Holland & Hart Broadcasts In-Flight Videos
Holland & Hart has partnered with Frontier Airlines to produce "Business Class," a branded in-flight entertainment show spotlighting innovative clients in the Rocky Mountain West. Beginning this month, the series of 5-minute shows are airing in front of millions of Frontier passengers on the Wild Blue Yonder in-flight TV channel.
To see the video on a company called Outlast Technology simply visit http://www.hollandhart.com/wildblueyonder.cfm and click the video format you use. Outlast Technologies, Inc. -- a client of the firm -- is the worldwide pioneer in developing phase-change materials and applications. See www.outlast.com. Next up, starting in September, is Spyder Active Sports Inc., which makes ski apparel and also is based in Boulder.
"As you know, TV advertising for corporate law firms is unusual. H&H is the first to advertise on TV at 30,000 feet. We are certainly the first major corporate law firm to create a 'branded entertainment' segment on Wild Blue Yonder TV," said H&H "Marketing Guy" Mark Beese.
Holland and Hart has 350 attorneys in 12 offices in six states. They feature clients in the "Business Class" videos, "who are very, very happy to get the publicity in front of 10 million flyers annually, 60% whom are business travelers," Beese said.
Denver-based Frontier, which is a Holland and Hart client, operates a 52-jet fleet and flies to Canada, Mexico and 47 U.S. cities. The airline was so pleased with the program that their Marketing VP came to the firm's launch party on in June, along with more than 100 folks from H&H. "We chose Frontier because it gave us an opportunity to partner and support a valued client, Frontier's footprint is very similar to H&H's network of 12 regional offices, and Frontier's creative, community-oriented, and client-service brand is a good match with Holland & Hart," Beese said.
The law firm is aiming at corporate clients. "It's marketing of substance," said Beese told the Denver Business Journal. "It's not just five minutes of 'Look how great Holland & Hart is' or 'Look how old Holland & Hart is.'"
This campaign is a double bingo.
- Frontier is a client. All the subjects of the videos are clients. The in-flight videos are all methods to deepen the firm's relationship with existing clients. This is classic brilliant marketing. Most of a firm's revenue comes from current clients. So the effort to co-market with a client about other clients makes this an example of "the high art of marketing."
- It's a brilliant extension of their branding. Their tagline is "The Law Out West." Frontier flies primarily to western destinations. Outlast makes clothing for outdoor activities in the west. Their next video subject, Spyder Active Sports, makes ski racing equipment of the kind used in the west. The entire program extends Holland and Hart's niche and reputation as the premier law firm out west.
Of course, it's still important to measure results. I've always been skeptical of in-flight programs, because the producers can't tell you how many times the programs were actually viewed or provide the contact information of the viewers. This kind of marketing is very difficult to measure.
Beese said surveys of frequent flyers on Frontier would be done both early and late in the run of "Business Class" to see if the program has changed people's impressions of the law firm and the companies profiled. Based on the results, Holland & Hart will decide whether to continue the marketing effort next year.
If the firm can prove a return-on-investment -- that's icing on the cake. Then the double bingo becomes a "hat trick."
