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Atrium as Showcase for Airbus Americas

Airbus established an engineering center in the Air Capital in 2002, and in 2017 ramped up its presence by moving to a state-of-the-art building on Wichita State’s Innovation Campus. After living in the building for a while, management wanted to add some brand personality and Wichita enthusiasm into the look and feel of the atrium. They turned to us to convert its beautiful space into a showcase for visual storytelling.

Sonia Greteman, president and creative director of Greteman Group, stands with Airbus Americas Engineering Head of Operations Bill West at the atrium unveiling celebration.

Our assignment: make the lobby more welcoming, experiential and informative. Communicate the breadth of the global company, but focus on the Wichita campus. What brought Airbus to the Air Capital. Its role in the community. Its values-driven culture. The stories that set it apart.

Global Brand, Local Company

Audiences are both internal and external. The experience center serves to promote pride, confidence and advocacy on the part of Airbus team members. It also helps attract and recruit the highest-levels of engineering talent. It works to educate – and to stir emotional responses from its many outside groups: students, business leaders, legislators, airlines, global visitors and industry advocates. We want people to leave the experience center understanding that Airbus is an international company with a deep, multifaceted U.S. presence – and thinking: “Wow, what a tremendous team doing great things within the industry and community.”

Transformative, Forward-Looking Focus

Large-scale wall graphics, 3-D type and shadowboxes cover the walls. Photographs of Airbus team members add a human connection while big, bold quotes convey key messages. Engineering drawings complement shots of completed aircraft in flight.

A large monitor plays a looped, 7-minute video in which unscripted members of the Airbus team share thoughts about their work and Wichita. Footage of the Airbus Flying Challenge shows Airbus engineers helping high-school students build a kit airplane. (And, yes, at the end of the course it flies.) Supplemental corporate footage helps convey the scope of Airbus’s worldwide impact.

While we tell the history of Airbus in Wichita, the focus is the future. And it’s bright.

06.24.19 · Sonia Greteman

Meeting Moxie

Nothing sucks productivity out of a workday like back-to-back meetings. We’ve been focusing on how to get the most out of our time together, while reducing our actual meeting time. We’ve found these simple suggestions to be the most helpful.

On Time and On Track

Start and end your meeting as planned. Don’t wait for people to wander in, get coffee and settle down. Circulate an agenda prior to the meeting and stick to it. If something is off topic, put it in the “parking lot” to discuss if there’s time at the end of the meeting or to be followed up on later.

Quickly going over the agenda at the outset helps squash discussions that don’t go anywhere and grandstanders who hog the stage. We don’t go as far as racing legend Niki Lauda, who preferred to hold meetings without chairs, though we understand the wisdom of his focused, don’t-let-people-get-too-comfortable approach.

As the meeting organizer, let the agenda and the clock be your guide. Put a hard stop on your meeting and reconvene later if you need to. You probably don’t.

Freedom from Fear

If you want a robust, healthy discussion, create an atmosphere of inclusion where people feel safe to participate. Make everyone feel free to share ideas without concern that they might be ridiculed or shot down. Encourage people to speak up. Listen to multiple voices. Make sure the same few people don’t dominate the conversation. If you’re the decision-maker, state your opinion last, otherwise you’re liable to get nothing more than a bunch of nods and, “My thoughts exactly.”

Tools that Support not Detract

If collaborators are not all in the same room and you’re using a video conferencing tool to share screens and video conference, ensure all parties have the needed log-in information well in advance. Test all connections, setup and screensharing before the meeting begins to prevent a troubleshooting scramble that frays nerves and eats up precious minutes.
The same rules of engagement still apply when meeting virtually. They are perhaps even more important. If your technology doesn’t let you see the other participants, be sure to have them state their name when they’re talking so you can keep the feedback straight.

Decision Making

Don’t waste people’s time. Show the meeting’s benefit in real time. Work through issues. Avoid rehashing old business. Empower decisions. Don’t be guilty of analysis paralysis. Know whether you’re seeking consensus, or if there’s a clear decision-maker in the room who will be making the final call. Come away with clear action items. Leave a few moments to discuss next steps and delegate who is doing what and by when.

