DULLES, Va. — On Tuesday night aboard a United 737 flight, ESPN's Tyler Fulghum participated in the network’s Fantasy Football Marathon broadcast live at a cruising altitude of about 35,000 feet, accompanied by a full production crew, brand representatives and a couple of members of the press.
The stunt was a way for United to promote its gate-to-gate Wi-Fi capabilities provided by Starlink. The activation grew out of the airline looking for ways to bring its Wi-Fi offering to life for consumers in a space where words like fast, reliable and seamless can “wash over people” in advertising, explained Maggie Schmerin, chief advertising officer at United.
“We've been focused on real-world examples that say this is no different than your living room at home,” Schmerin said during the Tuesday flight. “The product is incredibly strong, and to be able to showcase that … ESPN can broadcast live from the sky is the exact type of message we want to send.”
For Disney Advertising, the activation provided a new and unique way for a marketer to engage audiences around its sports portfolio. It also serves as a kick-off for a football season that will culminate with the simulcast of Super Bowl LXI on ESPN and ABC in February.
“We always lean into what the brand is looking to accomplish, what audiences are they looking to reach, what their KPIs are, and we build custom programs for brands on a consistent basis,” said Danielle Brown, senior vice president of sports streaming and brand solutions at Disney Advertising. “As ESPN sits at the intersection of sports, technology, data and fandom, this is the perfect partnership with United.”
Disney’s advertising playbook
The in-flight activation rolled out in several phrases, starting with a promo spot featuring Fulghum and custom social content from Omar Raja, ESPN’s social correspondent, that went live before the flight. Also before the flight, Fulghum filmed a commercial that aired during the event. During the broadcast, the host made picks from the plane, with United branding, and answered fan questions during linear commercial breaks. And despite what some commenters on the YouTube simulcast hypothesized, Fulghum — and a full complement of United and Disney staff — were on an actual flight.
“We do tens of thousands of integrations with brands across our ESPN platform every year,” Disney’s Brown said. “ESPN has 47,000 live events and brands want to connect to those fans in unique ways. We create both turnkey as well as custom opportunities for brands in a lot of ways.”
Post-event highlights and behind-the-scenes content will be distributed across social media to extend the activation’s audience. For ESPN, social media serves as an entry point for fans, especially Gen Z consumers who remain a key audience for brands. The company had a record 1 billion social engagements in February, and is continuing to find ways to incorporate brands into its direct-to-consumer app, like through the vertical video Verts capability.
“The incredible scale and the way that we are incorporating our content and utilizing our platform, especially in social, to bring in younger consumers, that's definitely a critical component as it relates to what brands are looking for,” Brown said.
More than 14 million fans played ESPN Fantasy Football last season — the third consecutive year participation has grown by more than 1 million fans. This season, the network’s fantasy game has been merged with the NFL’s offering, potentially making it an even more attractive destination for fantasy players.
To the Super Bowl and beyond
While Disney has sold out ad inventory for the Super Bowl, the company is working with marketers to find other opportunities around football content throughout the NFL season. ESPN recently announced the fourth class of the ESPN Creator Network and has made plans for a week-long broadcast that will turn the Santa Monica beach and pier into a content hub — moves that nod to the emergence of creators as a media channel.
“In terms of reach, scale and consistency of narrative and storytelling, we're able to integrate brands across our entire portfolio,” Brown said. “We’re in very deep conversations and have some really cool executions and integrations that you'll see leading into the game, during the game and post-game.”
United, which has bought local spots during the last few Super Bowls, has not decided if and how it will advertise around the big game this year, Schmerin said. However, United is set to iterate on a “Football Flies United” campaign that launched last year across out-of-home and social channels and focused on lifestyle images of NFL players flying on the airline. The campaign will launch on Sept. 7 and feature the Chicago Bears and New York Giants.
“It's a different type of advertising than you normally see from an airline. It's more of that ‘vibe’ advertising. There's not a heavy [reason-to-believe] or a call to action. It’s just here to say that we're part of football culture,” Schmerin said.
Vibe-heavy advertising is also part of United’s plan to market the largest international network expansion in company history, which it announced on Tuesday. United teased the new slate on Monday with a reality TV-themed social video that baked in Easter eggs about the routes, which include direct flights to destinations like Ljubljana, Slovenia that Schmerin described as “super Instagramable.”
“Our network planning team… obviously looks at where we're connecting passengers and where we're seeing spikes in travel, but they're also really tuned in alongside our team with social media,” the executive said. “Once we actually launch these flights, creators are a big part of telling the story, especially to these more unique destinations that are having their moment.”
