DRAKE UNIVERSITY
jetBlue Case Study
Media Planning
Tom Kostek
5/9/2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Key Findings in Date Sources
Page 2
2. Recommendations and Justifications
Page 5
2a. Goals
Page 5
2b. Target Audiences
Page 6
2c. Scope and Media Mix
Page 7
2d. Budget, Timing and Scheduling
Page 9
Page 10
3. Justification of Numbers
3a. Ostrow Analysis and Justification
Page 10
3b. Budget and Justification
Page 11
3c. Reach and Frequency
Page 13
Page 14
4. Media Flight Plan Charts
4a. Year at a Glance
Page 14
4b. Flowchart
Page 15
1|Page
4c. Market List
Page 16
Key Findings in Data Sources
After an in depth analysis of the data sources provided, there are several areas of interest that
will allow jetBlue Airways to capitalize on the airline market. However, there are some concerns that will
be addressed as well.
According to the FAA statistics, jetBlue Airways had 22,267,394 (9th) total boarding passengers in
2009, while 53% happed during the second and third quarters. jetBlue is responsible for 3.82% of the
total boarding passengers (582,185,610) and accounted for 3.36% of all airlines advertising spending
($570,673,900) in 2009 with $19,192,500, 5th highest of all airline companies. The number one spender
in advertising, Southwest Airlines, also boarded the most passengers in 2009. Southwest spent
$185,673,200 (32.54% of total) in advertising and boarded 17.48% (101,770,164) of all traveling
passengers for the year. The nearest competitor in total passengers boarded is Airtran Airways (8th).
Airtran managed to spend $4,036,700 less than jetBlue, while boarding 1,730,461 more passengers.
We understand that your goals for the upcoming year are to increase passenger seat miles by
5% during the summer months for the listed coastal destinations. This is a great idea because of the
vacation travel boost (+30%) during this time of year and coastal destinations seat miles increase by
25%. However, we realize that we can not pick where are passengers depart from and can only
persuade them to a certain destination. In this case, only examining the flights between those
destinations may skew the actual overall result of the marketing efforts. For example, your focused
departure city is Buffalo, NY and San Fransico is the desired destination. However, the consumer, still
2|Page
flying on jetBlue Airways takes a vacation to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This information would go unnoticed and
negatively affect the outcome of your company goals for the year. This is an area of interest that we will
need to edit. Otherwise, the focal point of coastal destinations is brilliant.
Another area of concern we want to address is a low tendency for personal/vacation travel by
plane in some of the listed cities of departure. Lifestyle Analysis Report: Market Potential from the 2009
SRDS Local Market Audience Analyst allowed us view the propensity of each one of the eighteen
selected cities of departure. Baltimore, Boston, Burbank, Chicago, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco
and Seattle all have high index numbers and will be great for our campaign. However, Buffalo,
Burlington, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Raleigh, Rochester and Syracuse had a low propensity
for heavy personal/vacation trips by plane in 2009. Concerning the goals you’ve laid out for the
company, some selected routes may see an outstanding increase. But others may see no increase at all
because the inhabitants of those cities do not travel often for vacation or by plane.
Using 2010 MRI data, we also examined and compared heavy personal/vacation travelers and
individuals who fly jetBlue Airways based on demographics, media usage, product usage and
psychographics. Based on the comparing the demographic data for the two groups, working women
with a college graduate degree (plus) from the age of 55-64 have the highest propensity for heavy
personal/vacation travel with an above average propensity to fly jetBlue. The two groups also are either
an employed full time or part time and have an occupation in management or business and financial
operations and have a household income of $100,000 plus. 75 percent of these groups own a home and
have a slight tendency of being married, however they have no children within their household. As far as
marketing regions and living locations, heavy travelers have a high propensity to be in the Pacific region
(index 146) and Middle Atlantic region (index 120). jetBlue users also have an outstanding tendency to
3|Page
come from the Middle Atlantic region (index 263), however a slightly above average propensity to fly
jetBlue in the Pacific region (index 107).
