Is Aerial Marketing dead?

The answer is; Definitely not! You are probably wondering how this subject remotely fits into the world of cycling, which is what this site is clearly all about, but bare with me on this and read on please.

Firstly, let’s understand what I mean by aerial marketing. In its simplest form, it’s capturing people’s attention by presenting something like a brand, a message, or a product in the sky, and over time, it’s been done in several ways. We tend to associate aerial marketing with the picture I have as the feature image; an aeroplane towing a banner with something written on it. As soon as the aeroplane became popular following the early days of flight, towed advertising was quickly adopted, and still is to this day. Some aeroplanes actually write a message or word in the sky through the use of clever acrobatics. Big, tethered balloons or aerostats are also used to illustrate things like a brand. More recently, drones are used to drag messages across the sky, and paragliders are also used to tow a banner. Kites have been used the longest, and for hundreds of years, and have been used to share everything from religious celebration symbols, to flying flags, marketing products and to special greetings.

There are distinct benefits to using the sky for marketing. Firstly, you can get to a large population who maybe spread over a wide area, or alternatively, you can capture the sky space immediately above a large crowd of people. There’s the advantage that seeing an image or message in the sky is more memorable, particularly because it’s very different, and we have marketing and advertising everywhere around us, which mostly we might just not notice or see. Aerial marketing has been proven to have a high consumer recall and retention rate. Fact. The other bonus to aerial marketing is that it’s relatively cheap for the number of potentially high volume memorable views that can be gained. If the messaging or slogan etc has something unique to it as well, it will be photographed, put on social media, and talked about, which is exactly what it’s meant to achieve. Aerial marketing is effective to the eye if it is either static or moving quite quickly, as long as the eye has time to take in the message.

This type of aerial marketing is still popular today, but there are obvious restrictions associated with airspace safety, and there are some inherent dangers involved with having an unmanned, low altitude aircraft either flying around or tethered. This is why in some high population density areas, this type of marketing is banned. Also, careful consideration needs to be given to the take off and landing of an aircraft that is towing a banner so that it doesn’t get caught up on buildings or the ground during take off and landing.

In the late 1990s, I came across a kite making company, Flexifoil International, that made power kites, and they had a number of them printed with business or product brands. Seeing a branded power kite fly through the sky is something that naturally the eyes will lock onto, just to keep up with it. They look great as part of a product video or film and can also look spectacular in a still image. The other key element to this type of marketing is that it’s very cost effective (read as: cheap in comparison to other marketing costs!) in relation to using any other method of aerial marketing. As long as you have someone to fly it, and wind to fly it, you have an aerial marketing show at your disposal. If there isn’t any wind on your chosen day, these foil power kites can be used as an upright banner. I have one of these original power kites which was made for the launch of the Renault Megane Scenic, and pictured below in a stack of kites. Effective huh?

Recently, Flexifoil have re-introduced their classic power kites and as technology has moved on, they have the capability to print anything and with any colour combination. So finally, here’s the link to the cycling bit. Whilst this site and it’s sister motorcycling site are non-profit and done just because I like doing them, they both have a brand logo that I’m proud of, and proud enough to have flying in the sky for others to see at appropriate events and locations, or just me on my own in a field or on the beach. So, Flexifoil made me an 8 foot power kite to my design. One side has the cycling logo of this site on it, and the other side carries the motorcycling logo. It looks ace in the air and is great fun to fly. Just like the Renault kite, I can stack this printed one with others that I have to add to the spectacle. All in all, this Flexifoil method of aerial marketing makes economic sense as well as being a great marketing platform, and crucially, they are a heck of a lot of fun to fly and watch.

If you’re interested in getting one of these printed kites made up, Flexifoil have 3 sizes to choose from and you can design your own on their site configurator here: https://flexifoil.co.uk/collections/design-your-own-kites