Austin Page  Jonathan Wu

Madison Pakka Ian John

Reem Salem Bryant Huynh
You have the adventure, we have passage.

Rome around with us today.

 'Fly The Friendly Skies'

Executive Summary

United Airlines has consistently held their place as one of the four

largest carriers in the world. In recent years, they have encountered

numerous PR disasters from dragging a man off the plane to having a

small dog die on a flight. Although they've tried prioritizing their efforts

into cleaning up the mess, social media has proven to be a tough medium

to control.

As the culture of advertising quickly moves towards one centered

around the internet, it becomes much more important for a company to

have control of their online presence. In this report we evaluate our

position in the current market and make a plan on how to move forward

through our advertising. We will utilize platforms such as YouTube and

Facebook in an attempt to re-create our brand image though techniques

like inspirational videos.

In this Integrated Marketing Communications proposal, we will take a

look at our current media outreach, the target market we're looking to

influence, and four advertisement methods we have planned to best reach

our goal. After our one year campaign, we will re-evaluate our progress to

see if we reached our objective.

 'Fly The Friendly Skies'

Table Of Contents

Introduction
Company
1
Overview

Financials

SWOT Analysis

Current Market
Consumer Market Alternative Markets
7
Target Market Competitor Targets

Market Strategy

New Advertising
Marketing Channels
17
Our Message

Competitor Advertising

Advertising Proposal 25
Guerrilla Marketing Plan Costs

Instagram Influencers

EscapeTomorrow

Public Relations
Social Responsibility Ethics and Policy
30
Social Recovery Conclusion

Evaluation
 United Airlines 1

Company Overview

United Airlines is a major American airline

headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The

company has major hubs in San Francisco,

Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Houston,

Washington DC, and Newark. Currently,

United Airlines offers the most unique

destinations to customers with over 360

locations in 48 countries. United's was

established in Boise, Idaho in 1926 under

the name Varney Air Lines. In 1997, United

became a founding member in the now

largest airline alliance, Star Alliance. On

March 3rd, 2012, United Airlines merged

with Continental Airlines to create the

United we know today. As of 2019, they

have over 88,000 employees world wide.

Main competitors of United include Delta,

American Airlines, and Southwest. In

recent years, United's reputation has taken

a hit and needed to rebrand themselves.

Non-stop flights from New York United.com/friendlyflier

 United Airlines 2

F I N A N C I A L S
100+ million
passengers Two fiscal years that we are

going to be focusing on is 2016

annually and 2017. Annual revenue in

2016 was $36.6 billion which

increased in about 3% in 2017

to $37.7 billion.
UNITED AIRLINES

High cost structure

 United Airlines 3

SWOT Analysis
Strengths

United Airlines offers 369 unique Improving on operational

destinations in 48 countries performance

making it #1 in the industry in

destinations offered.

A study done by air travel

This massive reach gives United intelligence company, OAG,

Airlines a great deal of flexibility for shows that United’s on time

customers choosing where they want arrival has improved from

to go to 98.3% in Q2 of 2016 to 98.7%

in Q2 of 2018.

United Airlines is a founding Highly rated loyalty

member of Star Alliance. program

United’s loyalty program allows

Airline alliances give customers and
members to gain points on miles
airlines many benefits. For example,
traveled and gives flexibility to
United can coordinate schedules with
use those points within the Star
other airlines within the alliance to
Alliance airlines. They also
partner in connecting flights.
receive free checked bags,

priority check in, and other

benefits.
 United Airlines 4

SWOT Analysis
Weaknesses

United’s growth has also hit a

In recent years, United Airlines scoped cause

has been hit by many PR
A scope clause limits the amount of large jets
nightmares.
for regional flights for their fleet as well as a

