AirŸ WestJet Encore

Social Media

Twitter Page & FacebookFacebook and Twitter pages were branded with the ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ logo. Tweets and Facebook posts were made throughout the campaign to encourage travellers to ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’. Tweets and Facebook posts always included a direct link to the online website pledge form on the airport’s website. The Twitter page utilized hastags such as #pledgeYXJ and #YXJ. Pledge ceremony photos were posted to both social media sites throughout the campaign, as well as the winner of the early bird draw and the 3 final grand prize winners. News stories about the campaign were also retweeted. The $250 Facebook ad campaign was well worth the money, as 63% of all direct page entrances to www.yxj.ca/flyyxj came from Facebook referrals alone.

431Total Facebook ‘Likes’

FACEBOOK STATSAPRIL 26-JULY 27, 2013

34%of all pledges were likely

Facebook generated.

63%of all direct page entrances to yxj.ca/flyyxj came from

Facebook referrals.

54%of Facebook ‘Likes’ were converted

to yxj.ca visits. The average timespent there was 2 minutes,

most likely taking the pledge.

$250generated 63% of

direct website hits!


The North Peace Regional Airport has seen a 58.6% increase in passenger movements through the airport in the last six months of 2013. Passenger growth in Q1 2014 is 61% over Q1 of 2013. 2014 has a forecast of 228,000 passenger movements this year. A true measure of the increase will not be available until the third carrier has been servicing the North Peace Regional Airport for one full year.

This growth has increased the number of jobs directly related to the air services sector in the North Peace region and increased the ease of access for many of the fly-in/fly-out workers required for the resource development in Northeast British Columbia. Planning for the development of the airport lands has been moved ahead at a much faster rate than previously scheduled.

What has been the Impact of the project?How effective has it been in furthering economic development in your community? Identify any tangible and/or intangible results and value added.


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Terminal expansions are eminent as the holding room is often standing room only. Phases 3-5 of the parking lot expansion will take place this year as the lot is already at capacity the majority of days.

What has been truly amazing about the numbers is that though we expected to recapture some market travelling to Grande Prairie, we have recaptured a good portion of that market. It was estimated that we had 40% leakage to other markets for air travel and this has been more than recaptured. Our primary carrier thought they would see a dip in their passenger numbers but have actually seen an increase in their overall passenger movements. The newest carrier is adding an additional flight to an existing market. Conversations are happening about which markets are next targeted for expansion of our scheduled service.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

$2.4M

2013Proposed

$5.0M

2013Actual

$4.5M

2014Proposed

$6.5M+

2014Estimate

1M

2M

3M

4M

5M

6M

7M

58.6%increase in passenger movement through

the airport in the last six months of 2013.

61%Passenger growth in

Q1 of 2014 over Q1 of 2013.

40%of the air travellermarket has been

recaptured.

228,000passengers movements

forecasted in 2014.

STATS & FACTS



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This project is 100% transferable to other communities and for a variety of projects. We would not likely utilize it again for a campaign in the near future but as our communities grow and we see the local infrastructure grow along with it, it would be an effective tool to increase awareness of some of our publicly owned assets.

The biggest lesson learned from this would come from the short time frame. The announcement of WestJet Encore service and the new Q400s from Air Canada came very close to the launch of the ‘Take the Pledge to Fly YXJ’ Campaign. If a longer time frame was available, we would have been able to roll out a more comprehensive plan for engaging the community. We were able to be effective with our short time frame due to strong relationships with the media and community partners.

Is this project replicable or transferable? Can it be adapted for use in other communities? What lessons have been learned?

We created awareness of increased and more competitive air service from our regional airport through a fun, interactive campaign. Due to scheduling and cost, locals often did not even consider the North Peace Regional Airport for travel for personal or business travel. A simple marketing campaign in a community that is incredibly busy would have had little effect. The team agreed that something different would have to be launched in order to capture the attention of the marketplace.

In what ways is this project innovative or creative?

The community pride piece of this campaign became clear after the contest closed. When analyzing the results we found something that the community should celebrate. The contest component of the ‘Take the Fly YXJ Pledge’ Campaign was intentionally not advertised anywhere, with the exception of the draw box at the North Peace Regional Airport. Over 85% of the individuals who took the pledge did so online and they were not aware of the potential rewards for their commitment until after they had taken the pledge. The people of the North Peace region demonstrated their sense of ownership of this important infrastructure and are committed to supporting the future development of the North Peace Regional Airport.

Are there any other relevant details not covered or specific to your category?

ITEM DESCRIPTION COST IN KIND PORTION

$15,000.00$25,400.00

Print Advertising

Livery for Staff Vehicle

Print & Supplies

Web & Design Services

Corporate Wear

Prizes & Swag

Volunteer

Total Campaign Tactics

Net Campaign Expense

Alaska Highway , Northeast & The Pipeline News, Chamber of Commerce Magazine, Alberta Venture - June Issue, Alberta Oil - October Issue

Fly YXJ webpage online survey, and entry forms. Behaviour survey - baseline and follow-up

Clings, signage, paper entry forms, buttons, pledge collectables, coasters

Fly YXJ livery for staff vehicle for pledge events

Uniform shirts for pledge ceremonies and events

3 sets of airline tickets from carriers and early-bird luggage prizes

Administration of pledges and manning of ‘Take the Pledge” tent at the Fort St. John Air Show

500.00

500.00

750.00

2500.00

7500.00

13,650.00 5,000.00

1,500.00

6,500.00

2,500.00

$40,900.00


Project Budget

north peace regional airport marketing...

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