American Airlines Seeks Loyalty Among Hispanics
American Airlines has launched its largest initiative to date to bring in new members to its loyalty program. It is focusing the effort on U.S. Hispanics and playing up its service to Latin America.
“We want to make sure that Latinos in the U.S. understand the full benefits of the AAdvantage program,” said Billy Sanez, director of advertising, promotion and corporate communications for American Airlines.
The program has about 62 million members and has been on a growth path for years, he said. Sanez declined for competitive reasons to disclosed the number of Hispanics in the program.
The national 18-month campaign includes radio, TV, print, online and social media. Approximately 41% of U.S. Hispanics live in American Airlines hub cities, the company said.
In another first, American Airlines has stepped into the realm of social media as part of a larger integrated campaign, handled by American’s longtime U.S. Hispanic agency, Zubi Advertising Services, Inc. It is using Twitter (@AAirways), tweeting in both English and Spanish about the benefits of the air miles program.
“We started to dip our toe in to social media and found it is working pretty well for something like this,” Sanez said.
In print, the company is focusing on publications that reach the Hispanic business traveler.
The company is using its sponsorship with Major League Soccer to promote the AAdvantage program on ESPN Deportes and games on major Spanish-language TV networks, Univisión and Telemundo, among others.
“We have seen in the past several years that the disposable income and economic power of Hispanics has grown tremendously and we want to make sure we are supplying that consumer with the right kind of service,” Sanez said.
In addition to its Latin America/Mexico route system, American and American Eagle fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and five destinations in the Dominican Republic. And it recently added new service to Madrid, Spain.
