Alaska Airlines Embarks On a New Journey With Media AOR VaynerMedia

Alaska Airlines in October named VaynerMedia Los Angeles its U.S. media agency of record, following a competitive review that began in July 2022. The agency began work with the carrier at the beginning of this year, and has been focused on planning and honing its strategic vision since then. The partners' first regional campaign, focused on Alaska Airlines' Care Coalition, debuted during the Super Bowl to consumers living in the Bay Area. Alaska Airlines led the review, confirming it did not tap a pitch consultancy for help. The brand declined to mention which other agencies it invited to pitch, and also declined to comment on the size of the account. However, COMvergence estimates place the airline's media spend at about $30 million in 2022. Alaska Airlines previously worked with Haworth Marketing + Media, a Minneapolis-based independent shop backed by WPP, which owns a 49% stake in the agency. It's been a rough few years for Haworth. It lost the Walmart account last year to Publicis Group and is currently fighting to retain the Sam's Club media business. Haworth did not respond to Adweek's request for comment by the time of this story's publication. How New Alaska Airlines’ Head of Marketing Eric Edge Plans to Put Customers First "It was just the right time for us to look at the broader suite of our agencies and figure out if there was something else we wanted to try, if there was different innovation we wanted to bring to the table," Eric Edge, Alaska Airlines' head of marketing, told Adweek. The innovation that inspired the airline's decision, it turned out, was the cohort-focused approach VaynerMedia is known for. On the other side of turbulence The news follows Alaska Airlines having hired Edge in September. Edge, who began his career as a United Airlines flight attendant, previously held leadership roles in Facebook and Pinterest's marketing departments. The marketer wants customers to know that Alaska is "the most caring airline out there," and making sure customers receive the brand's Alaska Cares initiative is of the utmost importance to him. It's a particularly important time for airlines to rekindle their relationship with would-be travelers. The years since 2020 have been a bumpy ride for carriers worldwide. As passengers trickled back into their seats, resuming travel after having hunkered down during the pandemic's first year, airlines continued to struggle. Widespread flight cancellations, lost baggage and other logistical difficulties introduced more trouble to an already-struggling ecosystem. Alaska Airlines is rebounding, though, having recently announced positive 2022 fiscal year results. In a statement, CEO Ben Minicucci deemed 2022 "a year of significant recovery and accomplishment" for the brand. A cohort-led strategy takes flight VaynerMedia is known for its Vayner Volume Model (VVM). The strategy involves testing creative concepts with audience cohorts and tweaking investment strategies in real time to amplify content engagement. Agencies increasingly strive to execute similar approaches as more of them focus deeply on leveraging online platforms that now take the bulk of marketers' media investments. Vayner's VVM strategy leverages social and video platforms as a "testing ground," Edge noted. He's confident this will help Alaska gather the learnings and insights Edge is eager for. For the leader, the strategy is less about expanding the airline's social investments than using social media campaigns to learn more about its audience and inform investment decisions across its media mix. "The learnings that you can get through social actually can influence everything else," he said. A more traditional strategy might force Edge to wait until a campaign's conclusion to regroup with the agency on the results and make strategic changes. "Ultimately, it was just about building on that and giving the teams a very new and fresh way to look at driving relevancy for multiple audiences," Lisa Buckley, VaynerMedia LA's managing director, told Adweek. How VaynerMedia Is Helping Mint Mobile Take Media In-House and Grow Its Team Creative convergence swayed the decision Edge is the beneficiary of the agency review. It kicked off in July, before he took on his new role in September. "One of the things that really was important to me was that we had a partner that was nimble, that had an innovative and somewhat disruptive approach to how they go about media," he said. VaynerMedia will partner with the airline's creative agency of record, Mekanism, to execute the cohort strategy. Vayner launched as a creative agency before later introducing and scaling its media practice. It remains integrated, and its creative-inspired approach to innovation is what helped it stand out. "The lines have blurred between media and creative in many ways, between performance and brand in many ways," Edge said. "I just think having people at the table who think like that really helps us grow the business and the brand."