Fly Derrie-Air

As a way to demonstrate the effectiveness of their advertising, Philadelphia Media Holdings, publisher of a couple of papers in Phillie, published a fake ad last week in their papers.

The ad, for a fake airline called "Derrie Air," is pretty clever.

Derrie-Air is the world’s first carbon-neutral luxury airline. We will offer our passengers the finest luxury experience in all the world’s skies and the freedom to enjoy it with a clear conscience.

Derrie Air, which charges by the pound on a "sliding scale" offers all kinds of luxuries:

…gorgeous air hosts and hostesses, golden-age Rat Pack films, top-shelf vodka Martinis, on-demand video blackjack, spacious private washrooms outfitted with porcelain fixtures and gilded faucets, gourmet snacks, on-board masseuses, loofah scrubs and, of course, digital cable!

And, while you’re enjoying watching Frank, Dean, Sammy and Peter, with their skinny ties, snappy fedoras, and cigarettes - gotta love those old Rat Pack films = you can fly conscience clear, because the airline is planting lots of sycamores for carbon offsets.

As noted, Philadelphia Media had a goal of providing proof points for the effectiveness of advertising in their papers. A second goal is "stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens."

I’m guessing they’ll get lots of media attention, lots of buzz, and lots of hits on their site.

The ad is funny, supremely well executed, and provocative.

But will this really demonstrate the effectiveness of advertising in their papers? I’m guessing there’s a lot of clicking coming from places outside of the Philadelphia buying region - especially as the buzz about the ad spreads through social media. (I first learned about it from my friend, George, who sent me a link to the ad.) Having buyer interest from "someplace else" could, of course, work for some sorts of advertisers. Even Derrie Air would, presumably, not just fly out of Philadelphia. And there’s no way to demonstrate results, given that the airline is fictitious.

But as a demonstration on how an effective advertising campaign in good, old-fashion print media can show how viral-social spreads take place, this one is on more solid ground.

As for their second goal of the ad - to get people talking about an important issue of the day - I think they’ll succeed.

Here are just a few of the topics they’re raising - topics that are well worth raising and discussing:

• Thinking through the environmental impact of what we do
• Debating whether carbon offsets really work or are a load of hooey
• Questioning how societally worthwhile it is to place so much emphasis on luxury consumption
• Finding an equitable way to price things - what’s fair, what’s not
• Challenging whether calling something "green" makes it so

To Philadelphia Media and their advertising agency from one opinionated marketer: nice job!

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