Some of these include passengers limit of 76 seats available on the flight. This

and animals being mistreated scope clause has caused a rift between the

dying in overhead and other racial pilots and the company over salary contracts

incidents. The most famous due to lower pay on smaller planes

incident of Dr. David Dao being

bloodily dragged from the plane,

CEO Oscar Munoz attempted to

justify the incident. As a result, it

worsened United Airlines

Low Profit Margins

reputation even further leading for

High fuel and labor costs accounts for
calls to boycott the airline and
57% of United’s cost of operation. As a
losing $250 million in stock value.
result, United has the lowest operating

margin of 4.3% compared to Delta’s

10.86%, Southwest’s 8.52%, and Jet

Blue’s 7.47%.
 United Airlines 5

SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

Demand for flights are

Istanbul Airport
increasing
A new airport in Istanbul, Turkey is
A study done by the IATA has found
currently being built larger than the island
that air passengers are expected to
of Manhattan. After construction, the
double to 7.8 billion trips a year by
airport is estimated to have 200 million
2036. A prediction based on a 3.6%
traveler visits per year which is double the
compounded average growth rate per
current most busy airport in Atlanta.
year sees Asia being the largest

contributor to the increase. The study

predicts by approximately 2022, Strong US Economy

China will overtake the United States

as the largest air traveling country. Despite a rocky end to 2018, the US

Doubling the amount of air travelers economy reported a 3.2% growth rate

over the next 17 years will open up a in Q1 of 2019. Not only will the

massive increase in demand for United States benefit from this growth

United Airlines. but also the global economy. This is

favorable for United Airlines as they

look to continue expansion within the

US and global markets.

 United Airlines 6

SWOT Analysis
Threats

Competition with China Boeing 737 Max

Recently, the Boeing 737 Max has had

China is looking to see large growth multiple failures leading to over 300

passing up all major U.S. airlines by deaths from crashes. As a result, airlines

2022. Government subsidies has including United have been forced to

made it possible for Chinese airlines ground the planes and cancel over 900

to provide affordable prices and flights. CEO Munoz has stated there is

excel within the technology and no timeline till when they can begin

engineering aspect of aerospace. flying again

China’s progressing economy has

also made traveling a demand for

Increase on price of fuel
both leisure and business trips. This

makes it more likely for people from A study done by the International Air

China to travel internationally than it Travel Association has predicted jet

is for people to travel to China. Most fuel prices to increase by up to 25% in

Chinese fliers usually prefer to take 2018. While profits have not taken a

local Chinese airlines for comfort massive hit from the immediate impact,

and familiarity reasons resulting in a airlines are receiving growing pressure

large boost of sale for Chinese from the forecasts on fuel prices to

airlines. continue to rise.

 United Airlines 7

Consumer Market

United Airlines offers flights to numerous domestic and international destinations

which is why the company's consumer market consists of a wide range of

travelers. Consumers buying flights consist of both males and females ranging

anywhere from young adults in their 20's, to middle-aged adults with families, to

elders who are able to fly. Even though United Airlines has a large variety of

consumers their target market consists of business-people, typically men,

traveling for work purposes such as meetings, conferences, and campaigns.

 United Airlines 8

Current Target Market

Business Travelers are the largest market segment of all air travelers and have been

a primary target market for most airlines. This market will continue to be a focus

for United as business travel is expected to continue to grow in the upcoming years.

According to Allied Market Research “The Business Travel Market size is expected

to reach $1,657 billion by 2023." The age range is roughly spans from "late twenties

to their mid-fifties" while gender travel numbers depend on the country of origin.

(Camilleri). In general, the market is uniform in the basic wants and needs that they

desire from their travel experience like travel packages for hotel and flights. There

are subtle changes in purchasing habits among different age groups where for

example, "Younger travelers are less likely to book air travel based on loyalty

programme perks. They are more likely to book their flight according to the airline

service and the customer experience they offer"(Camilleri).

 United Airlines 9

United Airline's

Online Presence

Twitter

United Airline's customer

service is using Twitter to

handle the task of

addressing complaints and

engaging with customers on

a daily basis. The ability to

diffuse situations through

DM's instead of publicly is

invaluable to keeping a

positive brand image.

United Airlines currently plays an underdog

role with the least amount of followers across

almost all the platforms and had to salvage

their brand image from the ground up. Their

total social media reach being close to 3

million across Facebook, Instagram, and

Twitter.
 United Airlines 10

Marketing Strategy

'Behind The Wings'

Megan Mitchell, Senior Manager

for digital engagement has launched

the "Behind the Wings" campaign

on FaceBook. An online campaign

that shares behind the scene shots

and videos of team members in

action. This is a great way to

acknowledge the staff and bridge

the gap between them and their

customers.

