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͞Set up an airline in 48 hours,͟ said Mark Terry-Lush, founder and CEO of Renegade Media.
͞Is this some sort of April Fool?͟ asked his in-house creative and social media teams.
͞Yes,͟ he replied, ͞sort of͙͟

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The challenge was straight forward enough: launch the world͛s first free airline and with it an innovative
new marketing vehicle, all within 48 hours.

Finance would be generated from advertisers, brands and agencies and the resulting revenue would be
offset against the operating cost of long-haul flights.

Naturally, it had to attract global coverage and explore the power of social media and digital public
relations.

And it had to be convincing too ʹ because the launch date was April Fool͛s Day.

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After bouts of hilarity mooting potential sponsorship deals ʹ would Red Bull sponsor the wings? Could
Dulcoease sponsor the toilets? McDonalds to provide in-flight catering? ʹ the team decided that in order
to ͚fly͛, the idea would need some proof of concept: credibility that would pull the wool over the eyes of
an unsuspecting public.

With departure looming, the team decided upon the name ͚Publicitair͛ and swiftly devised a simple,
four point plan:

m     ! "# $%&'% ()*&" (% *"#% ( "'&$% +  (%  %,("

-m "+(  ,% '. # (#$+& #*  ,$.#(+ #$% (%  # (#  '("&,$ "#$/

0m ""& ##$" # + (#$(#( $(%" 11$(+ #*$ ,$.#(+ #," #* '*(' # +# (
2( #* +$&(%3 4 ""(#/ +##(+ (+% ( #*$ $%$

5m $#  "' ,% 2$3 ((+ ' . %$#" (% #*( "% #* "#$/ '$""
,'$) ++(+ "#" . !##$

As you͛d expect in the airline business things moved quickly.

As finishing touches were made to the website, the team issued a stream of letters and emails to all and
sundry pitching Publicitair as a viable advertising platform, before hightailing it across to
Gloucestershire͛s Kemble airfield for a professional photo shoot. Quickly donning their cabin crew
clobber, the Renegade team pulled some convincing poses next to a decommissioned Boeing 747, in the
driving rain. But there was no rest for the wicked.

Within an hour of the campaign͛s launch at 08.00 GMT 1st April 2010, Renegade had received hundreds
of enquiries via the Facebook page, a flurry of Twitter mentions and numerous re-tweets.

Hundreds more submitted their details and booked to be included in a proposed ticket lottery. Several
global brands then made contact and requested sponsorship information.

Many of the world͛s leading bloggers picked up the story and within hours it had been reported on the
BBC, leading to further distribution across Western Europe, Russia and the USA.

The social web took Publicitair to heart too. 70% of those visiting their p


 

Facebook page ͚booked͛ a ticket, despite knowing in advance they͛d have to sit through wall-to-wall
advertising on their transatlantic flight.

By midday the Publicitair.com domain name had been retweeted to more than 30,000 micro-bloggers
seeded from the Renegade Media Twitter account.

The measure of emotive response showed 96% of people reacted positively to the story.

The majority of the major trade publications including Campaign, Brand Republic and Media Week were
in on the ͚joke.͛


6  7 58888  

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  BBC News online

@  

    

thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

@
  








 



 
 

 









South West Business.co.ukm

@   
 

 
  
   Daniel Harrison,
Head of English News programming at DM Digital Television

The story was also nominated ͚Press Release of The Week͛ by the good people of DW Publishing, and
appeared as a shining example of ͚what in-flight marketing should look like͛ in an aviation feature in
a

    magazine.

6  
 

As part of the process Renegade also requested that people who signed up for a free flight also voted on
their favourite brand.
The exercise produced some interesting results with Apple (11.5%) proving the most popular among
prospective ͚passengers͛, followed by Coca-Cola and Nike (both 6.7%) with Publicitair itself claiming joint
third alongside Red Bull (2.7%).

Other well-known names who got the thumbs up were BMW, Burger King, Chanel, Disney, Innocent,
Sony and Tesco.

Unsurprisingly, a host of airlines featured too, but the only purely online brand to be mentioned was
YouTube.