Take Note

If you’re running the meeting someone else needs to act as the official scribe. That said, you should still jot down notes for yourself – recording key points and things you should follow up on. Ideally, meeting notes with action items ought to go out within 24 hours of the meeting. Using a management tool such as Google Docs or Basecamp makes it easy for you to share the link and get input from other attendees who may have caught something you missed or came away from the meeting with a different takeaway. Just as meetings are supposed to be collaborative, so should your writeup. This reduces the need for multiple versions of your document and the chance of sending out the wrong one as the final.

Collective Power

Forego the endless email chains and talk directly with your peers. Meetings create powerful opportunities to share, connect and energize. They could be the best part of the day. Done right, they can be. And, if all else fails, you can always remove all the chairs.

This column originally appeared in the June 20, 2019, issue of BlueSky Business Aviation News.

06.20.19 · Ashley Bowen Cook

First Navy Week Sails into Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. – Sailors from across the United States will be in Wichita and Hutchinson, Kan., Sept. 9-15 for the region’s first Navy Week. Wichita-based Greteman Group will provide on-the-ground support leading up to and during the event.

“Navy Weeks help build and strengthen local ties, and we consider it an honor to serve as a community liaison for this signature outreach program,” says Sonia Greteman, agency president. “As a landlocked community, most Wichitans aren’t as aware of Navy activities as we are other branches of the service.”

Navy Week includes roughly 75 outreach events with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city. The Wichita Navy Week is scheduled to feature:

  • Senior Navy leadership
  • Sailors from the newly commissioned USS Wichita (LCS 13) (the newest, very high-tech ship platform)
  • Sailors from the oldest warship afloat, USS Constitution (sailors dress in 1813-era uniforms)
  • Sailors from Coastal Riverine Group (CRG) 1 (based in San Diego, called the Brown Water Navy)
  • Navy Band performances (30-member band performs together and also creates various ensembles ranging from rock and jazz to New Orleans-style brass and woodwind)
  • Ceremonial Guard Drill Team performances (precision drills highlight Navy professionalism)
  • Exhibit by Naval History and Heritage Command (conduct STEM-related interactive projects with school children)
  • Office of Small Business Programs symposium (workshop helps small area businesses learn how to obtain contract work for the Navy)

In addition to events throughout greater Wichita, Navy units will be at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. Outreach will include patriotic and veterans’ events on 9/11. Navy Weeks focus a variety of outreach assets, equipment and personnel on a single city for a weeklong series of engagements with key influencers and diverse organizations. In addition to presentations to school children, the units can work hands on with law enforcement officers and emergency medical services.

“The 2019 schedule has been exciting for us,” said Lt. John Stevens, NAVCO Navy Week program manager. “We ventured outside the continental U.S. for the first time in our program’s history with Puerto Rico Navy Week, and we’re taking the program to new places like Grand Junction, Colorado, and Wichita.”

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the primary outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence. More than 230 Navy Weeks have been held to date. As many as 15 Navy Weeks run each year.

“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Linda Rojas, director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO), which plans and executes the Navy Week program. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily in select locations on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. That’s where the Navy Week program comes in.”

For more information on Navy Weeks and the 2019 schedule, visit http://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks-2019/. #NavyWeek, @NavyOutreach

ABOUT GRETEMAN GROUP

Greteman Group has developed an international reputation as an aviation-specialty marketing agency based in Wichita, Kan. – the Air Capital. Leading aircraft manufacturers, flight support, aftermarket services, fractional ownership, insurance, in-flight Wi-Fi, regional airlines and airport analytics have entrusted their brands to Greteman Group. Clients include FlightSafety International, SmartSky Networks, Wichita Eisenhower National Airport, USAIG, King Aerospace, Piedmont Airlines, Aviation Partners and APiJET. It also supports causes and clients such as Saint Francis Ministries, Mark Arts, the City of Wichita, Hutton, GLMV Architecture, MKEC Engineering, AGC of Kansas and Celebrity Cruises. Greteman Group has won Telly, Internet Advertising Competition, Metro and Business Marketing Association Pro-Comm awards. It has been recognized in such publications as Adweek, Advertising Age, Aldus, Communication Arts, Designing Identity, Identity, Graphic Design USA, Graphis, Hotels, HOW, Novum, Print, Step-By-Step, and by such organizations as the Mead Top 60, Kansas City Art Directors, Strathmore, International Festivals, Graphex Art Directors, and The National Library Council, American Advertising Federation, American Institute of Graphic Artists, Public Relations Society of America, and American Marketing Association. The firm is a founding member of the Wichita Aero Club. Greteman Group is a longstanding member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and is a certified women-owned business enterprise (WBE). The agency celebrated its 30th anniversary April 1, 2019. gretemangroup.com

06.11.19 · Greteman Group

Campaign Metrics that Matter

Data overload is one of the most frustrating aspects of measurement. To make it simple, we categorized the marketing campaign metrics you should measure to determine whether or not your efforts were effective.

