Airport Advertising Campaign Strives to Raise Awareness

September 14 , 2007

Awareness, or the lack of it, is a significant issue for the Springfield-Branson National Airport. Recent surveys reveal that even regular airport customers don’t know what cities the airport flies to. A new advertising campaign hopes to fix the problem.

“I expected a general lack of awareness,” says Gary Cyr, airport director of aviation. “But one survey came back and told us that even our business customers don’t know where we fly to. They told us we needed flights to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Denver. We already fly to those places.”

“Many people have a mental image of our airport that’s several years out of date,” says Kent Boyd, airport public information and marketing director. “They think we have five destinations and that every fare costs too much. We had five destinations back in 1992. Today we have 12 destinations and a low-cost airline.” The advertising campaign, which begins on Sunday, September 16, hopes to inform and educate. Boyd says the ultimate goal is to increase the number of passengers using the airport. He says about 30% of potential customers drive to out-of-town airports.

“Some of these people leave our market because they don’t realize what’s available. Others leave because it’s sometimes cheaper to fly from other airports. Others do it because they assume it’s cheaper. To those people we say, don’t base your assumptions about our airport on impressions that are five, ten or 15 years out of date. Don’t rely on a onetime price snapshot.”
Ultimately, though, price is the biggest obstacle for some people. “If round-trip fare is $300 cheaper from another airport, I understand why they left the market,” says Boyd. This fact of airport life illustrates what Boyd calls aviation’s vicious circle—

More people won't use the airport until ticket prices go down. But ticket prices won't go down until more people use the airport. But more people won't use the airport until ticket prices go down, but ticket prices won't go down...

“That’s why it’s so important to raise awareness,” says Boyd. “More awareness means more customers. More customers mean lower fares. Lower fares mean more customers.”

The Springfield Business Development Corporation helped the campaign by contributing to commercial production cost and five well known Springfieldians stepped forward to lend their voices:

• Tim Rosenbury. Springfield architect and business leader
• Brooke O’Reilly. Junior League Volunteer
• Doug Pitt. Springfield businessman and business leader
• Matt Gifford. General Manager of the Springfield Cardinals
• Sally Hargis. Springfield businesswoman and business leader

“These folks have given us their time and energy to promote the airport and the community,” says Cyr. “They’re an integral part of our new advertising and I want to thank them for a job well done.”