Annoyed by seeing the GEICO plane out my office window circling around yet again and being a marketer, I was curious to know if any research had been done on the effectiveness of aerial advertising. Instead of finding a good discussion about the ROI of such a marketing campaign, instead I found a trail of crashed planes, emergency landings and other mishaps:
- GEICO BANNER AD FALLS FROM PLANE, LANDS ON FREMONT HOME
- Pilot Crashes GEICO Banner-Towing Plane Into Home He Used To Own
- Small plane makes emergency landing on highway in Arlington
- Small plane down in field along Fort Worth freeway
- Pilot Safe After Emergency Landing in Fort Worth
- Pilot clips truck on Texas highway during emergency landing
- Geico banner falls from plane onto Hamburg house
- Plane crashes near University of Florida’s Flavet Field
- Pilot, 32, killed in plane crash in Jacksonville
As well as some other articles diving just a little deeper:
- Hawaii Monitor: Why Has Florida Company Picked a Fight Over Aerial Advertising?
- FAA says Hilton Head can’t stop plane banners, even if they are ‘tacky and annoying’
- Ad Banner Planes Destroy America’s Beaches, Laugh to the Bank
Sadly I couldn’t find any articles talking about their effectiveness. If I ever meet GEICO’s CMO I’ll be sure to ask.