Rebranding

United has worked hard to

re-brand their image as an airline

that's 'for the people'. When

California broke out in fires,

United quickly offered support

with travel waivers to firefighters

and matching donations to the

cause. Media outreach stories like

these generate positive reactions.

 United Airlines 11

Target Market

As millennial's continue to integrate themselves into our economy, their buying

power exponentially increases with each passing year up to “an estimated $200

billion of spending power” by the time they mature (Anderson). This market offers

tremendous growth to the travel industry since many are reaching the point where

they have disposable income and "72 percent say they would like to increase their

spending on experiences rather than physical things in the next year”. With the

growing influence of social media personalities showcasing new affordable travel

locations like Thailand, Greece, and Panama, millennial's aren't afraid to spend

money for adventures. The key to marketing millennial travel is immersion within

the culture of their selected destinations along with plenty of “Instagrammable

moments.” This behavior is not reserved for just vacations, 62 percent of

millennial's are “more likely to extend their business vacations to gain cultural

experience and see more of the world, taking advantage of their company footing

part of the bill”. If United Airlines were able to create easy opportunities to book

flights to capitalize on instant travel urges due to social media, they will be able to

easily win over this new market.

 United Airlines 12

Meet Jessica

Jessica is a twenty-five year old woman who is looking to purchase a plane ticket to

Thailand. She makes an annual salary of about $69,000 working as an advertising

and promotions manager for a computer software company. She graduated with a

bachelor’s degree in business marketing from California State University Monterey

Bay. She currently lives in San Francisco and moved there for her job. Jessica likes

to spend her saved money on experiences rather than materialistic items. She checks

online reviews and gets recommendations from friends and family by choosing what

to purchase and where from. She often researches and finds coupons and deals to

save as much money as possible because she has to pay off student loans and credit

card bills. With easy access to the internet, purchases are made frequently

anywhere. When purchasing items for travel such as plane tickets or hotels, often

times Jessica will tweet or write a Facebook post about her experience to let her

friends and family know about her time. She will also post pictures on her Instagram

and Snapchat story to show her followers her traveling adventures. Jessica likes to

maintain an active and healthy lifestyle full of fun experiences so United Airlines can

us this as an advantage to gain a new market of consumers.

 United Airlines 13

Joshua

Joshua is a thirty-seven year old man who is also looking for a plane ticket. He

has a girlfriend of eight years who he met in college but doesn’t have any plans

to marry any time soon. Instead of spending money on a big wedding, they

want to travel the world and indulge in various cultures of the locations they

visit. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in justice studies at Boston

University and later went to law school at Harvard College. He moved to

Seattle two years ago to partner up with a friend from undergraduate school

who started a law firm a few years prior and has an annual income of

$275,000. Joshua likes to make certain purchases on his credit card to build

credit as well as receive perks such as points for hotels and flights when he

travels. He often purchases items online to make things easier especially with

his busy schedule. When he has free time he likes to stay active and workout at

either a gym or outside. He and his girlfriend like to do fun things together

such as traveling and taking at least one big vacation a year. When they travel

they like to share photos on Facebook to keep their friends and family updated.

They often go to museums and learn about the locations history as well as

sightsee, adventure, and hike. They share their travel experiences with friends

and often give recommendations to others that want to travel, whether that be

through social media or social interaction.

 United Airlines 14

ALTERNATIVE
MARKET

CHINA

The Chinese travel population

also poses another opportunity

for a possible target market.

According to CNN, “ China is

poised to overtake the United

States as the world's biggest air

travel market by 2022.” With

this change in regards to the

World’s travel demands, United

would be wise to take

advantage of the Chinese

market. The concerns with

adapting to the new market is

the growing tariffs and

protections that the Chinese has

put to protect their markets.

They could go around these

tariffs and restrictions by

having Chinese companies

invest in United or invest

heavily in training or

production facilities in China.

 United Airlines 15

SECOND ALTERNATIVE
MARKET

FAMILIES

Another market we considered is family travel. While the amount

family travel is not the main target market compared to millennials,

they do offer a significant market. Family travel also offers consumer

behaviors that greatly benefit airline companies. Lufthansa has begun

noticing this trend and have been quoted saying, “Families mostly

book further in advance, which is important for an airline in terms of

its base load factor”(Family Travel Association). By capitalizing on the

logistical benefits that families offer, United can better plan out its

flights and be more efficient with their flights. An additional

unforeseen benefit if the marketing plan works is  creating brand

recognition to the young children that will be accompanying their

parents on these flights and creating possible lifelong customers.

