Birmingham International Airport Flies High With Power Of PR
Whilst Birmingham International Airport was widely used by local people for short haul flights, the company’s research showed that the majority of people chose to fly from Heathrow and Gatwick if they were travelling long haul. As a result, it wanted to use the power of PR to help raise awareness of the wealth of destinations it flies to, which include New York and Dubai.
We organised a series of competitions in association with four key local newspapers within a 40 mile radius of Birmingham, which were designed to publicise the wealth of destinations you can fly to from Birmingham Airport. Each competition sought to find deserving people who could win a holiday of a lifetime to their dream destination.
Each paper ran regular articles about the competition to encourage people to enter, profiles about finalists and the winner as well as a follow up article about the winner’s holiday. Prize winners chose holidays in Los Vegas, Mauritius, the Caribbean and Jamaica – thus achieving Birmingham Airport’s aim of promoting its long haul destinations.
"If Birmingham Airport had had to pay for the editorial space it would have cost in excess of £141,000. This represented a 1,000 per cent return on their investment; not to mention the goodwill generated by running such a 'feel-good' competition," explained PR Account Manager, Simon Burch.
