Unbridled Expansion

Well, airlines need slogans, frequent flier programs, and marketing campaigns (not to mention the occasional predatory price war), so AirSkunk's hastily-assembled sales and marketing task force started rolling out an unending stream of programs, brainstorms, and market concepts, each involving moments of intense market analysis:

AirSkunk's breakthrough occurred when I graduated and took my first professional job in 1981, at the same time bankruptcy was looming for Braniff International.  American Airlines was piling on, blanketing the Dallas area with the message "Fliers choose American for the right reason" followed by whatever AA wanted to highlight that day - convenient schedule, most non-stops, frequent flier program, etc. - and the tag line, "Doing what we do best."

My office colleagues appreciated the revision, and some happened to know or even be

married to American or Southwest Airlines pilots. Soon, AirSkunk literature began appearing - as if by magic - on bulletin boards in pilot lounges at Dallas Love Field and DFW Airport.  With its growing notoriety and distribution channel, AirSkunk again turned to its hastily-assembled S&M task force for a number of fine new concepts, each following moments of intense market analysis. It's often said that nothing's really new in advertising, and AirSkunk certainly lived up to this high ideal - as much of its new work product just riffed on established industry slogans: