American Airlines’ Rewards Storytelling
A little incentive goes a long way, especially when it concerns a year’s worth of free travel.
American Airlines is offering consumers a chance to win a year’s worth of travel for sharing their unique stories about why they fly as a way to motivate airline employees and, at the same time, help out a worthy organization.
For every story consumers submit as part of the We Know Why You Fly Contest, American Airlines will donate 100 miles, up to 1 million miles in all, to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Consumers can log on to Whyyoufly.com to submit their traveling tales. Videos and photos will be accepted as part of the submissions.
American Airlines has already reached its 1 million mile donation to Make-A-Wish.
“We understand it’s not about the journey, it’s about the destination—making it home for a special occasion, sleeping in your own bed or seeing your kid’s baseball game,” said Dan Garton, executive VP-marketing for American Airlines, in a statement. “That’s why we’re inviting people to share their stories about why they fly. As an incentive, we’re rewarding those judged to tell the best stories with travel to any of American’s exciting destinations.”
American Airlines not only designed the contest to reward its patrons, but also to reward its employees with a morale boost by sharing the heartfelt stories about why people fly, said spokesman Tim Wagner.
“In any job, we get wrapped up in the day-to-day activities,” Wagner said. “We want to show how we are making a difference in people’s lives. This is an opportunity for people to share their stories with us. [In turn] we will use the stories to motivate our employees.”
As part of the contest, American Airlines will award three grand-prize winners each with 12 trips for two to anywhere in the world American Airlines, American Eagle or AmericanConnection carriers fly. The airline will award three first-prize winners a trip for four to anywhere the airline or its carriers fly. Three second-prize winners will receive a trip for two.
A panel of marketing experts and American Airline employees will select nine finalists from the pool of candidates. Finalists will be selected based on a variety of criteria, including the story’s emotional appeal, the entrant’s theme interpretation, the format used to tell the story and the relevance to American’s brand image.
Contest finalists will be posted online on Apr. 22, when Web users can vote for their favorite stories and select the winners in each prize category. Entries may be submitted through Apr. 5. Internet materials support.
The contest is a part of American Airlines’ ongoing We Know Why You Fly marketing campaign, which launched in September 2004. The campaign is based on the premise that no one understands air travelers better than the world’s largest airline.
