THE BIG REDEMPTION

Frontier Airlines - The Big Redemption (Case Study) | Campaign Frontier Airlines makes good on the Pepsi jet fiasco from 30 years ago. In 1996, Pepsi aired a Super Bowl ad offering a Harrier Jet for 7 million Pepsi Points. When John Leonard tried to claim it, Pepsi said it was just a joke. And all he got was a lawsuit. But, the legend never went away. 30 years later, people still write about John Leonard vs Pepsi. It's taught in law schools. And Netflix's Top-10 documentary "Pepsi, Where's my Jet?" thrust the story into mainstream pop culture once again. Frontier Airlines gave John a jet! And offered everyone else redemption, too. John's 30-year saga to get a jet finally became reality. Well, we couldn't give him an actual Harrier Jet because it's literally a military weapon. But we did redeem those 7 million now-worthless Pepsi Points for 7 million Frontier Miles, enough to fly free for life. Which is actually better. As John Leonard said, 'I couldn't fly a jet. I couldn't have maintained it.' But unlike the Harrier, 'this is actually something that's very doable.' Then Frontier gave redemption to everyone else too. Anyone with rewards points collecting dust could redeem them for Frontier Miles.Thousands redeemed points from McDonalds, Starbucks, Delta, and more. We quickly ran out of miles. So, 30 years after Pepsi's Super Bowl spot, we added more miles every time points were scored during the Super Bowl. We didn’t say Frontier Airlines has the best rewards program. We proved it. John Leonard got 7 million Frontier Miles. And everyone else shared 140 million more. The story went everywhere. Morning news, evening news, Super Bowl coverage, magazines, newspapers, social media. We earned $18 million in media value during the most expensive advertising period of the year without spending a single cent on airtime. But this wasn't just pop-culture success. Frontier's stock skyrocketed 40% in 5 days as they pulled off one of the largest passenger grabs in airline history. 2,500 flights were booked in the first week alone, each giving new passengers a chance to experience Frontier and likely question what they've been paying for at other airlines. The Big Redemption didn't just ask people to believe Frontier was different. It gave them a reason to find out. Credits: - Client: Frontier Airlines - Advertising Agency: BarkleyOKRP - Post Production Company: Royal Muster - Casting Agency: Sound & Fury - Music/Sound Company: The Post Haus - Editorial Company: Cosmo Street