The busiest air travel season of the year took off over the Thanksgiving weekend, and with it launched a new program allowing advertisers to place their logos on the exteriors of planes.

And in the spirit of the season, a portion of the fees go to charity, branding them as a holiday do-gooders.

To find out how to get your client’s message in front of airline passengers during peak travel times, as well as in the months that follow, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Sponsorship of Skybus Airlines aircraft and flights.

Who
InterAir Media of West Palm Beach, Fla.

How it works
Advertisers sponsor a Skybus aircraft and all its flights for the duration of the campaign. Passengers see the sponsor’s logo on the plane’s exterior by the door when they board.

The sponsor is also mentioned during the flight crew’s takeoff and arrival messages over the plane’s loudspeaker.

Additionally, a logo and information about the brand are displayed on a card in the passenger seatback.

Overall, says CEO Drew Stoddard, a passenger's visual exposure to the logo and brand message is 30 seconds. Audio exposure is 10 seconds, with each in-flight mention a maximum five seconds in length.

There's a charitable aspect to a sponsorship as well, with 15 percent of the fee going to worthy causes. Half goes to disaster relief, the other half to alternative energy programs. The philanthropic aspect of the program is managed by the Charity Takes Flight Foundation.

Creative is provided by the sponsor.

Decals placed on the plane’s exterior measure 12 inches by 12 inches and include the advertiser's name and logo. A tag line can also be included. The Charity Takes Flight foundation name is also included in that space.

Seatback cards measure 4 inches wide by 8 inches high and can include a logo and a paragraph about the sponsoring advertiser.

“The cards are for branding, but they could mention a specific program like, say, a special banking campaign,” Stoddard says.

Advertisers can combine aircraft sponsorship with other on-flight programs like branding overhead bins or beverage carts.

There is one designated sponsor per aircraft per flight. Advertisers can buy the fleet or a portion of the Skybus fleet.

National brands are the most likely sponsors, Stoddard says.

Markets
New York, Boston, Hartford, Richmond, Ft. Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Gulfport-Biloxi, Chattanooga, Milwaukee, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Columbus, Greensboro, Vancouver and Kansas City are the markets served by Skybus.

Numbers
According to InterAir Media, 2.2 million passengers fly on Skybus annually, or just under 25,000 passengers per month, per plane.

How it is measured
Flight rosters provided by the airline will be used to estimate impressions.

Research
According to a Cone Roper Benchmark Study conducted in 1999 by Boston-based Cone Communications, 76 percent of consumers report they would switch to a brand associated with a charity when price and quality are equal.

What product categories do well
Financial services, entertainment and travel are the likely top categories.

Demographics
Audiences can be targeted geographically within the airlines’ destinations. Individual routes can’t be sponsored because planes are often assigned to multiple routes.

A study of airline passengers conducted in 2006 by Mediamark Research found that the average passenger:
-has a median age of 43.5 years
-has a median household income of $94,784
-owns a home with a median value of $361,919
-has a college degree in 80 percent of the cases
-holds a professional or managerial position in 60 percent of the cases

Making the buy
Lead time is 45 days. The cost is $2,082 per aircraft per month. The minimum buy is six aircrafts for six months. Production costs are additional.

Who’s already sponsoring aircraft
This is a new program. 

What they’re saying
“The advertiser and the airline are working together to donate money to charity through this program. It puts the advertiser in a favorable light with consumers and helps the airline as well, pairing the two brands together.” – Drew Stoddard of InterAir Media

Web site info
InterAir Media at http://www.interairmedia.com