Southwest Airlines releases new spots, turns focus toward Gen-Z, millennials (Score 60)

Sales lead: Reach out if you can help this company resonate with younger travelers. 

• Southwest Airlines just released a couple of new spots as part of its ongoing "Wanna Get Away" campaign.
• Southwest's creative AOR, GSD&M, created the ads. 
• It also disclosed that its main marketing priority in 2024 will be experimenting with new channels to reach Gen-Z and younger millennials. 
• The company's DMs noted many younger travelers use apps like TikTok instead of traditional travel apps for their primary travel search engine. 

Target demographic: Gen-Z & millennials

The company will likely:

• Continue increasing digital spend
• Experiment with new marketing channels to attract a younger audience
• Seek agency partners that can help it reach Gen-Z & millennials

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Southwest spent about $10.5m on national TV ads YTD, a 16% decrease from $12.5m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022.
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 58% from $12.2m in 2021 to $19.3m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as The Voice, NBA Basketball, The Rookie, College Football, and MLB Baseball. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Southwest spent around $29.7m on digital display ads YTD, a 50% increase from $19.8m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 4.9b impressions via Facebook (50%), Instagram (27%), Twitter (14%), YouTube (5%), desktop video (2%), and desktop display (2%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend fell 19% from $34.2m in 2021 to $27.7m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 99% of these ads directly onto sites such as facebook.com, instagram.com, twitter.com, youtube.com, and twitch.tv. It placed 1% of these ads indirectly through Turn onto sites such as tripadvisor.com, yahoo.com, priceline.com, boston.com, and nextdoor.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Southwest also invests in OOH, print, radio, and local broadcast.
• Top podcasts sponsored: The Ramsey Show, Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Dan Patrick Show, Joel Osteen Podcast, and FOX News Hourly Update. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Contact Southwest's DMs if you have experience helping companies reach Gen-Zers & millennials. 
• Current roster:
  • GSD&M: creative AOR
  • Spark Foundry: media AOR
  • RPA: digital AOR
  • Dieste: multicultural