According to the media usage data in the MRI reports, jetBlue users and heavy travelers fall into
the fourth and fifth quintile, respectively, for total television usage. These two groups love to read. 50
percent of each group falls in to the first two magazine quintiles and 30 percent sit in the heaviest
newspaper quintile. They have a high propensity of reading one to two daily newspapers and two or
more Sunday newspapers. 30-63 percent of jetBlue users and heavy travelers read the following types of
magazines: Business/Finance, General Editorial, News and Entertainment Weeklies, Women and
Women’s Fashion. These evaluations will help us identify the target market and in our media mix
decision. Although both groups are in the lightest quintile for television usage, nearly all of them
subscribe to cable or digital cable and 41-52 percent of them have generalized TV program types in
which they are involved. These program types include: Award Specials, Entertainment Specials,
Professional Football Specials and Weekend, and Primetime General Drama. Both groups fall into the
first two quintiles for internet usage. 96 percent have internet access, 90+ percent have a personal
computer and internet at home, 82 percent have a broadband or high speed connection and 65 percent
use the internet two or more times a day. Although they do not have a high propensity for radio usage
they do have some radio formats in common, and tend to have a high exposure to outdoor media.
Another interesting find in the Product Usage category of the MRI+ report is the jetBlue users
and heavy personal/vacation travelers travel information. 74 percent of the two groups have valid
passports and 56 percent have traveled to a foreign destination by plane within the last three years
while on a vacation. Even more exciting to us, 100 percent of the two groups have traveled domestically
within the last year. 104 percent for vacation/personal reasons and 91 percent of those were by plane.
Here we see very heavy domestic and moderate foreign travel by plane.
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5|Page
Recommendations and Justifications
Goals:
During the spring and summer months of 2010, our goal is to increase passenger seat miles by
five percent from the following departure terminals: Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA-NH; Buffalo, NY;
Burbank, CA; Burlington VT-NY; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA;
Portland, ME; Raleigh, NC; Rochester, NY; Sacramento, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA;
Syracuse, NY to the following destination terminals: Aruba; Barbados; Bermuda; Cancun, Mexico; Costa
Rica; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Long Beach, CA; Montego Bay, Jamaica;
Nassau; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Santiago, DR; Sarasota, FL; St Maarten.
Previously the goal was very narrowly tailored to increase passenger seat miles by 5% during the
spring and summer months between 21 selected routes, 18 different departure cities and 18 different
destinations. However, we have edited the goals to analyze the overall passenger miles from all
departing terminals to their coastal destinations. By doing this, jetBlue will still be able to track the
passenger seat miles between each selected route. Meanwhile, passenger seat miles from a selected
departing terminal to a non-preferred (but still on the list) destination will still be accounted toward the
goal of a five percent increase. The new strategy also takes into account that some of the cities with
departing terminals have a low propensity to go on vacation or travel via plane (“Key Findings in Data
Sources”). The strategy is designed to less the impact of those terminals if they do not increase during
the spring and summer months and the more active terminals will average out the overall activities.
6|Page
Target Audience:
All assumptions are made from MRI data: Janice Sample (White/Caucasian), from Burbank, CA,
is employed full-time as senior financial analyst at a fortune 500 company. With her masters degree in
finance from a near by university, it has taken her 20 years after graduation to reach this position in the
organization and at the young age of 55 she could not feel more accomplished. At the end of this
financial year Janice plans to take a part-time financial supervisor position within the company and
reward herself with free time and heavy vacation travel. At home, she likes to relax and read. Janice
subscribes to local Sunday magazine (online), The Wall Street Journal (online), Elle, Women’s Health,
Forbes, AARP the magazine, and Sports Illustrated for her husband. Her husband works full time in the
management industry, however at the age of 58 he plans on retiring soon and growing old with Janice.
The couple have once child. However, she graduated college 3 years ago and has become an
independent woman.
Both Janice and her husband have valid passports and love to travel by plane when they can.
She loves to research a location before traveling there, and enjoy site seeing when throughout the trip.
