It’s not every day that you ask the questions, “Do you know of any dolphins that do acting on the side?” or “How exactly would one ship a ramp tug to Florida?” But that’s exactly what I found myself saying when working on the production of our commercials for Southwest Airlines' newest market, Panama City Beach. Our wonderful advertising agency, GSD&M’s IdeaCity, came up with some really fun, innovative concepts to promote the Beaches of Northwest Florida. In fact, they were so out-of-the-box that I found myself pulling together some pretty interesting logistics to get the filming accomplished!
We wanted to introduce our Southwest Customers to our new market and capitalize on the fact that by flying into the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City Beach, you can access not one, not two, but 17 beautiful beaches! And what better way to do so than with our great Employees? We asked two Ramp Agents that auditioned for us in January—Bobby and Jason—to star in these spots and headed down to Florida.
Needless to say, the people of Northwest Florida were incredibly helpful in setting up this unconventional production, and a big shout out goes to all of our Employees that helped along the way. Especially Larry Laney, Rick Agnor and Bob Stock in Ground Support, I can’t thank you enough for helping me figure out how to ship two of our 1,000-lb bag tugs to a golf course!
To see the video, click here, and below are a few pictures from the shoot:
We filmed Bobby on the beach early in the morning in 30-degree weather!
Here is our Director in the center, and the folks from GSD&M and Southwest.
Wonder how we get those close-up shots? We mounted the camera on the tug right in front of Jason. You’ll notice our director laying on his left, just out of camera view.
We filmed the dolphins jumping and doing flips in front of a blue screen at a local marine park.
Our Fabulous Stars
And here is Jason in action!
We are all just ecstatic about the new airport in Panama City Beach, and we hope to see you in the market soon. Who knows? You just might get to meet one of these dolphins!
