We've now passed Labor Day, and it won’t be long before families begin planning their holiday vacations, which means that airports around the country will be bustling.
But there’s one airport that’s always bustling: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest in the world.
As an advertising venue, Atlanta has all of what all airports have: signage in high-traffic areas, from traditional posters to the latest in digital. The difference is that it has an awful lot more of it. And an awful lot more people see it, millions upon millions each year.
Think of Hartsfield-Jackson as a city unto itself, and a city in which everyone is involved in one endeavor, travel, and while they are stopping on their way through they are a captive audience.
To find out how to get your client’s message in Atlanta’s airport, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising to travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Who
In most cases airports award contracts to vendors who handle the bulk of advertising, and in Atlanta that contract belongs to Clear Channel Airports. But there are also other ad opportunities in airport retail shops, in executive club lounges and on airport TVs. Campaigns combining these elements can be put together through third-party agencies such as InterAir Media.
How it works
What you see most often going through Atlanta's airport is static signage, typically along the walls in the walkways between gates and concourses. Most of these are in the form of three-by-five-foot backlit signs called dioramas.
But you also see signs suspended from the ceilings, and in some areas much larger wall signs measuring approximately seven-by-11 feet.
There’s signage in window areas near security checkpoints. These are popular with advertisers because of the dwell time most travelers face these days while waiting to make their way through security.
And of course, because of Hartsfield-Jackson's sheer size--the airport has six terminals--there's an underground train that shuttles passengers from one to another, and that creates yet another opportunity for advertisers: signage facing the escalators leading down to the trains.
Other ad venues include screens near the baggage claim areas (available soon), bags used in the airport’s retail stores, signage in executive club lounges, and spots airing on the airport's extensive TV network, which features content from CNN.
Markets
You might think of the Atlanta airport as its own market. Located on 287 acres seven miles south of downtown Atlanta, the airport claims to contribute more than $24 billion a year to the local and regional economy. It is the state's largest employer, with 55,300 working for the airport or agencies with offices at the airport, or airport vendors and the like.
Numbers
Last year Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport accommodated just over 90 million total passengers through 182 passenger gates, according to Airports Council International, including nearly 9.2 million international travelers.
Through the first five months of this year the airport saw just under 35 million passengers. The trains that run between concourses carry more than 200,000 passengers per day.
How it is measured
Airport traffic data is used to estimate impressions, which total some 20.9 million each month, according to Clear Channel.
What product categories do well
Frequent advertisers at Hartsfield-Jackson include travel, financial, banking, technology, telecommunications, insurance, auto, web sites and luxury goods.
Demographics
About 18 percent of travelers who have flown in the past year have an annual household income of $100,000 or more, according to Arbitron.
Thirty-nine percent of the U.S. population has traveled by air in the past 12 months, and of those 67 percent are employed full or part time, 12 percent are retired, 11 percent are students, 6 percent are homemakers and 3 percent are unemployed.
Making the buy
As always, pricing varies on the size and scope of a campaign, but CPMs for airport signage run in the $10 range.
Who’s already advertising at Atlanta airport
Recent or current advertisers at Hartsfield-Jackson include Rolex, Microsoft, Accenture, Mercedes, Cingular, CareerBuilder.com, HSBC and Oracle.
What they’re saying
“What’s unique is about 70 percent of traffic in Atlanta is connecting traffic. So you usually need to go to another terminal to fly out. The train takes you to each terminal, and as you go down the escalator they have these 20- to 30-foot escalator wraps. There’s also about 20 seconds worth of dwell time, so I think those are a real home run” –
Drew Stoddard, chief executive officer at InterAir Media.
Web site info
Clear Channel Airports
http://www.clearchannelairports.com/markets/atlanta.htm
Encompass Outdoor
http://www.encompassmediagroup.com
Executive Media Network
http://www.emnworldwide.com
CNN Airport Network
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/airport.network
InterAir Media
http://www.interairmedia.com
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
http://www.atlanta-airport.com
