Kissimmee Gateway Airport

OVERVIEW
Kissimmee Gateway Airport is a general aviation facility providing aviation services to private and corporate air travelers. It is the closest airport to Central Florida’s tourism area and is part of Orlando’s fast-growing business community. Kissimmee Gateway Airport serves as a reliever to Orlando International Airport and is increasingly becoming a competitor of Orlando Executive, Central Florida’s busiest general aviation airport.

MARKETING REQUIREMENTS

• Increase air traffic operations and property development through building basic awareness of the airport.
• Build community support through communicating the value of the airport to the local economy and transportation network.
• Improve airport features and amenities through consulting the airport on general marketing initiatives such as appearance, tenant relations, and collateral materials.

POSITIONING
The Kissimmee Airport is the closest general aviation facility to major tourist attractions and convention sites in Central Florida and is more convenient because of its location, excellent amenities and ground services. The Kissimmee Airport is essential to the economic development of Osceola County.

CREATIVE APPROACH
Kissimmee Airport hired Patterson/Bach in 1997. At that time, it had no continuity in its communication program and marketing materials were out-dated. In addition, the local community and the aviation industry were nearly unaware of Kissimmee Airport’s vast amenities, convenience and economic impact. The airport needed its communication program to be effective with three different audiences: corporate pilots and schedulers, recreational aircraft owners and pilots, and local residents. Patterson/Bach employed an integrated marketing approach, creating advertising,
marketing materials, and public relations working in concert to deliver a consistent image and message.

Some of the communications programs Patterson/Bach has developed for the airport are as follows:

• Developed campaign theme “Closest to the Magic of Central Florida,” emphasizing Kissimmee Airport’s location and playing off the name of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
• Developed graphic elements for all collateral that feature area tourist attractions and the airport’s amenities and services, communicating its convenient proximity to popular nearby destinations.
• Created a trade show booth for the industry’s largest trade show exhibition.
• Produced a pilot’s brochure incorporating the same imagery.
• Launched a national advertising campaign to establish a recognizable identity in trade publications distributed to corporate and recreational pilots.
• Launched a media relations program targeting local and trade media journalists to place stories about the airport’s growth.
• Developed tenant relations by providing marketing, consulting and publicity services to tenants to further enhance the airport’s image, as well as the image of each individual tenant.
• Revised Kissimmee Airport’s crisis communications plan.
• Redesigned airport Web site content and format.

EVALUATION
Since Patterson/Bach began working with Kissimmee Airport, annual air traffic operations have increased 27 percent and annual fuel sales have increased 21 percent. In June 2000, Kissimmee Airport’s airspace was upgraded from “Class G” to “Class D” classification, granting the air traffic control tower control of the airspace surrounding the airport. And in the summer of 2001, several major expansion projects broke ground including a major expansion of one of the airport’s F.B.O.s (Fixed Base Operation), and the construction of T-hangars. Since working with the Kissimmee Airport, Patterson/Bach has garnered publicity worth more than $72,000 when compared to advertising rates per column inch of space.

Corporate Identity Logo Design

 

Trade Publication Ad

 

JEPP Card

 

Trade Show Booth