Airlines for america (A4A) campaign to stop Proposed air taxES 

WHO?

During the fall of 2011, the White House proposed a mandatory $100 charge for every airplane departure in controlled airspace. The Administration also wanted Congress to double the passenger security tax to $5 per one-way trip, and triple the tax to $7.50 by 2017. In full, this proposal would impact airline passengers and U.S. airlines with $36 billion in new taxes over the next 10 years, $15 billion of which would be diverted for deficit reduction, rather than to an authentic investment in security.

The U.S. airline industry leads all other businesses in having the greatest number of stand-alone federal taxes imposed upon it, currently 17 in all. For customers, federal taxes already accounted for $61 – more than 20 percent – of the cost of a typical $300 domestic round-trip ticket.

Faced with a proposed policy that would seriously damage the financial health of its members, Airlines for America (A4A) felt compelled to launch a campaign to oppose the new taxes.

WHAT?

A small team of us worked to quickly design and execute a campaign within a week to increase public awareness of the proposal and mobilize public outcry against the proposed new taxes and fees on airlines and their customers. The campaign materials needed to mirror the serious nature of this issue, while at the same time, be interesting and buzz worthy enough to mobilize and engage the audience. 

We developed an integrated issue advocacy platform – entitled Stop Air Tax Now! – to anchor the broad communications initiative. The campaign allowed for simple, instantaneous action by supporters, with a campaign website serving as the hub of grassroots engagement. We emphasized the impact by using a clever tagline of “make the connection” in order to draw people in and to help them understand the ramifications of the proposed tax increase: loss of jobs, loss of service and increase in overall prices - all of which would lead to “grounding our economy.” 

The campaign placed an abundance of strategic emphasis on online engagement via social media tools that would allow supporters to rapidly and easily reach out to Members of Congress (through Facebook, Twitter or e-mail) and voice their opposition to the proposal – “Stop Air Tax Now.” Additionally, a leveraged media buy within the Beltway served to educate lawmakers and staff about the economic risks of the ratification of such a proposal.

The centerpiece of this effort was an event at the International Aviation Club of Washington during which A4A’s president handed out branded air-sickness bags with the tagline, “Sick of taxes?” We deployed a team of Stop Air Tax Now representatives at Regan National Airport to hand out the branded bags to flyers. We also featured the air sickness bags in a full-page print ad in USA Today, timed to coincide with the height of the campaign’s public, media and stakeholder outreach initiatives. The bags received extensive earned media coverage in national and local outlets, as well as across blogs that carefully followed this issue throughout its duration.

SO WHAT?

From our campaign launch in late September, 2011 until the end of the Supercommittee’s deliberations on November 21st, our issue advocacy campaign generated overwhelming support for the Stop Air Tax Now movement and ultimately defeated the proposal. 

Specifically, we generated more than 20 million ad impressions (print and online) and encouraged nearly 21,000 citizens to send more than 150,000 letters to the White House and Congress. The Facebook page garnered more than 40,000 “likes,” with heavy activity and discussion on the page throughout the campaign’s duration.

NOW WHAT?

The website, having gone through a rebrand after A4A rebranded themselves, is still in use today. It's current function is to warn flyers of new airline fees, provide news about airports and the industry and it continues to provide a direct way to contact Senators to fight tax hikes.

Facebook page which allowed users to tweet and email Congress directly

Print ads

Barf bag and photos of air travelers receiving them and using the QR code to engage with the campaign