First victory for the species

 
Airport advertising The new advertising genre is gaining altitude: Simko Saatchi & Saatchi won bronze at the first international Airport Media Award. 
Oversized surfaces with a 3D effect, glass sculptures that float in space or electronically animated billboards - advertising at airports is often communication art at its best. No wonder, since the modern terminals are home to the coveted target group of discerning people and top earners. Nevertheless, the advertising idyll had one serious flaw: In the big world of advertising, airport advertising had no standing of its own. In terms of media, there were only a few connections between airports. Everyone "flew" on their own.
This changed dramatically a year ago. With the founding of the Initiative Airport Media (IAM), airport advertising is seeking to gain a new, international voice for its genre. The IAM is the working group of all those responsible for advertising at the most important German-speaking airports. In addition to nine major airports in Germany, Vienna and Zurich also belong to the new association (WW 38/06). The eleven airports handle around 200 million passengers per year.
On November 6, the first showdown of the Airport Media initiative took place in Munich: the international Airport Media Awards were presented for the first time in a prominent setting at the Kempinski Hotel Airport. The most original advertising ideas of 2006 and 2007 were honored, and the Swiss guests were particularly jubilant: Simko Saatchi & Saatchi, Geneva, won a bronze award in the "king category" of switched motifs.
For their client Feldschlösschen-Getränke AG, Rheinfelden, the Geneva-based creatives redecorated 17 passenger boarding bridges at Zurich Airport into Carlsberg tunnels. Passengers in Zurich can feel like stars of the upcoming European Championship 08. Those wanting to board the jet march in a wave of la-ola, cheered on left and right by Carlsberg fans.
Arun Roy, Marketing Manager at Zurich Airport: "We are naturally very proud that Swiss creative work was rated so highly at the very first Airport Media Award." Zurich Airport is an ideal playing field for Carlsberg & Co. especially for the European Championship 08. The 17 La Ola waves will be on display until next summer.
Only Jung von Matt/Elbe (Sixt) and Saatchi & Saatchi Frankfurt (Emirates) had placed ahead of the Geneva-based Carlsberg agency Simko Saatchi & Saatchi in the Airport Media Award.
The new creative award for airport advertising carries a different weight than its predecessor, the Munich Airport Award. For the first time, the new Airport Media Award brings points for the agencies in the annual creative ranking of the two German trade journals Horizont and wuv. Six, four or two points are awarded to the respective winners. Jens Hassler, spokesman for the Airport Media Initiative and Head of Marketing at Munich Airport, explains: "The fact that our competition has been awarded creative points for the first time shows that we have achieved a first important victory in the recognition of our generic marketing."
The composition of the jury also documented the new status of airport advertising. In addition to Arun Roy from Zurich Airport, Jan Hardorp, Managing Director Ströer, Cologne, Uwe Becker, Media Director Unilever, Hamburg, Andreas Bierwirth, Head of Marketing Lufthansa, Frankfurt, and Mike Ries, Managing Director Creation J. Walter Thompson, among others, evaluated the submitted works.
A total of 92 proposals were put forward in two categories. 33 advertising ideas were submitted for the "placed motifs" category. 59 works competed in the "free campaigns" category. Eight entries from Switzerland were submitted for this second "flight", for which no creative points are awarded. The winner here was the "moving BMW X-Drive display", which the jury rewarded with gold. An idea that really stands out: A BMW X5 is projected onto a wall behind the baggage carousel. An electronic distance measurement system then determines from the ceiling how high the pieces of luggage are as they roll up. This distance data is communicated to the screen, allowing the BMW to roll over the obstacles. The golden idea comes from the workshop of the Munich agency Plan Net Concept.
In a keynote speech at the awards ceremony, Erich Sixt, founder and shareholder of Sixt AG, described himself as a "huge fan of airport advertising". With ironic and subtle campaigns in terminals, the car rental company regularly collects international prizes and awards. At the Airport Media Award 2007, Sixt and its agency Jung von Matt/Elbe were delighted to win silver.
"Our working group has consolidated. The concert of airports is working," explained IAM spokesman Jens Hassler. Airport advertising will be more than just an at.on for agencies and brands in the future. A trend that has already proven itself in Munich. In recent months, the airport marketers have replaced the once familiar Schirner parallelograms with new light boxes - a luminous standard instead of the 64-degree inclined advertising spaces that have been in place since 1992. The agencies prefer the right angle in Munich. And so the Bavarian airport is expecting a four to six percent increase in marketing revenue for 2007.
Zurich Airport also believes in the growing appeal of the airport advertising platform until the end of 2008 - not least because of the European Football Championship. And also that the Airport Media Award can be celebrated on the Limmat in the coming years.
Peter Ehm, Munich