Delivery Metrics

Advertising efforts through direct-to-publication placements, demand side platforms (DSP) or in-house channels, such as through Google Ads or social media ad networks, provide delivery metrics for your marketing campaigns.

Metrics depend on placement but can include reach, impressions, clicks and click-through-rate (CTR).

compare ad versions against each other to determine which works best for your campaign

Running ads through the Facebook advertising platform can be done in-house or through a media partner. Weekly check-ins on campaigns will ensure you’re getting the reach or clicks you expect based on your budget. To ensure your advertising efforts are leading to traffic to your campaign landing pages, you have to look beyond delivery.

Onsite Metrics

Onsite metrics reported through an analysis platform, such as Google Analytics, measure traffic on your campaign landing page. Dozens of data points are recorded, including acquisition, audience, behavior and conversion metrics.

Acquisition metrics outline how a user came to your landing page. Generally, acquisition metrics are categorized as direct, organic search, other, social and referral traffic.

Campaign traffic sent to your site by custom URLs falls into the “other” category. Digging in gives you the ability to check actual traffic against delivery metrics reported through your advertising platforms.

Audience metrics define who is coming to your campaign landing pages, such as new vs. returning users.

Running advertising campaigns increases new users. Retargeting efforts bring them back as returning users. Setting break points for how long a user takes to return to your website in Google Analytics lets you determine what parameters they must meet to be considered a returning user. We recommend you set these break points for the estimated length of each section of your customer journey.

We report behavior metrics through event tracking, and they’re some of the most enlightening data points.

Implementing event tracking on your website lets you see what actions users take on your campaign landing pages, such as playing a video, filling out your contact form and clicking on calls-to-action (CTA).

tracking website actions on your campaign landing page

When reviewing our landing page for Piedmont Airlines pilot recruitment campaign. Various CTAs throughout the landing page identify which pilots want to “learn more” about Piedmont and which pilots are ready to “apply now.” Information like that allows us to optimize the airline’s advertising efforts and recommend content aimed at potential hires still on the fence.

Google Analytics also reports conversions, but there are a number of ways we can measure the final stage in your customer journey.

Conversions that Achieve Your Goals

Reporting conversions depends on your predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs). We set benchmarks for each marketing campaign and report conversions against an overall goal.

For Google Analytics to track and report conversions, we set up goal completions in the platform – forcing you to determine your KPIs right away. Setting goal completions involves determining what action makes a conversion and what that conversion is worth – whether a monetary value or the numeric scale you use to classify leads and opportunities in your sales cycle.

purchase funnel metrics

Tracking goal completions in Google Analytics isn’t necessary for every marketing campaign. We track conversions through various methods. Choosing the right method for you depends, again, on your KPIs.

Here are a few examples of how we track conversions.

  • Application submissions through a job portal
  • Email sign-ups for a client’s enewsletter
  • Form submissions through a client’s lead generator

Identifying the marketing campaign metrics that matter is an important first step in your measurement strategy. Using these paint a complete picture – from advertising delivery to lead conversion.

For more metrics that matter, read Content Analytics: 15 Most Important Metrics to Track After Hitting Publish by Databox.

06.10.19 · Greteman Group

Travel is the Ticket for ICT

You are reading this at work when you could be at the beach. What’s up with that? We’re not picking on you. It is just a fact that a lot of Americans, and especially Kansans, do not use all of their vacation time. Or travel much or far when they do. That’s not good for the soul, or for our local air carriers. They rely on — we all rely on — full flights to keep airlines here, and to attract more.

Bookings at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport are at a record high, but the airport still sells fewer tickets than like-sized communities. So, we ask again, what’s up with that? How can we get people around here to take vacation, book more flights, travel more?

Our idea: Show them what they are missing.

