ATLANTA, GA USA – March 31, 2010 – When you hear a great, big idea, do you know it immediately? Can you visualize success? Can you get buy-in from all your silos (and fast)?

AirTran Airways did  … when its Agency, Aspen Marketing Services, proposed their (brilliant) “Mark on AirTran” buzz marketing campaign featuring Comedian Mark Malkoff living aboard AirTran aircraft for 30 days to call attention to wi-fi on all AirTran flights.  And, while the campaign was completed nearly a year ago (June 2009), its social media websites (YouTube, Facebook, Micro-Site, Flickr, Twitter, etc.) are still delivering results for AirTran (and Gogo inflight internet). It’s a terrific integrated marketing case study. [Mark also lived in an Ikea store.]

The “Mark on AirTran” campaign was presented Tuesday (3/30/10) at the Integrated Marketing Summit in Atlanta by Aspen’s Director of Digital Analytics and Social Media Greg Asman and Senior Public Relations and Social Media Strategist Heather Dueitt. You can learn more about the Aspen Marketing Services campaign for AirTran by clicking here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Beyond the measurable success of the campaign (with all its multi-silo “moving” parts and “legs”), here’s what I love:

• When AirTran was presented with a big idea (way beyond the scope of the request), they figured out how to say yes (even though it probably required participation by all of its business units).
• Never mind out-of-the-box; Aspen Marketing Services thought out-of-the silo to present their Client with an opportunity to have a huge success: even if the resources required far exceeded the original request.
• Social Media was leveraged to create extraordinary value in traditional media.
• Social Media was monitored in real-time to fine-tune tactics. (She just posted to our Facebook page that she was afraid of flying too, but Mark gave her the confidence she needed to fly. Let’s get Mark seated next to her for her flight home.)
• Aspen Marketing Services and AirTran were already working shoulder-to-shoulder with trust and respect so that together they could create magic. 1 + 1 can equal 58.
• It’s unlikely there was ever a conversation about: Return On Investment (ROI), estimated reach, frequency, gross impressions, how many Twitter followers we will get, etc. (And, there are plenty of after-the-fact metrics to show the success of this campaign.) It takes a Client with vision to say yes without a guarantee. These days, the risk of playing it safe can be the riskiest decision.
• The value AirTran received far exceeded the cost of implementation (including internal people resources). Way to go!
• AirTran employees could rally around the spirit and excitement of this fun campaign. (That added user generated social media content from the aircraft crew.) Way to go activating the team!
• Aspen recommended – and AirTran agreed – to initially launch the campaign organically (with embargoed media on the first few flights: USA Today, AP, New York Post and WABC-TV.)
• Mark’s AirTran frequent flier miles – A+ Rewards from 135 flights – were turned into a sweepstakes.
• The campaign had “legs” for seven key AirTran Airways markets.

Congratulations to Aspen Marketing Services and AirTran Airways. Together, you demonstrated that a brilliant idea + social media + shoulder-to-shoulder Client/Agency teamwork = priceless promotion.

Note: GREAT! is not affiliated with Aspen Marketing Services or AirTran Airways. We just want to acknowledge Aspen Marketing Services for a brilliant idea, their Agency-Client relationship and their super-fast implementation.