 
    
   6 9:

So was it a joke or will the world͛s first free airline ever get off the ground?

Time will tell.

It certainly demonstrated the power of social media, even when the concept existed only on a low
budget, static website.

There were no false promises, rather an intriguing concept which appealed to the producer and
consumer alike.

Channels were also opened to some of the world͛s biggest brands through a timely and highly creative
outreach.

And the good news, for all you budding Richard Branson͛s out there, is that Publicitair is now a limited
public company. So if want to buy it just let us know͙
7   7     

þm Twitter ʹ The total tweets Reached 56,709 people through 43 Tweets

þm Facebook ʹ 150 people linked from their profile to the project
þm Editorial ʹ With total circulation taken into account, estimated readership numbers equate to
over 3 million.

 ;

  4 c
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Mr Mark Eting-Director
Brand x
Faceless Multinational
London
SE99 1QP

31st March 2010

Dear XXXX,

$ !(#% # " /&$ ',(/3" + ( #* #1( 1  <5<:

 ,(+ #* 1$"# # %$#" ( c& '#$ 4 #* $%3" 1$"# 1$ $(=

Imagine a captive audience engaged with your brand for eight solid hours ʹ no escape, just your brand
and our passengers. Publicitair is a new concept ʹ the first airline to offer advertiser-funded flights.
Passengers pay absolutely nothing ʹ because you do.

On Publicitair, every surface of our 747͛s UK to New York flight, inside and out ʹ from the fuselage down
to the cabin crew uniforms ʹ is open to branding. There is no escape ʹ our 400 plus passengers know
that they are flying for free and they will be subjected to sponsor messages. We make it very clear what
they͛re signing up for.

In light of ongoing developments within commercial air travel, it͛s clear that current aviation business
models are floundering. As a digital marketing and Public Relations agency, here at Renegade Media
we͛re constantly looking at new ways to ensure our international client base stays ahead of the curve.
We travel by plane regularly, and decided the time had come for another, more creative proposition to
be established to make air travel inviting and innovative once again.

That͛s where you come in. Put simply, we want your brand on our plane. Whatever your budget, there͛s
room on board for brands of all sizes. We offer a number of bespoke sponsorship packages, and
welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Please feel free to contact me for further information.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours truly,

Dave Barton

Renegade Media
CMO, Publicitair
 ;


4 7  c

Publicitair plans to fly one return journey per month, one week apart, between the UK to New York,
with other routes to major long haul destinations planned.

 
$(%(+ ' >#$$ <5<)588

' ?

Tailfin 19.3 m high

Wingspan (including wingtips) - 64.9 m (total)

exterior
541.2 m2 (area)

Back Wings - exterior 22 m span (total)

Fuselage 70.6 m long x 19.4 m high

Engine (individual) 2.5 m diameter x 4.4 m long

*All costs are on application, subject to frequency of sponsorship, availability, and total size specified.

**All sizes reference the total area available, and may only be partially available at any given time.

$(%(+ ' (#$$ <5<)588

' &, $ 1 (#"

Interior Cabin 6.1 m wide

Seat - main chair 416

Seat - headrest As above

Seat - armrest As above

Fold-Down Tray Tables As above

Overhead luggage compartments 70

Seating Rows ʹ Economy ʹ lower deck 62

Seating Rows ʹ Upper deck 8

 Emergency Exits 11

Lavatories 12

Cabin Crew 16

Flight Crew 3

*To sponsor individual seats, rows or whole seating sections of the aircraft,
please contact us via the website.

()1+*# (#$#(,(#

Publicitair passengers enjoy access to individual multi-media screens with every

seat. This gives our clients numerous opportunities to repurpose online and TV
commercials, images of static advertising, as well as the chance to create
bespoke in-flight only entertainment.

þm On screen time is charged by the minute, at a rate of £10 sterling per

minute
þm Content must be family-friendly and not offensive in any way
þm Content may be edited to fit our flight times and schedules

#*$ ("$"* $#&(#"

On Publicitair, everything has its price. For more bespoke sponsorship packages
or for an individual quote, please submit a query directly to our CMO.