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I’m not going to recap the CrowdStrike glitch for you—that’s a job for actual news outlets. Nor will I describe the thunderstorms that raged across the Midwest a few weeks ago—that’s a job for an actual weather station. But I will tell you that I recently spent 11 hours at Newark Airport, which is 11 hours too many.
Another thing I won’t do? Name the airlines that canceled my flights (yes, two canceled flights, back to back). For one thing, that just seems petty and vindictive. It’s easy to get mad at airlines, but they’re staffed by people just trying their best, and nobody wants to be that guy complaining to customer service (or complaining about customer service in his weekly blog series).
The selflessness and bravery I displayed in not snitching got me thinking: what do CreatorIQ’s metrics say about airlines and their creator marketing programs? Which ones are soaring, and which ones are still stuck on the runway, like I was for three hours?
Let’s find out—come fly away with me!
We’re going to order these airlines by their cumulative EMV totals since January 2018. However, it’s worth noting that while all six airlines saw positive YoY growth from July 2022-June 2023 to July 2023-June 2024, some found greater success than others. So that’s why I’m going to note it. It’s noted!
Let’s start with American Airlines, which claimed the highest total EMV since 2018. What did that total look like in practice?
It looked pretty good! Minus a slight dip from 2018 to 2019, American Airlines almost qualifies for the Rawitz Rule: increasing its EMV every year from 2018 to 2023. However, American Airlines did manage an arguably more impressive feat: it collected more EMV in 2020 than 2019. As you’ll soon see from other graphs, it’s pretty rare for an airline, much less any institution or human being, to have had a better 2020 than 2019. This continuity speaks to the strength of the airline’s partner program, which has consistently helped American Airlines climb to new heights.
Over the last year, these dedicated partners—mostly travel and lifestyle creators from across the country—hyped up brand initiatives like American’s new 14-hour flight to Sydney, or touted the benefits of the #AAdvantage dining program. Buoyed by this dedicated community, #AmericanAirPartner ranked as the airline’s No. 3 hashtag with $2.5M EMV, just behind (of all possible things) #CowboysCamp’s $3.4M EMV. In one of many airline/sports mashups that I’ll discuss in this analysis, American Airlines sponsored the Dallas Cowboys’ summer training camp, linking America’s airline to America’s team. (Unlike the team, at least the airline gets where it’s trying to go.)
In all, American Airlines netted $48.6M EMV from July 2023 to June 2024, a 16% YoY growth.
Like American, Delta has enjoyed impressive momentum since 2018, though the brand did stumble in 2020, given, you know, the entire industry/world at large shutting down.
While American Airlines saw a higher cumulative EMV total, Delta boasted greater success over the past year, accruing $57.6M EMV, a 28% jump. This success stemmed from both Instagram travel content—always a reassuring sign for an airline—and Delta’s emerging forays into TikTok.
For example, in October 2023, Delta put Black TikTok creators front and center, launching its #FacesOfTravel campaign to help these creators share stories of their travel experiences. Though the campaign ran for just one month, #FacesOfTravel inspired $507.1k EMV, one of the highest monthly totals for any Delta hashtag during the time period monitored.
The impact of #FacesOfTravel demonstrates not only the viral power of TikTok, but also the arrival of travel creators at large. Just like the biggest names in beauty and entertainment, travel creators are fueling improved outcomes for billion-dollar brands, demonstrating their vital role in modern marketing.
United Airlines has been empowering travel creators for a long time. Now, the brand is starting to see those efforts pay off in a big way.
The growth pattern here looks fairly similar to what we’ve seen from our previous airlines: a little softness in 2019 and 2020, followed by a strong rebound continuing to the present. For United, that strength lay in the various campaigns represented by two of its top five EMV-driving hashtags: #MyUnitedJourney and #UnitedPartner.
These hashtags are typically deployed in sponsored travel content, particularly on TikTok, though Instagram still plays a prominent role. For #MyUnitedJourney, creators like Madison Humphrey, Eden and Jay Trevino, and Natalie Odell took their followers behind the scenes of their travel experiences and offered their takes on future destinations. Meanwhile, #UnitedPartners like Michelle González, a luxury travel creator, shared all the perks behind their latest United excursions, including experiences like the airline’s new 15-hour flight to Manila.
Thanks to this unique, engaging content from dedicated brand fans, #MyUnitedJourney and #UnitedPartner fueled a respective $2.0M EMV and $1.6M EMV from July 2023 to June 2024. In all, United Airlines delivered $42.9M EMV, a 29% YoY growth.
Perhaps one of the most ‘online’ airlines out there, Alaska started out stronger than its competitors in the social media game, but fell further in 2020. However, the brand has climbed out of the hole and made up further ground since then.
Much of Alaska’s viral strategy revolves around its #IFlyAlaska campaign. Like other initiatives mentioned in this analysis, #IFlyAlaska gives creators a chance to share their favorite aspects of the Alaska travel experience, complete with plenty of immersive content for aspiring wanderlusters out there. San Francisco-based creator Catarina repped Alaska as the Bay’s premier airline, while Gen Z TikToker Issa Okamoto lauded the airline for featuring Stumptown Coffee on its flights, which was also very Bay Area of her.
By putting a personal spin on travel, and helping their followers find new ways to connect with Alaska, the #IFlyAlaska campaign fueled $2.0M EMV from July 2023 to June 2024 as one of Alaska’s top hashtags. Overall, Alaska pulled in $37.5M EMV, a whopping 197% YoY surge.
We’ll close with two international airlines: Turkish Airlines, the national airline of Turkey, and Etihad Airways, proud representative of the nation of Etihad United Arab Emirates, which evidently doesn’t have airlines so much as airways. (What is an airway, anyway? Like, a ventilation duct? A trachea?)
Here’s the trajectory of our friends from Turkey:
…while this is the picture for our Emirati compatriots:
I’m lumping these two airlines together (or, sorry, one airline and an airway) not because they come from the same general corner of the world, or because this blog post is getting a little long and it’s time to wrap things up, but because they’re surging for the same reason: the wide world of sports. Best of all, they didn’t even have to partner with the Dallas Cowboys to do it!
For Turkish Airlines, that meant a sweeping strategic partnership with Euroleague, Europe’s answer to the NBA. Meanwhile, for Etihad Airways, the sport of choice was Formula 1, with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix factoring into much of the brand’s digital presence. These two sports fueled a far higher percentage of EMV for their respective brands than the Cowboys did for American Airlines: posts mentioning ‘Euroleague’ powered $12.7M of Turkish Airlines’ $26.2M EMV, while mentions of the Grand Prix drove an astonishing $19.7M of Etihad Airways’ $28.4M EMV.
As these air travel brands grow on their solid sports foundation, expect to see more content from both sports-related pages and travel creators in the future. And note that these companies aren’t fading anytime soon: Turkish Airlines saw a 38% YoY boost over the last 12 months, while Etihad Airways improved by 83%.
From TikTok campaigns to partnered content to sports sponsorships, airlines are on the move. While I went in as a skeptic, scarred by my own recent travel experience (or my recent attempt at a travel experience), I’ve come away believing that the air travel industry, and the travel space at large, might just be the next big thing in the creator economy.
You hear that, airlines? I believe in you, and by the way, I too like being flown places. Send me some free tickets, or maybe some Stumptown! It’s the least you can do after my 11 hours at Newark.
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