Laughing their asses off at Derrie-Air

On a day that saw the largest single day Dow Jones industrials drop in 2008 (so far), the highest one-month jump in unemployment in 22 years and a new record high in oil prices, we all need something to laugh about. Thankfully, that giggle and snicker has been provided by way of ads, running in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, announcing the new airline Derrie-Air.

The ads promote the new airline's policy of "The more you weigh, the more you pay." Readers are directed to the Derrie-Air website.

However, before people get their panties in a bunch they should read the fine print and perhaps do a little research. The fictitious airline simply won't be flying. It's a one-day advertising campaign about a fake airline by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers' owner, and Gyro Worldwide Advertising, Inc.

Jay Devine, spokesman for Philadelphia Media Holdings spokesman said the goal of the highly visible campaign is to "demonstrate the power of our brands in generating awareness and generating traffic for our advertisers, and put a smile on people's faces."

A visitor to the Derrie-Air site learns of the claim that it is the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline; justifying its fare policy by saying that it takes more fuel to move heavier objects. Derrie-Air posts rates from $1.40 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The site includes the airline's pledge to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon released into the atmosphere by its planes.

The one thing I noticed immediately is that the corporate identity and branding of Derrie-Air beats the pants off of many of the real world corporate rebrandings seen recently.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Just wait until they have their annual 'Anorexic Days' sale in which they convert your weight to kilos but charge the same amount. Of course, I hear the blackout days on those sorts of sales are terrible.