 United Airlines 16

Competitors Targets
United Airlines two biggest competitors in terms of target market are

American Airlines and Delta Airlines. One common theme that many of

the large Airline companies like United and American Airlines are that

their biggest target markets are business travelers. It makes sense due to

the fact business travelers spend the most on travel and generally order

their flights in advance and tend to not carry large amounts of luggage.

These two facts are favorable conditions for all airlines due to the ability to

better plan flights and reduce fuel costs.

 United Airlines 17

New Advertising
SOCIAL MEDIA

AWARENESS

TRENDS MAKING THE SWITCH

Traditional media expenditures such as

United Airlines are joining the
cable television will be cut down as
trend of digital and creative
many viewers are transitioning towards
traditional marketing because
streaming platforms such as Youtube,
we feel that these forms of
Netflix and Hulu.  We here at United
marketing will be the most
will be using subway stations, Facebook

effective due to daily norms. ads, Newspaper stands and apply it to

These norms are shown as Youtube as pre or post-ads. Our

constantly surfing the web, graphics will show comfort and

relaxation for millennial's in order to

blogs and accessing social
bring in customers that will be loyal to
media outlets.
the company.
 United Airlines 18

Marketing Channels

Guerrilla marketing

Our idea is utilizing public buses to display an interior airplane set up giving

the impression that riders are in a plane. We plan to install plastic screens on

the ceiling of the buses that exhibits realistic moving sky image as well as oval

shaped windows. Lastly we want to add TV screens identical to those in

airplanes that play free movies as well as show United Airline commercials.

Public and Online Media

Another plan of action is paying Instagram, Facebook, and

YouTube to advertise our new marketing efforts and deals.

We want our consumers to imagine themselves in the tropics

enjoying the sun every time they use the internet, take the

subway, or use a public parking lot.

Brand Ambassadors

Considering majority of our advertising will

take place online we are seeking to sponsor

social media influencers and make them brand

ambassadors for our company. An ideal brand

ambassador will be someone who is heavily

involved on social media and has a large

follower count. This person's job will be to

announce special offers as well as post

aesthetically pleasing images of their traveling

adventures online in order to attract

millennial's from both the United States and

China.
 United Airlines 19

OUR MESSAGE
Seek Adventure
Our message is centered

around invoking the desire to

seek out adventures.

Millennial's are used to a fast-

paced life and we wish to show

that the door is left wide open

for opportunities to travel to

exotic locations and Endless Destinations

memorable experiences. Many Throughout our campaign we build on our

millennials are starting to portfolio of popular destinations for travel.

work full time jobs and Each piece we put out will be a glimpse into

oftentimes they're locked out what it's like snorkeling in the deep blue
of major social interactions
waters of Hawaii, navigating the crowds at
due to their busy lifestyle.
the Night Markets of Taiwan, and hiking the
We're telling them they
mountains of Peru. Our brand ambassadors
deserve to take time off and
capture the excitement of these experiences
enjoy themselves. Traveling
and share them through our social media
can be a cause of great joy
channels. Afterwards, we make it as easy as
within their hectic life.
the click of a button to go.
 United Airlines 20

C O M P E T I T O R

A D V E R T I S I N G

Biggest Threats

Four companies currently control more than two

thirds of the market share in air travel. Southwest

Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and

United Airlines. They each have huge social media

presence and in this section, we'll take a look at how

they're utilizing it to reach their audience.

Southwest Airlines started operations in 1971 and have

2,130,000
gained a reputation for having one of the cheapest

flights for a major carrier in the world. Southwest

6,100,000
Airlines marketing team focuses their efforts on

connecting with their customers on an emotional level

by storytelling through videos. They started the

591,000

storytelling campaign called Transfarency to position

the brand image around one that cares about each

customer and started casting actual Southwest

employees on commercials which gives a real

authenticity and down to earth feeling about what goes

behind the scenes at the airport as well as humor to

emphasize the lightheartedness of the ad. Their

campaign includes minute long videos on Facebook,

longer videos on Twitter (1-3 minutes), YouTube pre-

roll ads, and TV commercials.