Although her and her husband have traveled with jetBlue Airways before, they are not brand loyal to
any carriers. Her other types of favorite activities include; going to the beach, entertaining her friends at
home, reading books and attending sporting events. As any aging women would, especially in California,
Janice worries about her appearance. With all the fashion and fitness tips from her magazines, she loves
to shop for new clothes, exercise and eat healthy. She also shops for her husband and makes him eat
healthy, forcing her habits on him too. With a household income of just over $130,000, the couple is not
frugal with there money, nor excessive with it.
7|Page
As for other types of media, Janice is connected to the Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
communities. Only for professional use, she uses these social media websites to gather instant
information about the news, the community around her, and other stuff she finds interesting. With
access to the internet all the time via her smart phone or personal computer, she spends many hours a
day searching the internet for financial information, clothing and fashion, travel information, etc. Janice
is also heavily exposed to outdoor media on her one hour and ten minute drive to work in Los Angeles
every morning. During her commute is the only time Janice listens to the radio. She prefers to listen to
news/talk radio on her way in and soft adult contemporary on the way home. Janice does not watch
much television however she does tune in for some programs. When she does, CNN, Bravo, Primetime
Drama’s, and Special Award Ceremonies are her guilty pleasure.
Janice Sample is the consumer profile for our intended primary audience. Based on the MRI
database, she was built from two groups (jetBlue passengers and heavy personal/vacation travelers) by
comparing and contrasting high and low index numbers to exploit the behaviors of these groups. These
behaviors were narrowed down using high percentages of the population to reveal the most likely
characteristics of these particular groups. Our secondary audience has a similar lifestyle to Janice;
however they are working women from the ages of 25-34 and may or may not be married. Because 5564 year old working women have more of an opportunity for heavy travel, we decided to make them the
intended target audience of the younger group. Most of the information can be found in the “Key
Findings in Data Sources” section.
Scope and Media Mix:
The scope and media mix is based on the consumer profile above and the tendencies of our
target market based on the MRI data and in prospective to jetBlue Airways’ competition. Our strategy
8|Page
focuses on spot markets, but will include national exposure as well. This will allow us to reach the cities
with departing terminals effectively and efficiently, while tailoring it to unique general interests within
our target audience. Our spot market exposure will include the following markets: Baltimore, MD;
Boston, MA-NH; Buffalo, NY; Burbank, CA; Burlington VT-NY; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; New York, NY;
Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, ME; Raleigh, NC; Rochester, NY; Sacramento, CA; Salt Lake City,
UT; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; Syracuse, NY.
Our target market is saturated with very heavy readers. It is important to the campaign that we
focus some of budget towards the local Sunday newspaper in each spot market. Ideally, Local Sunday
newspaper advertising will expose 30+ percent of our target audience to jetBlue Airways four times a
month. The advertising will entail online (local newspaper websites on Sundays) and print forms, due to
the targets heavy use of the internet. Other internet advertising will exist through Facebook and Twitter.
We will purchase Facebook banners to allow high exposure by our overall universe. The banners will
have a “click through” option that will direct the audience to the jetBlue website. They will also include
QR codes for promotional use to smart phone users. Using Twitter, our funding will go to the companies
with accounts that coincide with general interests our target audience members. For example, we will
give the National Geographic “X” amount of money to retweet promotions by the jetBlue account. Of
course we will be able to negotiate prices with certain parties, and only recommend exchanging tender
if they will not accept our retweets in return for their help. Using social media networks will keep our
information flowing through word-of-mouth and also appeal to our primary and secondary targets.
Our target market has a high exposure to outdoor media. Adding billboards in our spot markets
will raise the average frequency in which our target will be exposed to jetBlue advertisements. They will
not contain mass amounts of information but will create a reminder within the minds of the viewers.
Magazine advertising is the anchor for this campaign. 50 percent of the target market falls into the top
9|Page
two quintiles based on the MRI report. Though this is not a spot market strategy, by exposing jetBlue to
several of the most popular magazines in our audience, we expect great results. These magazines are;
Consumer Reports, Food Network, National Geographic, Women’s Health, Parade’s HealthyStyle,
People, and Time. With a wide array of magazine topics and interests, our goal is to catch only one niche
within 50 percent of the target audience. Keeping rereading the magazine in mind, we expect one or
two exposures per subscription a month from each magazine.
