WestJet

In May 2011, WestJet launched an aggressive two-month campaign to increase its share of travellers in the critical “eastern triangle corridor” of Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

Air Canada and Porter had a stronghold on business travellers in the corridor, the core target of the campaign, though Toronto remains Canada’s most important market and the domestic traveller working in the downtown core was a secondary target for WestJet’s messaging.

Advertising for the business segment can be bland and traditional. Business people are resolutely focused on their work day, with their communication blinders firmly in place. The media executions had to create dramatic and exciting “disruptions” within the business target’s hectic day to ensure attention to the message, spur consumer engagement and drive traffic to Westjet.ca.

So Media Experts dominated Toronto’s high-traffic Union Station PATH with larger-than-life floor decals, wall murals, pillar wraps and backlit posters to connect business people with WestJet’s story of their increased schedule in the eastern corridor.

Elevators were wrapped, both inside and out, in prime downtown office towers. Print executions in daily Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton newspapers focused on the business sections with dominant full-colour, half-page ads and a WestJet logo on the top of every page.

In a Canadian media first, Media Experts executed a unique DPS centre spread in key business magazines covering virtually every Canadian business sector throughout the month of May.

In online and mobile executions, Media Experts leveraged Display AdFrames, expanding display ads into full frame video upon consumer rollover. It further leveraged mobile ad networks to ensure business travellers searching for weather, travel and other information on their smartphones were exposed to WestJet’s expanded eastern triangle offering.

WestJet further captured the attention of the business community by picking up lunch at the most popular business restaurants in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Instead of receiving a bill at the end of the meal, a card arrived at the table notifying diners that WestJet had just picked up their tab, and offering them a discount on their next business flight in the eastern triangle corridor.

Confidential results of the campaign were shared with the judges.