This summer, JetBlue Airways will be launching a guerilla marketing campaign right here in the Boston area, one which might be designed by Tufts students.
"Student groups submit their proposed campaigns, and after an elimination round in April, selected groups are invited to New York City to pitch their ideas to JetBlue execs in person," freshman Valerie Dorer said. "The winning campaign will be launched by JetBlue in collaboration with the winning group this summer."
Dorer is one of a group of students in Imaginet, a pre−professional marketing and communications organization at Tufts. The group is currently working furiously to create a plan that will catch the eye of the JetBlue executives.
"Imaginet is a relatively new ad/marketing club on campus … we essentially run a real ad agency," Imaginet president and senior Antonella Scarano said. "I'm a little nervous; we're a relatively new and small club. We posted [an ad about the JetBlue promotion] on Tuftslife[.com], and we've had a great response from kids around campus. We just launched it two weeks ago at our Monday meeting," she said.
To tackle the campaign, Imaginet has formed three internal teams, according to sophomore Nancy Wang, "guerilla marketing that will deal with creative ideas, brand management/finance that will deal with understanding JetBlue in and out and planning the finances of the events we will propose, [and] market research that will do the preliminary research on who we are targeting through surveys, focus groups.
"We are now running in full speed for the competition," Wang added. "We just designed a survey to understand our audience and their air−travel behavior. Very soon, we will conduct a couple of focus groups on campus. At the same time, our creatives are coming up with awesome marketing plans."
Although JetBlue is headquartered in New York City, it wants "to become the airline of Boston," Dorer said. In light of this, the company created an ad competition for all of the colleges near Boston.
"We have until April to put together a marketing plan and e−mail it to the JetBlue rep, who will look at all the marketing plans and decide who goes on to the final round," Scarano said. "If we make it, we pitch it to the JetBlue executives, and the one plan that they like they will host this summer." The target group of the campaign is 18− to 35−year−olds. Imaginet will have to present a full−fledged marketing plan, finances and all, if they hope to win the competition.
AdU, a company that matches clients trying to reach students with student−run advertizing agencies, organized the competition.
"JetBlue is expanding into Boston. They're having a 20 percent increase in flights in April … They want to work with a local source that's familiar with the ins and outs of Boston," AdU founder Dmitriy Katsel said. Katsel founded AdU network in 2008 while at UC Santa Barbara.
"In many ways, students can be much more creative than professionals … they have the tools that they love to learn in school, but they're not really socialized into the marketing industry. [Students are] definitely an emerging source for creativity and innovation," Katsel said.
"It's much more creative marketing, not your standard TV ad or poster," Scarano said, referring to guerilla marketing. "You can go completely crazy with guerilla marketing; it's kind of underground. It's more about creating buzz."
Imaginet's ideas are currently oriented toward the athletic scene in the city. "Boston's a huge sports city, so we're looking at what events we can play off this summer," Scarano said. "We want to see how we can interject JetBlue there. We're incorporating summer and tropics and JetBlue and the T and the Common. JetBlue's a really fun brand."
The group will spend time working out the details of its plan after its members finish the creative brainstorming process. "In drafting the campaign we have been asked by JetBlue to plan everything as if it were being executed in the real world," Dorer said. "This includes obtaining price estimates from local vendors, contacting the city of Boston and asking permission to hold certain events and researching the logistical feasibility and legality of any given idea. Our goal, of course, is to have our campaign implemented in Boston this summer."
Dorer estimated the valuable experience that Imaginet's members will gain from the effort. "Because this is the same campaign development process used by professional ad agencies, it's also a great opportunity to take an inside look at the way the industry operates," she said.
Although this may be the biggest opportunity that Imaginet has had so far, the marketing club is no stranger to putting together promotions. "We develop marketing campaigns for other student groups and local businesses," Dorer said. "The club is run just like an ad agency, so at any given meeting we will have a client come in, and as a group we brainstorm ideas according to their needs. Sometimes that's all they want. Other clients might ask us to design a logo, flyer or poster. Sometimes the goal is just to give that group or company exposure. Other times, campaigns are meant to promote certain events.
"Every campaign is tailored to fit what the client needs. There are so many aspects to it that everyone and anyone can get involved. It's a very interactive club."
Previous clients of Imaginet include the TCU Senate, Boston Burger Company, Tufts Hillel and Pen, Paint and Pretzels the organization of Tufts performing arts groups. Imaginet was responsible for everything from the marketing of the rebranded "Break the Ice" Winter Bash last month to the new logo for Tufts Programming Board.
Imaginet is in the competition for more than the win. "Even if we don't make the final round this is still going to be a great experience, whether you're interested in finances or marketing," Scarano said. Carter Rogers contributed reporting to this article.