Print advertisements in the magazines will be half-page, four-color. We choose color to give the
creative team the opportunity to exploit the selected destinations’ beauty during the spring and
summer months. This will be effective during the cooler months and the beginning of our campaign
when our spot markets inhabitants may wish they were somewhere else. Meanwhile, to conserve the
budget we chose half-page ads. The local newspapers do not allow color (on MFP). To cut through the
clutter and single the advertisement out from the others, we will purchase full-page black and white ads.
Budget, Timing, and Scheduling
jetBlue Airway’s total expenditures for advertising was slightly over $19 million last year.
However, assuming the rest of it is going toward a full year campaign for business travel, we’ve been
assigned a strict budget of $6 million. The average person begins planning vacations five to six months in
advance of their actual trip. We have taken this into consideration when completing the timing and
scheduling of our media use. Seeing as the spring season starts in April, we will launch the campaign six
months prior to that, in October.
We will execute a flighted campaign. As consumer begins considering a vacation we will start
out hard to make sure we are in their evoked set during the airline selection process. We will
10 | P a g e
acknowledge this trend by focusing on the first 7 months of the campaign by with a heavy up technique
and diminish the intensity throughout the remaining time.
During the winter months (November, December, January, and February) 15 of our markets will
be experiencing cold weather or snow. This will be a great opportunity to advertise our warm, beautiful
destinations. To be conservative with our budget, we will not use outdoor advertising in December or
January. This decision is due to the high probability that our target audience will be spending more time
indoors. However, print (magazine and newspaper) and internet advertising will remain strong during
this time. The month of May will be the turning point in the campaign. We only plan to spend less than
$1 million during the next five months because most travelers will have planned a vacation by this point.
Between June and July the funding will decrease rapidly, however we will maintain funding to persuade
the traveling procrastinators.
By this time it is expected that 75 percent of the target audience should be exposed at least 3
times to the campaign, and then advertising the will become a brand reminder. We will cease
advertising at this point in time and will not advertise for the summer months in August and September.
Advertising now is to be considered ineffective for vacation travel in the summer months.
Justification of Numbers
Ostrow Analysis and Justification:
PART 1: Marketing Factors that Affect Frequency
Established brand?
High Market Share?
Dominant brand in market
share?
High Brand Loyalty?
There are 40 major and 75 regional airlines. jetBlue Airways was 9th overall in passengers.
Only 3.82 percent of total passengers boarded in 2009. The highest airline accounted for only
17 percent, but not near the lowest.
The top five airlines own about 50 percent of the market share. However, jetBlue is considered
a major airline.
According to the MRI report, our target audience has a brand loyalty index of 102. And brand
names are more important than price.
11 | P a g e
-.1
+.1
+.1
+.1
Long Purchase Cycle?
Product used occasionally?
Need to beat competition?
Advertised to older
consumers/ children?
A vacation by flight will be purchases between 1-3 times a year. This is not an everyday
purchase, but happens more often than a vehicle, television or computer.
This product is not used very often. Less than a toothbrush but more than a Christmas tree.
Very competitive industry!
During this campaign: Yes to older consumers. No to children.
-.1
-.1
+.2
+.1
PART 2: Copy Factors that Affect Frequency
Simple Copy?
Very simple. According to the case study, the copy will focus on the coastal destinations.
-.2
Copy more unique than
competition?
Continuing (old) campaign?
Most companies focus on vacation or business travel. This copy is not more unique than the
rest.
This is a new campaign.
+.2
Product sell copy?
The copy will focus on persuading passengers to go to a certain destination using jetBlue
Airways.
One overall message.
Sometimes, but messages are not changed often.
-.2
-.2
Single kind of message?
To avoid wear out: new
messages?
Larger Ad units?
+.2
+.1
½ page 4-color; full page B&W; Billboard (small amount of copy); internet banners. Not the
smallest but definitely not the biggest or best.
