American Airlines Mobile Millions Sweepstakes
Best Mobile Marketing Campaign
Agency: The Marketing Arm
Campaign: American Airlines Mobile Millions Sweepstakes
Client: American Airlines
In August 2010, American Airlines launched its app for the iPhone and iPad allowing users to view their flight information. The app delivers personalized travel information and replaces the need for airport kiosks, paper boarding passes, physical maps and parking reminders.
American’s goals were to reach the top 25 app list in the iTunes App Store, and be the No. 1 travel app. They wanted to drive 300,000 visits to a promotional landing page and to mobile registration, and incent 30% of registrants to send a viral email to a friend.
With these goals in mind, a video was created that showed how the iPhone tap/swipe experience replaced the need for traditional airport information sources. The video drove users to install the app for a chance to win a million American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
Within the app, users could enter the sweepstakes, watch the promo video and email it to friends for an extra entry. Users who viewed emails on their iPhone could click directly to the iPhone App Store to install the app, or click to watch the promo video on their phone. Users who viewed the email on their computers were linked to the promotional landing page to view the video.
The first time users opened the app, they received a pop-up window asking if they would like to enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win 1 million miles. If they answered “Yes,” they were able to enter within the app, watch the video, and pass it along to friends for an entry, all without leaving the app.
The video was shown in-flight to AA passengers, prompting them to install the app. Banners were featured across AA.com to drive traffic to the landing page. The American Airlines Facebook page featured the new app, and prompted users to watch the promo video and install the app to enter for a chance to win. Non-iPhone users were able to enter the sweepstakes through the online landing page.
The day AA launched its promotional email, the app reached No. 19 in the Apple Top 25 Free App List and was the No. 1 travel app. The promotion drove nearly 411,000 total visits to the landing and mobile registration pages, while 35% of recipients sent viral emails.