 United Airlines 21

1,550,000

2,400,000

885,000

American Airlines is another major competitor with a history dating back to the

1930’s. In 2013, American Airlines absorbed US Airways to become the largest

Airlines based on revenue and the amount of passengers transported on average

every day. Their ongoing campaign ‘Flagship’, focuses on the experience to be had

when booking their first-class and business-class cabins. They highlight exclusive

lounges, fine wines, and a very relaxing journey to your destination through visually

appealing commercials and great videography while being minimalist. Their target

market is focused on the middle/upper class from whom they make the majority of

their profit from. They promote their brand on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TV,

Hulu, and billboards.

1,500,000

3,100,000

824,000

Delta Airlines is the last major airline among the top four, founded in 1924

and has been ranked third by BizBash among the top 10 most innovative

brands in 2017. Their motto ‘Always put you first’ has headlined their

campaign to create virality, awareness, and excitement for the brand. Their

most viral stories include the unveiling of Delta’s new uniforms by Zac

Posen, setting the stage similar to a Victoria secret runway, with the

employees being the models. They gained traction on social media partially

due to having invited all their employees to share the event and post

pictures and videos on social media. Similar to Southwest, Delta has a huge

internal focus on the employees wellbeing and many of the videos

advertised include customer experiences centered on employee

interactions.
 United Airlines 22

AMERICAN

AIRLINES

'The worlds greatest

flyers fly American'

Their current ad campaign

wants to bring back the

excitement of First Class air

travel and introduce their

new logo 

SOUTHWEST

AIRLINES

Transfarency focuses on its low

fares and transparency in fees,

built around the philosophy of

being honest and fair.

Instagram Comparisons
 United Airlines 23

Integrated Communications
Three stages of Advertisments

Awareness & Knowledge

Following the Hierarchy of Effects, the first two stages Awareness &

Knowledge will be tailored to the cognitive message strategy, rational

appeal. United has the unique selling position of being a four star rated

airline by OAG, 98.7% on time performance, and a member of the

world's largest airline alliance. We want the customer to know that

United takes away the stresses of flying through on time performance,

massive location selection, and Star Alliance benefits. United will work

hard for every customer to ensure the stresses of flying are taken away

and they will get the customer to their location as easily as possible.

This set of advertising will be aimed at the personal value of security.

Liking, Preference, Conviction

The second group advertising in the Hierarchy of Effects, Liking,

Preference, and Conviction is linked to an emotional appeal.

United provides the passage to the dream vacation. At this point,

our target market knows about our performance record and

destination variety. Now our goal is to trigger the emotional

appeal of vacationing. United can take the consumer to the place

they always wanted to show off on Instagram. In our Escape

Tomorrow campaign we will use our YouTubers to have our target

market already feel like they're traveling. These ads are aimed to

the personal values of living comfortably and being adventurous.

 United Airlines 24

Integrated Communications
Three stages of Advertisments

Add a little bit of ody te

The Actual Purchase

The final group of advertisements will focus on the last step, The Actual

Purchase. This group of advertisements will be the connotative message

strategy. After seeing the past advertisements to trigger thoughts, this ad

will have a call to action with a link to the purchase site. Based on the

nature of all three stages we will be tapping into the personal values of self

accomplishment, freedom, and living comfortably.

 United Airlines 25

Advertising Proposal

United Airlines will launch an advertisement campaign called

#EscapeTomorrow through online, traditional,

and guerrilla marketing channels. The main advertisement will be a 15

second commercial found in YouTube preroll videos. It will begin with

a young millennial couple waking up in the morning dreading their day

to go to work. Before getting out of bed, the girl opens the United

Airlines app and the camera angle changes to her smiling and looking

over at her partner. The commercial goes through a series of fast cut

scenes showing packing, boarding, and taking off. They land on a

beautiful island to wake up again in a bohemian hut on the beach the

next morning. The commercial ends with a narrator saying,"They got

away, now it's your turn. Escape tomorrow."

 United Airlines 26

Guerrilla Marketing

Look out
to dream.