+.1
Part 3: Media Factors that Affect Frequency
Lower ad clutter in media
mix?
Compatible editorial
environment?
Attentiveness (to media)
high?
Continuous schedule
campaign?
Few media used in media
mix?
Opportunities for media
repetition?
Estimated Frequency Needed
Very high ad clutter in media mix.
+.2
Limited opportunity for editorial.
+.1
According to MRI reports, very low attention to advertising.
+.2
This is a flighted campaign. The furthest away from a continuous schedule.
+.2
5 Mediums used.
-.1
Several opportunities for repetition.
-.2
+3.7
Budget and Justification:
Local Newspaper (Sunday) – During the early months of the budget, we chose to add 5 inserts.
This allows one advertisement to be placed in each Sunday news paper throughout the first three
months. This also boosts the frequency in which the ad will be seen by the target market. In January and
12 | P a g e
February we allowed for three advertisements, which would be placed in every other week’s paper. This
would still be frequently viewed by the target market, however not as often. From March to September,
the advertisements would decrease by one every two months until ceasing in July. Ideally, by this time
75 percent of the market will be exposed to the advertisement at least 3 times.
Magazine – All of the selected magazines are monthly subscriptions. Therefore, we placed one
insert in each of the seven magazines to cover the whole span magazine portion of the campaign. This
will allow views to have high exposure to the advertisements and resonate in their minds as a supporter
of that brand and lifestyle. This will preferably make them more comfortable with the thought of flying
jetBlue Airways.
Internet – We set aside $1.35 million for internet advertising. This is equivalent to about 270
GRP’s through out the course of the campaign. Although the expected reach or frequency is hard to
calculate for the internet, we think highly of the advertisement in this area and what it can produce. In
the first three months we bought 40 GRP’s per month. This will allow us to create a high frequency
rating among the viewers, and increase the likeliness that we will reach a larger number of the target
audience.
Outdoor – We purchased 25 spots per month for the 17 selected departure cities. We have
opted to place the advertisements on city buses. This lowered the cost from billboards and will allow for
more reach within market and but lessen exposure.
13 | P a g e
JAN(4)
Local Newspaper
(Sunday)
300,000
FEB(5)
300,000
62,485
100,000
170,000
$
632,485
MAR(6)
200,000
62,485
100,000
170,000
$
532,485
APR(7)
200,000
62,485
100,000
170,000
$
532,485
MAY(8)
100,000
62,485
100,000
170,000
$
432,485
JUN(9)
100,000
62,485
100,000
170,000
$
432,485
JUL(10)
-
-
100,000
170,000
$
270,000
AUG(11)
-
-
-
-
$
-
SEP(12)
-
-
-
-
$
-
OCT(1)
500,000
62,485
200,000
170,000
$
932,485
NOV(2)
500,000
62,485
200,000
170,000
$
932,485
DEC(3)
500,000
62,485
200,000
-
$
762,485
TOTALS
2,700,000
562,365
1,350,000
1,360,000
$
5,972,365
Magazine
Internet
Outdoor
Totals
62,485
150,000
-
$
512,485
Reach and Frequency:
The Ostrow analysis recommended that we set the goal for our frequency at 3.7. However,
because of a tight budget we gave ourselves some leeway and placed our goal at 3.0 and our reach at 70
percent of the population. As we look at some of the guidelines for optimizing frequency or reach, it
becomes apparent that the budget simply is not big enough to sustain, even a flighting campaign,
through the months required before vacation season.
Since there are so many competitors and jetBlue’s creative strategy is on par with other airlines,
we tend to favor frequency over reach. Other support for more frequent exposure is to strengthen
jetBlue’s market share and create stronger brand awareness. This will help create more brand loyalty
among the new users. However, because this is a high involvement decision and an infrequent purchase
14 | P a g e
we want to increase the reach of the advertising. Meeting in the middle, with at least 3 exposures to 70
percent of the population, we take advantage of both situations.
