Promoting Airports to Fuel Economic Development

Sprawling on the fringes of many U.S. cities can be found huge compounds with rows of nondescript hangers, wide-open runways and planes methodically queuing up to move the masses to places far and wide. This image pretty much sums up the extent of experience most people will ever have with airports. It’s either an entryway to – or an escape route from – any given city. But to those in the aviation industry, this scene represents so much more. To them, it represents the promise of commerce. For every suit trotting through the concourse, every rig pulling into an air cargo bay and every package being shipped via overnight carrier, there are awesome economic implications.

The thing is, for the average consumer, the brilliance of the airport as a hub of innovation and commerce is all but lost. This is due mostly to the fact that the only consumer-facing exposure most airports get is to serve as a backdrop for some other business’ ads – namely airlines. Sure, it’s a natural fit for the airline, but when was the last time you saw any advertising for anything but the largest international airports? Well, if you go to YouTube and search for airport commercials 2016 you’ll see ad after ad for everything from Fantasy Football and M&Ms to Legos and deodorant… all taking place in airports.

There are a few standouts, however, that have taken the challenge to market airports more seriously. Monterrey Regional Airport made a TV commercial to celebrate its 75^th anniversary. There are a number of regional TV spots for Dubuque and Springfield airports. There's a plethora of made-for-YouTube videos promoting airport services too, such as the likeable promo for the Helsinki Airport and a bouncy music video-style piece from Reina Beatrix Airport in Aruba.

For the most part, the TV spots are really made for local travelers touting things like quick service, amenities and convenience, which are absolutely essential, but can make for predictable messaging.

So when CultureSpan Marketing was selected to design a campaign that would position the El Paso International Airport as much more than a point of departure for travelers, we knew we had to break away from the “convenience” message and elevate its prominence as a key driver of commerce for the city. Plus, we were running the spot on national TV during a bowl game, so we needed to bring more substance to the piece.

Our approach was to develop a visually stunning spot for the airport’s “FLY ELP” campaign, titled “Warm Welcomes”. We designed the spot so that it would first promote the unique beauty and culture of our city (tourism and economic development), and then quickly transition the focus to the El Paso International Airport as the gateway to everything our region has to offer.

The El Paso International Airport :30 Tv Ad – Read more on the project here.

The piece worked perfectly for the 30 seconds that we had on national TV, but we needed to properly promote the airport as the economic powerhouse it really is, and to do so we needed to build additional assets to work in tandem with TV. After all, the El Paso International Airport, which is seated on nearly 7,100 acres, is a national leader for non-aeronautical land development as they host well over 200 commercial businesses, industrial parks, transportation operations, hotels, retailers and restaurants.

It also serves as a hub for world-class manufacturing, tech innovation, and base of operation for several Fortune 500 companies with most of their products flowing through a sprawling 288,000 sq. ft. air cargo complex and Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Number 68. FTZ 68, a juggernaut in its own right, saw $18.9 billion worth of imports and exports pass through in 2014, ranking it #1 in the U.S. for export volume by the National Association of Free Trade Zones.

In order to adequately communicate the magnitude of its economic impact, we also developed a series of brand essence videos that could be viewed independently by topic (such as development potential for new resorts) or meshed together as one continuous stream that tells the entire story. These are highly promoted whenever tourism and economic development teams are courting new businesses from abroad and will set the tone for most business-driven marketing activities going forward. 

Promoting the airport to drive commerce and economic development in a synergistic way is a win-win because one cannot truly prosper without the other. This was a brilliant move on the part of the City of El Paso, plus they allowed us to break away from the usual amenities and convenience messaging to do some real storytelling. 

Certainly, every airport is unique and some may not have as much open land to build on, but the idea of diversifying business beyond the aviation industry has incredible promise and potential. Perhaps the best example of this is a newly announced strategic initiative between a small 400-acre airport located in Fabens, Texas and the University of Texas al El Paso Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research. The underutilized rural airport is committing five acres to the university, which will be transformed into facilities to test space and energy innovation projects. The vision for the initiative is to promote economic development by attracting corporations who will eventually hire local college students.

So here’s the key take away from this yearlong endeavor. Airports of every size – whether an economic center or much smaller in scope – can and must position their assets in a way that makes them vital economic drivers in the communities that they serve… and not just a fast and convenient gateway for travelers. When this happens, the sky is the limit.

If you’ve developed a video or a campaign for an airport, send us a link and share your stories. We’d like to hear from people who have an appreciation for business beyond the terminal.