#Escape
Tomorrow

Another form of advertising we are implementing is guerrilla

marketing. This advertisement will be in public buses and

subways in New York, San Francisco, and New York City. The

consumer will be looking out the window with a transparent

sticker installation of looking out a plane window. We want to

inspire a day dream of flying through the sky and escaping

tomorrow's worries.
 United Airlines 27

Instagram

Influencers

Our third form of advertising will

prioritize working with social media

influencers that utilize Instagram.

Our biggest influencer will be the

singer,songwriter, and actress Ariana

Grande. Grande has a large following

so she will be our influencer with the

most reach. This will expose our

airline to a copious amount of

consumers and maximize the amount

of people viewing the advertisement.

Our other two influencers are Samuel

Elkins and Chris Burkard who are

photographers that post their artistry

on Instagram, highlighting travel and

adventure. They have a following but

on a smaller scale, so they often reply

to fans. This will maximize

engagement with consumers. We plan

on having each influencer post

Instagram advertisements on their

feed. We will have Grande post once

each quarter while we will have

Elkins and Burkard post more

frequently.
 United Airlines 28

Submit your video today

#EscapeTomorrow

Promotional Tools

The Escape Tomorrow contest will feature a

vlogger focused contest for free travel to any

of our locations. Contestants must submit a 1-

2 minute video explaining what inspires them

to travel. The winner of the contest will

receive two tickets and all expense paid trip to

any location United Airlines flies to.

The winners of the contest will release a series of three vlogs uploaded to

their own and United's YouTube channel. This contest will be continuous

throughout our advertising campaigns. Winners will be selected bimonthly

for a week long vacation. Our goal for Escape Tomorrow is to spark a

viral movement for both young and old YouTube vloggers who are looking

for their opportunity to stand out from the saturated field of travel

vloggers today.
 United Airlines 29

Plan Costs

Youtube influencers will recieve less

than this. Youtube influencers such

as Timothy Delaghetto and Bretman

Rock can expect at least 1million

We decided that our views per video acquiring over

advertisements will be done via $5,000 per 500,000 channel

guerrilla marketing tactics and subscribers. Each average have

social influencers. Social approximately 4-9 million subs.

influencers will be used through Youtube pre-roll ads are the next

platforms such as Instagram and most effective marketing strategy

Youtube. We will have different because all it takes is five seconds to

tiers of Instagram influencers get the message out there.

ranging from celebrity pop-star Companies pay an average of

Ariana Grande to travel vloggers $.10-$.30 per view depending on

Chris Burkard and Samuel Elkins. video quality and their target

These will be our spearheads. market. Another effective, yet the

Ariana Grande will acquire least costly type of marketing is

$40,000 per post, while Chris guerrilla marketing. Using this

Burkard will receive $15,000 and tactic via city busses will average

Samuel Elkins $7,000. $220 per bus.

 United Airlines 30

Public Relations

Stakeholders

Effected Stakeholders are the employees, passengers, sponsors and the

community. Our goal is to please as many stakeholders as possible, and an

impact will occur with whatever move we make. Through our marketing

tactics we want to have a positive impact on our passengers and

community most importantly. Due to our negative reputation with the

public, we want to fix that image so with the promotions like our Escape

Tomorrow Campaign it will show that we want to reward our travelers

and want them to have a travel experience of their dreams. It will

encourage consumers to travel the world and experience new things. This

will inspire more people to want to travel and start planning more trips

even if they do not win. With more consumers comes more money put into

the company which will benefit employees of the company. With more

buzz surrounding our airline, more sponsorships and partnerships can

result as well. With more exposure of our airline, it can draw in more

social media influencers that want to be apart of our brand.

 United Airlines 31

Social Responsibility

In the event that the public has a negative view of our campaign, we will

implement ways to reach out to those that have concerns and try and offer a

solution. Due to scandals involving our negative interactions with our

passengers, we want to reverse that negative connotation and put our

customers’ happiness first. If people are speaking out negatively on

platforms like social media, Yelp, or websites we will have a team that

responds to their comments to provide a possible solution or compensation

and show that we hear what they are saying and that we care. We want to be

as transparent with our consumers and show that we acknowledge that we

make mistakes and that we are working towards fixing them rather than

just ignoring their comments. We also want to take preventative measures to

ensure that negative comments are kept to a minimum. Because the main

negative view on our company is past treatment of passengers we will go

through a thorough training with employees especially because winners of

our contest will be recording a majority of their experience.

