This excerpt was originally published by Adweek.
This year’s winners found clever ways to resonate with the coveted youth market (we’re talking about you, Oh Henry! and Visible), channel a massively popular TV series for the greater good (Droga5), inspire organic participation from celebrities (Initiative) and so much more. Presenting the 2019 Media Plan of the Year winners, who proved time and again that it’s not what you’ve got—it’s how you use it.
PHD | Delta Air Lines, ‘Sweatlag’
Category: Best Use of Out-of-Home Media ($500k+)
Whether it’s an espresso or a hair of the dog, everyone has their own remedy to fight jet lag. Delta Air Lines, supported by research, thinks the solution is to sweat. That’s why it partnered with the luxury gym Equinox to generate interest in the new A350, which was designed with specific lights and wider windows to combat jet lag.
Knowing that exercise is key to resetting circadian rhythm, the partnership tailored a fitness program available at three Los Angeles Equinox locations, free for guests who signed up online and brought their Delta boarding pass to the gym.
To help promote the campaign, digital billboards outside of LAX were scheduled alongside the live flight data of Delta’s most popular cross-country and international flights.
As travelers left the airport, they’d pass a billboard that stated, “Just landed on flight DL8508? Sweat the Paris out.”
“It was a brilliant moment to leverage the technology and specifically target and match incoming flights as they were landing,” says Beatrix Bang, global communications planning director at PHD Worldwide, Delta’s media agency.
The billboards were vital, says Bang, as Los Angelenos spend “a hell of a lot of time in cars.”
According to Delta, more than 200 people attended the workouts throughout the four-week series, and media running on Facebook and Instagram generated a 30% increase in ad recall. Awareness in Los Angeles increased by 6%.
“Los Angeles is a city of fitness fanatics,” notes Bang. “We didn’t have to work too hard to make fitness feel interesting.” —Ryan Barwick
