April 17, 2014
Aerial advertising is a powerful form of promotion that cuts through the noise of today’s busy world. It’s a visual spectacle that can capture the attention of virtually everyone in an entire city — all at the same exact same moment!
And it has another benefit over traditional alternatives: Skywriting and banners has the potential to result in viral marketing as viewers capture thousands of pictures and videos on smartphones and disseminate them through social platforms, not the least of which is Instagram.
Aerial Advertising and Instagram are, indeed, a match made in heaven. Instagram, a massive and growing platform, is perfect for people to share visual anomalies – like an aerial display created by pilots masterfully flying overhead. Instagram’s community rewards individuals for posting interesting and unique content as it’s happening. The more interesting, both visually and conceptually, a photo is the more people will like it and potentially become followers of the person who posted it.
Pair this with the ability to associate images with relevant hashtags, and now we connect these images in an easily searchable, curated stream. Why is this important? Those thousands of images taken during an aerial advertising event are then put in front of thousands more people who otherwise would have never seen them.
What does this mean for marketers? A message being spread throughout social media by friends, family or coworkers. Inevitably those images will lead to other conversations, which further multiply the potential reach and effectiveness of the event. We all know that word-of-mouth by friends and family is one of the most effective forms of customer acquisition; this is just another form of that same concept.
We know from experience that aerial advertising leads to social media buzz. It can encourage the use of a hashtag, initiate conversation, and convert interest to leads that mean more business. The guerrilla nature of it adds to the mystique, which inspires sharing online.
And, the cool factor cannot be overlooked. Most aerial campaigns are inherently creative – or should be.
Instagram photos turn into tweets and tweets into mentions and mentions into news stories and news stories into Facebook posts and Facebook posts into even more leads. It’s a fluid, expanding phenomenon and it offers considerable opportunity for a brand to get in front of movers, shakers and their slower moving compatriots. Good thing early adopters are the main avenue for convincing the latecomers to adopt a certain product, brand or idea.
If you’re considering advertising your product, service or brand in the sky, consider the domino-effect of exposure that can result. We’re excited about Instagram because it adds an entirely new dimension to the three our pilots use. It’s literally a match made in heaven.