The Wichita State University basketball team plays in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) for the first time this year. Shocker fans looking for the best way to get to the March tournament in Orlando want value and ease. And Eisenhower National Airport has both. Southwest Airlines offers a sweet flight to Orlando from Wichita with a short connection through St. Louis.
Our online contest asked fans to create and share a social-media message supporting their Shockers. A randomly selected winner received two Southwest Airline tickets to Orlando, hotel stay and two tournament tickets.
The contest ran for three weeks and was promoted on WSU social sites, leveraging both paid and organic Facebook posts. A targeted email to the airport’s database further spread the word. We received almost 800 contest entries and reached more than 82,500 people. They spent more than three minutes on the contest page, showing robust engagement.
Connecting with travelers who might fly this route in the future should help keep flights full as fans book trips to the tournament or regular-season away games in new conference cities. Slam dunk.