Media Flight Plan Charts
Year at a Glance:
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
Total
Reach
Goal
Est
75
69.8
75
69.8
75
69.8
75
62.9
70
61.4
70
56
70
56
50
46.3
50
46.3
25
12.8
0
0
0
0
Avg Freq
Goal
Est
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
2.8
3
2.7
3
2.2
3
2.2
3
1.6
2.5
1.6
2
1.6
0
0
0
0
Goal
225
225
225
225
210
210
210
150
125
50
0
0
1855
15 | P a g e
GRPS
Est
282
282
282
178
168
121
121
74
74
20
0
0
1602
Balance
-56
-56
-56
46
41
89
89
75
50
30
0
0
0
$(000)
Goal
Est
Balance
727.8
932.5
-204.7
727.8
932.5
-204.7
727.8
762.5
-34.7
727.8
512.5
215.3
679.2
632.5
46.8
679.2
532.5
146.8
679.2
532.5
146.8
485.2
432.5
52.7
404.3
432.5
-28.2
161.7
270
-108.3
0
0
0
0
0
0
6000 5972.365
27.635
National Contingency $(000): 0
Spot Contingency $(000): 0
Flowchart:
Medium
Magazines - W
- Parade's
HealthyStyle
- Women's
Health
$(000)
Magazines -GI
- Time
- Food Network
- National
Geographic
- Consumer
Reports
- People
$(000)
Internet
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Local News
$(000)
Newspapers
(40% HH Cvg)
$(000)
Outdoor
- Busses
$(000)
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Target Demo: All Women ages 55-64
A S
u e
Jul
g p
Total Across
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
2
11.7
GRPS:
COST:
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
5
50.8
GRPS:
COST:
45
457.5
40
200
40
200
40
200
30
150
20
100
20
100
20
100
20
100
20
100
GRPS:
COST:
270
1350.0
235
500
235
500
235
500
141
300
141
300
94
200
94
200
47
100
47
100
GRPS:
COST:
1269
2700.0
614
170
614
170
614
170
614
170
614
170
614
170
614
170
GRPS:
COST:
4912
1360.0
16 | P a g e
20
100
614
170
18
104.9
National Only
Area
GRPS
$(000)
Reach
Avg. Freq.
Spot Only Area
GRPS
$(000)
Reach
Avg. Freq.
Spot + National
GRPS
$(000)
Reach
Avg. Freq.
46
262.5
24.7
1.9
46
262.
5
24.7
1.9
46
262.
5
24.7
1.9
36
212.
5
22.1
1.7
26
162.
5
18.8
1.4
26
162.
5
18.8
1.4
26
162.
5
18.8
1.4
26
162.
5
18.8
1.4
26
162.
5
18.8
1.4
234
670
60.9
3.9
234
670
60.9
3.9
234
500
60.9
3.9
141
300
53.1
2.7
141
470
53.1
2.7
93
370
46.3
2.0
93
370
46.3
2.0
47
270
34.2
1.4
47
270
34.2
1.4
281
281
932.
5
69.8
4.0
281
762.
5
69.8
4.0
178
512.
5
62.9
2.8
168
632.
5
61.4
2.7
120
532.
5
56
2.2
120
532.
5
56
2.2
74
432.
5
46.3
1.6
74
432.
5
46.3
1.6
932.5
69.8
4.0
19
GRPS:
332
100
12.8
1.6
Cost:
1912.4
GRPS:
Cost:
1269
4060
19
GRPS:
1602
270
12.8
1.6
Cost:
5972.4
Market List:
Market Name
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Sacramento-Stockton, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
Syracuse, NY
Seattle-Tacoma, WA
San Francisco et al, CA
Raleigh-Durham, NC
New York, NY
Rochester, NY
Portland et al, ME
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, PA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
Charlotte, NC
Burlington et al, VT-NY
Rank
7
50
20
35
80
14
6
28
1
78
76
12
22
2
3
25
92
%US
2.12
0.56
1.23
0.78
0.34
1.58
2.14
0.92
6.54
0.35
0.36
1.6
1.03
5
3.07
0.96
0.29
17 Markets Chosen, covering 28.87% of US households.
17 | P a g e
18 | P a g e