Fill The Plane

CLIENT:

Orbitz (http://www.orbitz.com) is a leading online travel company that enables travelers to search for and purchase a broad array of travel products, including airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages. Orbitz has become one of the largest online travel sites in the world based on gross travel bookings. On Orbitz, consumers can search more than 80,000 suppliers worldwide including airlines, hotels and car rental companies.

BACKGROUND:

In effort to break-through the clutter and differentiate, Orbitz sought a promotional concept that would be unique, innovative and an extension of their "it pays to be an insider" brand positioning. They wanted an idea that was inherently viral and tapped into social networking to extend awareness and buzz to new audiences.

THE SOLUTION:

The project was a cross-agency assignment where 15 letters teamed up with Orbitz's promotional agency of record to strategically plan and execute the promotion. Working closely together with Orbitz and the promotional agency, the concept of Fill the Plane was created.

Orbitz Fill the Plane was the first-of-its-kind promotion that would send one traveler and 300 of their closest friends and family on a luxury escape; all they had to do was be the first to fill an entire plane. Using the power of social networking, the Orbitz Fill the Plane promotion gave travelers the opportunity to win a dream vacation to Aruba, Las Vegas or Orlando in a race to be the first to secure 300 other travelers to join them on their plane.

15 letters was responsible for creating the online look and feel, user experience and development of the overall application including design, copywriting, middleware and back-end development, hosting, and tracking metrics.

HOW IT WORKED:

A plane was started by an entrant, or "pilot", who could customize their virtual plane via name and imagery offered within the application. Pilots initiated the process of filling their plane and as an added incentive to register a plane, pilots were given first-class airfare and a hotel room upgrade if they won.

The pilot started the process by sending their two invitations per day to friends or family to join their plane via email. Recipients either logged on and boarded as a passenger or created a plane of their own. Recipients also had the ability to send two invitations per day to their friends or family inviting them to join the plane. And those passengers could accept and send two invitations of their own and so on and so on.

Pilot and Passengers also needed to agree on the destination for travel from the three options: Las Vegas, Aruba, or Orlando. Both "pilots" and "passengers" lobbied for a particular destination on their plane's message board. The contest also featured the ability to switch planes; therefore pilots were given 20 first-class seats to lure plane-hoppers back onto their plane to help them win.

The first pilot to fill their plane with 300 passengers who had all agreed on a destination won free airfare and three-night hotel stay for themselves and all 300 fellow passengers.

SUCCESS METRICS

Orbitz Fill the Plane's objectives were to create buzz by cutting through the clutter, engage new audiences, leverage viral and social mechanics to drive awareness, reinforce the spirit of the brand with consumers who may not be in travel mode and deliver a positive experience and collect new Orbitz Member Registration. Key metrics tracked included the following:

Visitation

How many visits the site received in terms of both unique & repeat.

Participation

How many consumers participated in the promotion.

Time Spent

Average time spent with the application.

Viral

Tracked how many users shared the application with others through the invitation process as well as tracked those who visited the site from an invitation sent.

Orbitz Member Registration

Participants were required to be Orbitz members to participate. We tracked the number of new member registrations from the promotion as well as those who opted-in for future marketing communications.

Buzz

Tracked mentions of the promotion across blogs, message boards, sites, and broadcast media.