Case Studies

Background

Originally an Air Force training facility, the Mesa, Arizona-based Williams Gateway Airport’s new vision was to become the Valley’s hub for aerospace jobs and an economic engine for the East Valley. WGA’s greater challenges were positioning itself as a national and international cargo destination and clarifying its role as a long-term solution as a reliever facility for Sky Harbor International Airport.

The Barclay Advantage

Research showed the need for a descriptive destination airport name that identified with the region, coupled with an identity campaign that played to the convenience of using WGA as alternative passenger and cargo facility.

Barclay worked with the airport authority on the renaming opportunity – Phoenix-Mesa
Gateway Airport – and developed a positioning theme.

“Just Plane Easy” was an integrated public relations and media campaign that drove awareness of key messages and established the new airport brand name. It capitalized on the dramatic growth of the East Valley and the affinity with ASU Polytechnic and Chandler Community College, both of which offered aerospace training programs.

Targeted audiences included civic, government, business leaders; consumer and commercial airlines; cargo providers; and the general public. The agency initiated media and editorial board meetings to communicate the airport’s strategic benefits, drawing comparisons to well known, major market secondary airports: Chicago-Midway, Burbank, Ontario, Newark and Dallas Love Field.

Simultaneously, Barclay handled the Allegiant Airline market introduction and inaugural flight event at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s new terminal.

Results

One month after the launch, the airport achieved an 84 percent airplane capacity (load factor), well above expectations. Alligiant’s successful introduction resulted in the addition of three new destinations in mid-2008. Passenger growth is stimulating a new terminal design and construction on the east side of the airport.

The airport was chosen as one of the U.S. sites for an international business jet maintenance facility, which opened in fall, 2008.