Any of us that have done some air travel lately would most likely agree that the experience was less then stellar. But I have to say that my last trip (while just a short hop to NYC from Rochester) was great. I traveled on Jet Blue through their brand new T5 terminal at JFK that looks like you're walked into the future. They transformed the old TWA terminal that was originally designed by Eero Saarinen as a physical symbol of flight into a totally new experience that they now call a "People-Port".
Now as a marketer I've always been very impressed by JetBlue and how they just like to do things a little differently and it's paid off big time for them. The leather seats, the live TV, the blue chip snacks and the staff that are witty and fun (well most of the time). These are all contributors to their success as well as the low fares of course.
My last trip to NYC last month was to attend the SES NY Conference where the keynote speaker on Day 1 was Guy Kawasaki speaking to us about Twitter. He mentioned the top marketers who are using this tool to communicate with their customers and to help build their brand and Jet Blue was one of the first to do this. I just took a peak Twitter.com/jetblue and they currently have over 408,000 followers and are following 120,000 people. Yesterday they had a fabulous one-day say (that I meant to take advantage of, but didn't) and their last tweet says "Three hours left in our one day Sample Sale" with a link to their website sale page. Simple and highly effective.
With Earth Day taking place this past Tuesday Jet Blue launched an online promotion to bring awareness of the day and environmental issues as well as promote their "green" initiatives. Voted "Most Eco-Friendly Airline" by Zagat's Airline Survey, JetBlue has made a commitment to reduce, educate and volunteer in order to make a difference in our planet. Some of their most recent initiatives include the One Thing That's Green tree planting event where 500 crew members, customers and community volunteers helped plant 300 trees at Pomonok Houses in NYC. This month they're taking their onboard recycling to the next level by encouraging crew members and customers en route to NYC's JFK to presort plastic, glass and cans for recycling. They plan to roll this out to additional JetBlue cities in the near future.
So the online promotion is called The One Thing That's Green Sweepstakes which encourages people to make a pledge to do "one thing that's Green" and enter for a chance to win. They give visitors a choice of pledges from a drop down menu such as "I will reduce my shower time". Currently on their promotional micro-site there are almost 43,000 pledges. By pledging people are offered the opportunity to receive a free digital magazine download from Zinio.
By entering the sweepstakes people have the chance to win some "fabulous eco-friendly prizes". Grand prize is a 3rd Generation Toyota Prius and others include a HGTV Green Room Makeover, an Amana® Kitchen & Laundry Appliance Makeover a trip for two to The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, a Dell Studio Hybrid™ which includes a bamboo sleeve and 19" Dell flat monitor and Bionaire humidifiers and air purifiers. They have gotten some great partners together for these prize packages. This online promotion stared last Tuesday, Earth Day, and runs till June 16th.
I think this is a great example of a Green Marketing campaign that builds both awareness of the brand's green initiatives as well as to educate consumers on how we can each help by just making small changes in our daily habits. Yes we can all help make the world a greener place!
I hope everyone who visitis your blog has a good time here as much as I do.
Posted by: Creative Recreation | June 26, 2010 at 05:58 AM