United Airlines promotes loyalty scheme with online campaign

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 01-Mar-05, 08:00

LONDON - United Airlines is pushing its loyalty programme Mileage Plus with an online advertising campaign highlighting a special offer that gives people 50,000 bonus miles.

The campaign has been created by Lean Mean Fighting Machine, in partnership with Fallon, and will be supported by targeted above-the-line advertising.

Various executions highlight the offer, which gives users more than 50,000 miles when they purchase and fly a qualifying round trip in United's first or business class routes to the UK before April 30.

The bonus miles can be used to fly to destinations in Europe and North America with United and Star Alliance partners. One of the ads says that after visiting Uncle Sam, the bonus miles can be used to visit Uncle Alonso, Uncle Pierre, Uncle Bruno or Uncle Kim -- showing silhouettes of a bull, the Eiffel Tower, the leaning tower of Pisa and finally of a Korean-style pagoda.

The campaign targets frequent business travellers and the online campaign will appear on business sites including FT.com, The Economist and the business channels of The Guardian and The Times.

The campaign shows a continuation in United's commitment to online advertising after an award-winning online brand campaign in 2004. Formats include traditional banners and skyscrapers plus richer formats like MPUs, expandable banners and skyscrapers. The ads can be seen here.

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