 United Airlines 32

Social

Recovery

A fragment of our marketing

plan consists of sponsoring

social media influencers to be

brand ambassadors for United

Airlines. These individuals will

play a huge role in how majority

of our new target market will

view our company. If there ever

comes a time where a brand

ambassador does something

socially unacceptable or

unethical it will reflect

negatively on our companies

image. It is important that we

hold our brand ambassadors

responsible for creating and

providing but respectful content

when visiting different countries

and interacting with people from all over the world. We plan to create a

contract that these ambassadors must abide to in order to keep content up to

standards and prevent controversial issues. This contract will include do’s,

don'ts, regulations, and potential consequences if our contract is broken.

 United Airlines 33

Evaluation

We would multiple forms of evaluation to test our new marketing

campaign. The evaluation techniques that we would use are message

evaluation, online evaluation, and impact evaluation. We would use focus

groups, readability tests, and preset goals to evaluate our message before

launch. We will continue evaluation of the campaign with consumer data,

google analytics, and other social media analytical tools to test progress

and pivot if necessary.  After a full cycle of advertisements, we utilize

impact evaluation to verify these marketing campaigns have increased

sales at an acceptable passing rate.

 United Airlines 34

Ethics and Policy

Carbon Footprint

As public perception becomes so paramount within everything that a

company does, United must maintain an ethical approach to this new

project. One ethical dilemma that must be considered is the carbon

impact that airplanes have and how that may impact our new target

market. While airplanes offer tremendous opportunity to travel the world

and grow a greater insight about the world we live in, we cannot disregard

that fact that the mass amounts fuel used to operate them leave a large

carbon footprint. Many millennials care deeply about the environment

and movements like “birth strikes” and social media campaigns showcase

the extent that they are willing to go to stand up for climate change. We

will need to showcase our ability to balance the thrill of traveling with

caring for our environment. We would recommend providing a marketing

plan centered on philanthropy events benefiting the environment like

forest conservancy or climate research.

 United Airlines 35

Ethics and Policy

Customer Treatment

Another ethical dilemma that we must overcome is how we treat our

flyers and our overbooking policies. Many consumers still have the images

of the events of that took place during the Dr. David Dao incident among

other service issues in the past. Millennials especially took this advantages

to take shots at United’s image in the form of memes and forums

highlighting the mistreatment. We will need to pivot from these

unfortunate circumstances showcase that Millennials will be safe

especially since they will already be somewhat worried about their safety

traveling to a foreign country.

 United Airlines 35

Ethics and Policy

Globalism

The final ethics issue that United Airlines must address is the growing trend

of globalism. We must always be aware that while different countries have

different ethical beliefs, those exact beliefs may limit the interest Millennials

could have. Take for example the longstanding traditions of elephant riding

in countries such as Thailand and India. While this may be a tradition in

these countries, viral videos about the practices used to subdue elephants

have helped lower interest in travel to these countries. If United is to be

successful with this marketing campaign, they must remember possibilities

that would either end in the shaming of our customers for traveling or our

companies image being tarnished by social media backlash.

 United Airlines 36

Conclusion

By marketing to millennials United Airlines is making the effort to obtain a

larger market share which previously consisted of older professionals

traveling on business trips. With a fresh new marketing plan we hope that

we can capture the attention of young adults through a heavy influence of

social media marketing. With the help of popular social media influencers

we hope that we can influence young adults to travel the world with the use

of aesthetic content of scenery, food, and cultures they experienced. Our

idea of redesigning the interior of busses to make them resemble airplanes is

another fun and creative way to publicize our new brand direction through

guerrilla marketing. Lastly online ads on heavily used social media apps will

help us spread awareness through online portals reaching a large percentage

of our intended market. Considering millennials are expected to have “an

estimated $200 billion of spending power” by the time their segment fully

matures makes them worthy of our new marketing efforts. It is important

that we create brand awareness and loyalty within this new and relatively

young market so that they continue to come back for their flying needs

throughout their lives. We hope that our new marketing direction creates an

urge in millennials to adventure and explore the beauties of the world.