When it comes to building brand awareness through sports sponsorships, the true value isn’t in the flashy television spots or naming rights of professional stadiums. The benefits are instead connecting and building relationships with the enthusiastic and loyal fanbases. For Alaska Airlines, the passionate NFL and MLS fans of the Pacific Northwest have proved to be an excellent fanbase to build advocacy throughout. The brand has reaped the benefits accordingly, enjoying a record year of profits and a bounty of engagement across its social channels.
The New York Times’ Joe Rhodes described soccer culture in the Pacific Northwest as a “stadium-filling, culture-defining, loud, passionate phenomenon, with throngs of chanting supporters spilling out of the bars and restaurants into the streets around the downtown stadiums in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, thousands of shouting, singing, marching partisans, waving their banners and scarves. Some of them aren’t even drunk.”
Being the airline of the region, Alaska Airlines capitalizes on fans’ passion as the marquee sponsor of the Portland Timbers Major League Soccer (MLS) team. But the brand’s sponsorship isn’t just about in-stadium and jersey-front visibility; its success rests on the participation of its fanbase and the pride of its three flagship cities: Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Fan participation, value and a local focus are all pillars in Alaska Airlines’ sponsorship strategy. Here’s how they’re soaring with all three:
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Fan Participation: Through contests, Alaska Airlines is engaging with passionate Timbers fans while simultaneously flashing pride for the Pacific Northwest, regardless of where its planes travel. With its Paint the Planes contest, Timbers fans with creative talent had a chance to see their design on one of Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737-700s. Originality, creativity and the ability to express the Portland Timbers brand were all taken into account and judged by a group of Alaska Airlines and Timbers representatives.
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Added Value to Fans: Alaska Airlines offers priority boarding to anyone flying in a Timbers jersey out of PDX. This allows the brand to promote the team, gives fans an opportunity to share their pride and encourages breathability for all armpits aboard.
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Local Focus: Alaska Airlines does a great job of mimicking contests and promotions that work on a local level rather diluting their fan engagement with a sweeping cross-country contest.
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Jersey Promotion: Taking a page from the Timbers’ playbook, the brand also offered priority boarding to anyone wearing NFL quarterback Russell Wilson’s jersey on Seattle-departing Alaska Airlines flights in order to promote his new role as the spokesperson for the brand last season.
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Paint the Plane: The Timbers “Paint the Plane” contest was not the only time Alaska Airlines has activated its local fans to get them excited about the brand.
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Real-Time, Local Marketing: Alaska Airlines has no problem getting creative outside of paint, either. When the Seattle-based Seahawks played for the Super Bowl last February, the airline threw a “tailgate at 35,000 feet” on flights to and from Newark Liberty International Airport, the closest commercial airport to Super Bowl XLVIII.
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In addition to MLS-branded planes, Alaska Airlines has a dominant presence in the best soccer stadium in the country and the most popular NFL quarterback as a spokesperson in Russell Wilson. As a result, the airline has set itself up well to take advantage of the United State’s newly renewed soccer interest sparked by the World Cup, as well as the historic fanaticism of the Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks.
Thus far, the tactic has worked. Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, reported record full-year net profit for 2013 of $508 million, up 60.7% over net profit in 2012 of $316 million. In an age where airlines like Spirit can bank only on the hatred of its customers to drive engagement on social media and through word of mouth, it’s nice to see an airline that is truly focused on the fan experience soar to new heights.
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