Steal This Idea

Thursday, September 11, 2008


Every so often I need to take a break from the world of corporate culture and today is the day. So here’s an idea that came to mind as I was sitting in Ann Arbor Spark’s workshop on guerrilla marketing…

If any of you have connections within Northwest Airlines (soon to be Delta), tell them they should do the following:

Create a version of Google AdWords that appears on the Northwest Airlines web site that links ads to particular travel demographics. For example, as a small business owner trying to get the attention of business leaders who need to either develop the right leaders or the right culture to grow their technology or scientific business, I would gladly pay Northwest Google-comparable fees to have my ad pop up when a traveler books a flight between Detroit and any of the following cities:

• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle
• Portland, OR
• Los Angeles
• NYC
• Boston
• Minneapolis
• Chicago
• Raleigh/Durham
• Austin

I’d be open to paying a premium if the traveler is either traveling first class or is a Platinum or Gold frequent flier. And I think Northwest could make some money off of this.

How about it Delta-west?