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New ad agency tasked with highlighting airport's convenience [The Bradenton Herald](Bradenton Herald (FL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 30--MANATEE -- A new firm will be in charge of creating a public image for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, hoping to persuade more people to use their hometown airport. The Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority agreed at its Monday meeting to select Maitland-based firm Patterson/Bach to get more people to use SRQ airport. The agency represents a new voice for promoting the airport's message for the first time in nearly a decade. A contract will still need to be signed with the firm. Authority Vice Chairman Peter A. Wish wants the agency to redefine convenience for air passengers picking airports because most people define convenience as a nonstop flight, he said. SRQ could better argue that despite its higher ticket prices in some areas, the time spent driving, paying tolls, parking and waiting at Tampa International Airport isn't worth it -- even if there is a short layover involved in a Sarasota-based flight. "You have to go through Disney World TSA lines," Wish said in describing Tampa's airport. "And by the time you're done, you started out three or four hours earlier than coming here an hour before." Wish argued there's more stress involved, too, fighting traffic when trying to make a flight on time at Tampa. Tim Bach, president of Patterson/Bach, said the airport's public relations challenge is it doesn't dictate the brand. "Airports do not own their brand," Bach said. "Brand resides in the mind of your customers." That means word-of-mouth comments, bad online reviews and first thoughts of why people would use a certain airport. Bach's firm focused on pitching a creative advertisement approach, honing in on digital and mobile ads that would be geo-targeted to people at Tampa's airport who will receive ads with a personal message to use SRQ instead. Bach's clients include Kissimmee Gateway Airport, a general aviation airport owned by Kissimmee. While it lacks commercial airlines, the advertising helped drive fuel sales and traffic at the airport, Bach said. The Kissimmee airport was branded as "Closest to the magic of Central Florida" to pitch its convenience to Disney World. Still, the new company wouldn't control the price or service offered by SRQ. That responsibility still rests with airport management. Officials announced over the summer that SRQ will have new flights to both Newark, N.J., and New York to help bolster offerings but it is still looking for flights to service West Coast cities. A seasonal flight through JetBlue to Boston will also resume Oct. 26, said Mark Stuckey, vice president of special projects and development for SRQ. SRQ had partnered with Sarasota firm Be Creative Studios, which launched the "Do you SRQ?" campaign in 2012 trying to educate the public about the benefits of using Sarasota over Tampa and Fort Myers. The firm first partnered with the airport in 2005. It stayed with the firm save for a brief time from 2010 to 2011 when the airport had chosen another firm, Paradise. Other ideas for marketing The other two finalists had other ideas of how to market the airport differently. Colleen Chappell of ChappellRoberts thought the marketing could be driven to target different populations and demographics. "This one-look, one-feel-message-fits-all doesn't drive the same amount of results," she said. Bach said he would add context and meaning to the airport's adverting, where the Do You SRQ? video of a man doing parkour through the airport falls short. "It's very creative. I don't feel the desire," Bach said abut the commercial. "It doesn't do anything for me other than it's creative?We got to give people a reason to care." Authority member Henry Rodriguez said the airport's "running man" commercial reminded him of the old O.J. Simpson Hertz commercial used in the 1970s. "And O.J. Simpson doesn't resonate with me," Rodriguez said. Be Creative studios proposed Monday to start a campaign talking about the ease of using the Sarasota airport called "Fly Easy. Fly SRQ" to highlight stress-free travel, easy parking, easy WiFi and an "easy way out." Instead, Patterson/Bach will be charged with communicating those points in a different way. "When I go to an airport, I want convenience," Bach said. In other action, the airport authority unanimously approved its $20.9 million fiscal 2015 budget at its meeting Monday. Chairman Jack Rynerson was absent. No one from the public and nobody from the authority offered discussion on the budget during the hearing. ___ (c)2014 The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.) Visit The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.) at www.bradenton.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |