The 150,000 visitors to Burke Lakefront Airport over Labor Day weekend may have noticed the growing number of corporate logos adorning the bodies and wings of planes zipping back and forth across the city’s waterfront during the three-day event.
It’s not exactly a new idea. Fuji and Toyota have taken advantage of air show event marketing for years. However, other companies are now plunking down the $500,000 to $1.5 million routinely needed to sponsor a stunt pilot for the 20-city North American major circuit.
Reebok — hoping to boost sales of its DMX line of athletic shoes with its sleek acrobatic plane — entered the fray this year in an attempt to win back customers who have strayed.
“I think it’s going to be a me-too thing,” says Mike Goulian, the pilot of Reebok’s $230,000 CAP 232 stunt plane, who estimates there are now about a dozen major corporate sponsors. “A company like Reebok is the first in, but next you’ll see other (footwear) companies come in.”
In an age in which 3,000 advertising images assault the average American every day, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to make an impression on consumers, explains Bob Tiernan, CEO of Maine-based Cameo Marketing. Air show event marketing is proving an attractive solution, especially when sponsors are granted valuable tent space on the grounds to show off their products to visitors.
“You have customers out there on a sunny day with the family when their defenses or radar is down,” says Tiernan. “And for the next six hours, you have the opportunity to affect them.”
But event marketing doesn’t have to be just for the corporate powerhouses, says Tiernan. With more than 300 air shows of all sizes in North America last year, he expects smaller businesses will be finding ways to get their logos in the air, even if just for a single afternoon.
“There’s nothing to say a local company couldn’t come down here and have a one-show, one-shot approach.”
Jim Vickers