Home baggage check-in service AirPortr needed a comprehensive PR programme to cement the company’s position as an affordable option for people who didn’t want to, or couldn’t, transport their hold luggage to and through the airport.
8020 was initially appointed for a three-month project, which was soon extended to nine months. We were tasked with raising AirPortr’s profile within the consumer and business travel media, promoting benefits such as the efficiency gains and environmental wins, encouraging travellers off the roads and on to public transport.
Our strategy was to position AirPortr as a genuine disrupter, benefitting both the industry and passengers.
We developed a plan that included harnessing airline partnership news to introduce AirPortr to both consumer and trade publications, as well as using customer case studies to support AirPortr’s key messages.
Taking an inventive and fun approach to media relations, we created a targeted press trip for national media, with the CEO personally checking in journalists’ luggage on their doorstep, showing off the simplicity and security of the service.
Consumer research into travel anxieties allowed us to create data-led content and we exploited ‘newsjacking’ opportunities too, pitching comment from AirPortr for relevant industry news stories, such as the fact low-cost airlines were charging for hand baggage.
By engaging the consumer and travel trade media with case studies, press trips and airline partnership news, 8020 generated 65 pieces of coverage within a nine-month period. Of these successes, 43% were in national and international titles such as the Daily Mail, New York Times, Telegraph, Metro and London Evening Standard.
Close collaborations with easyJet, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic allowed us to tailor successful press trips, yielding coverage in Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Mail on Sunday.
And we were delighted when, on our very first day of engagement with AirPortr, we secured prominent feature coverage in the Daily Mail and Mail Online, through a case study demonstrating the benefits of luggage-free travel.
