The objectives were to secure media coverage of WestJet's new route from Toronto to LaGuardia, create on- and offline buzz and awareness about WestJet's new route and trend on Twitter in Toronto.
Leveraging a long-standing WestJet tradition of celebrating new routes and destinations, Mosaic created NYCASAP, an integrated program combining experiential marketing, social media and public relations that truly embodied the WestJet brand culture – fun, passionate and friendly.
On June 8, WestJet took over the streets of Toronto by bringing New York City's most recognizable icons – the Statue of Liberty and King Kong – to life. For one day only, 100 brand ambassadors dressed as Lady Liberty invaded the streets of downtown Toronto, commuting from the edges of the Greater Toronto Area in groups moving with commuters into the city core, to spread the word about the new route. Eventually, the Statues arrived in ten different "statue spotting" locations, which had been teased out via social media earlier in the day. Those who followed the clues online and figured out where the "statue spotting" locations were, showed up to receive one of 23,000+ promotional boarding passes being distributed for a chance to win a free flight the NYC. One hundred and fifty (150) grand prizes of 100% off of a round-trip flight to New York City were won and 23,000 20% off boarding passes were distributed.
One-week prior to the event, round-trip flights were given away with top Toronto radio and TV stations. Also, teaser videos were released on YouTube and shared via WestJet's social media channels on Facebook and Twitter with clues on where to find the teams.
On event day, there were media photo opportunities with the 100 Statues in Yonge-Dundas Square – Toronto's Times Square, as well as a TV and radio tour with the Statues, to generate news coverage. Hints were released on where to find the Statues of Liberty via WestJet's Facebook and Twitter handles (using the hashtag #NYCASAP), including photo content sent by the Statues from their location in real time. And a 40-foot inflatable King Kong loomed over the city from the side of the Rogers Centre, bearing the #NYCASAP hashtag.
It all resulted in one of the most successful launches WestJet history. There were 4,500 @WestJet Twitter mentions online; it was the #1 trending topic in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and across Canada (with program hashtag #NYCASAP); there were 3,138 Twitter contest entries to win a free flight; 15.2 million+ traditional media impressions generated and 52 news stories including prominent Toronto media such as CP24 Breakfast, Global Morning, Nationalpost.com, theglobeandmail.com, 99.9 Virgin Radio, Newstalks1010 and more.