The Campaign

The “Travel is the Ticket” campaign, launched at the top of the summer vacation season, is meant to inspire us all to remember that it’s a big world, so live a little.

We deployed digital ads featuring photos with people enjoying beautiful destinations with simple, but profoundly true headlines like “Travel makes you richer” and “You can buy some happiness.”

The campaign landing page highlights the benefits of taking time away from work, exploring new places and meeting new people. Photos from the edge of the world and the depths of the oceans inspire wonder.

The page also offers tips on how to make vacation travel affordable. You should check those out, but here’s a quick tip: Check “Hot Fares” on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Finally, the page includes more than a dozen travel pieces from Eisenhower AIR about destinations that are fun, easy and affordable to get to from ICT.

Get Inspired to Get Going

We’ve sort of become local experts on the subject of travel and its benefits. We launched Eisenhower AIR, the airport’s digital magazine, in July 2016. Quarterly issues highlight national and international destinations you can reach flying out of ICT and reasons to make you want to book your trip right away. The quarterly issues showcase national and international destinations you can reach from ICT, and reasons why you should go.

That’s a good place to start when you’re planning your next get away. And, look, we’re only saying this because we care — you should be planning it right now.

06.04.19 · Greteman Group

Graphic Designer Joins Greteman Group

WICHITA, Kan. – Tasha Wentling joins Wichita-based Greteman Group after a successful yearlong internship and graduation from Wichita State University School of Art, Design and Creative Industries. Wentling loaded up her final semester to such an extent with coursework and special projects that she laughingly says she hasn’t slept more than four hours in four months.

“Tasha cares deeply about every project she works on and is not afraid to ask ‘Why?’ or ‘Why not?’ to get to a better solution for our clients,” says Meghan Wolfe, Greteman Group art director and Wentling’s supervisor. “It’s one thing to be skilled at design and making things look nice, but it’s something else entirely to design with purpose and to truly engage your target audience.”

Wentling will work on a variety of projects – website design, online contests, identity, branding, advertising, environmental graphics, direct mail, animation and video. She will serve both aviation and nonaviation clients.

“This position at Greteman Group represents my dream job,” says Wentling. “I look forward to the many adventures in design that I know lie ahead.”

During and before her years at Wichita State, Wentling won key awards for her graphic design and fine art photography from the Art History Awards co-sponsored by the Ulrich Museum of Art and WSU School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, American Institute of Graphic Arts Student Portfolio Forum, National Scholastic Press Association, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the Photographer’s Forum and the WSU Exposure Photography Competition. She also taught graphic design as an instructor at Mark Arts, introducing students ages 13 and up to the latest design software, and built up her own freelance design business.
“Tasha has shown the skillset of a professional while still being a student,” says Wolfe. “I can’t wait to see what she can accomplish on our team.”

ABOUT GRETEMAN GROUP
 Greteman Group has developed an international reputation as an aviation-specialty marketing agency based in Wichita, Kan. – the Air Capital. Leading aircraft manufacturers, flight support, aftermarket services, fractional ownership, insurance, in-flight Wi-Fi, regional airlines and airport analytics have entrusted their brands to Greteman Group. Clients include FlightSafety International, SmartSky Networks, Wichita Eisenhower National Airport, USAIG, King Aerospace, Piedmont Airlines, Aviation Partners and APiJET. It also supports causes and clients such as Saint Francis Ministries, Mark Arts, the City of Wichita, Hutton, GLMV Architecture, MKEC Engineering, AGC of Kansas and Celebrity Cruises. Greteman Group has won Telly, Internet Advertising Competition, Metro and Business Marketing Association Pro-Comm awards. It has been recognized in such publications as Adweek, Advertising Age, Aldus, Communication Arts, Designing Identity, Identity, Graphic Design USA, Graphis, Hotels, HOW, Novum, Print, Step-By-Step, and by such organizations as the Mead Top 60, Kansas City Art Directors, Strathmore, International Festivals, Graphex Art Directors, and The National Library Council, American Advertising Federation, American Institute of Graphic Artists, Public Relations Society of America, and American Marketing Association. The firm is a founding member of the Wichita Aero Club. Greteman Group is a longstanding member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and is a certified women-owned business enterprise (WBE). The agency celebrated its 30th anniversary April 1, 2019.

06.03.19 · Greteman Group