Barclaycard US
Last year, JetBlue and Barclaycard partnered to launch the JetBlue Mastercard portfolio, consisting of a suite of credit cards designed with benefits to appeal to the JetBlue traveler. As the card issuer, Barclaycard needed to create awareness for the credit card products to drive applications and build excitement with existing and potential cardmembers around the enhanced card benefits.
Our strategy for the PR campaign utilized influencers as a primary vehicle to reach our target audiences. Prior to JetBlue, Barclaycard had successfully partnered with influencers on several card launches and has made influencers a core part of media relations and outreach across its portfolio. Influencers provide Barclaycard brand intangible benefits, such as authentic voice, unique point of view, deep storytelling and the reach of an engaged and highly targeted audience.
As a PR pro, avoid limiting the scope of where and how influencers can be brought into your PR campaign. For this launch, Barclaycard used a three-pronged approach that integrated influencers with other media relations efforts. The approach included: a cardmember experience trip; press conference; and satellite media tour (SMT).
Objectives Guide Influencer Choices
Understanding your program’s objective will inform which influencers you engage. Outlining how you want to collaborate with them and what support you’ll need will create parameters to help you home in on who makes the most sense.
During phase one, we treated a select group of influencers to an experiential JetBlue cardmember getaway, highlighting benefits associated with the credit cards. Through conversations with JetBlue, we decided this exclusive trip would be focused on Costa Rica, a popular JetBlue destination.
It’s impossible to plan for every circumstance, though it’s important to have flexibility when faced with obstacles. For example, the Zika outbreak quickly became a concern just prior to our trip. Several influencers declined participation due to the potential health risks.
While this complication could have hurt our plan, it allowed us to expand the network and secure participation from influencers we hadn’t worked with previously.
The Zika virus concern provided one parameter of whom to invite on the trip. Another important consideration was the audience of each influencer. For the JetBlue Mastercard program, we knew the product offering would be appealing to a variety of markets. Our aim was to find out whom these audiences trusted and verify that the influencer would be able to speak about Barclaycard authentically.
Audience, tone, expertise and platforms utilized should be considered when choosing an influencer. For the Barclaycard program, we also took into account the influencers’ access to an airport with JetBlue service, complementary group dynamics and an interest in planned activities—as determined by the influencers’ historic posts and social content.
A Group is Chosen
Our group of five influencers for the trip included a representative from credit card-savvy consumer-focused website NerdWallet, business travel expert Ramsey Qubein, and travel credit card experts Angelina Aucello of the blog Angelina Travels, journalist Jason Steele and Brian Kelly, aka The Points Guy. This group was a well-rounded mix that reached all of our target audiences both on and offline.
Social media is another element to consider, particularly how to harness an influencer’s social power to accomplish your goals.
Our trip to Costa Rica was scheduled to occur immediately before the product launch press conference; as such, everything the influencers experienced and learned while on the trip was under embargo. For the influencers, this meant no social media posts in real time.
Had this event occurred in 2017 it would have been very unfortunate because we would have missed opportunities for live social sharing on platforms such as Instagram stories or Facebook Live. In our case in 2016, the influencers simply held their images and posts about the trip to share after the embargo lifted.
Phase Two: The Press Conference
As the Costa Rica trip came to a close, the five influencers returned home and our team executed the second phase of our strategy, the press conference.
The press conference was held in New York City, close to JetBlue, Mastercard and Barclaycard’s headquarters. It also is a main base for JetBlue service and hosts the highest concentration of our target media. The event was held at Saxon + Parole, a restaurant that provided food for JetBlue’s Mint Class.
Expanding Media Coverage
We invited and secured attendance from top travel and credit card media, but we didn’t want to stop there. There was, we believed, an opportunity to include industry influencers as well, given mainstream media rely heavily on them for their expertise. We made it easy for such influencers across the country to take part by organizing a virtual press conference. This provided another touchpoint that allowed us to broaden our network and strengthen relationships.
Once the embargo lifted, news spread with a flurry of coverage from influencers on the Costa Rica trip, those who joined the press conference and journalists we pitched via traditional outreach.
To keep the travel credit card top of mind and extend the story past launch, we executed an SMT with The Points Guy Brian Kelly, which aired throughout the country over the next month. Brian is one of the most respected voices in the travel rewards industry and a natural partner to share the benefits of a travel credit card. Since both the media and the public trust him, Brian seemed to be a perfect partner for us. The SMT was also a way for our team to deepen our relationship with him.
All three phases of our influencer approach concluded within six weeks of the launch announcement. During that time period, the JetBlue Mastercard earned nearly 300 million media impressions (excluding press release pickups), thanks in large part to our influencers.
The launch effort earned more than 100 million impressions from stories shared by the five influencers we took to Costa Rica in outlets including Yahoo Finance, The Points Guy, Credit.com, NerdWallet, AFAR and Travel + Leisure, among others. We earned nearly 10 million impressions from our SMT with Brian Kelly.
Most important to the success of the campaign was finding the right influencers to engage during each phase. This approach allowed Barclaycard to form and strengthen relationships that continue to this day.
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A Checklist for Influencer Trips
When organizing travel for influencers, it’s important to provide all necessary information beforehand. Below is a list Barclaycard used on its influencer trip to Costa Rica.
- Copies of all travel confirmations (air travel, ground transportation, hotel reservations, etc.) so attendees can confirm all information is accurate. The influencer should also have this on hand in case he or she gets separated from the group.
- Complete itineraries that are personal and specific to each attendee. If the influencer is bringing a guest, he or she also should receive an itinerary, outlining their travel information and schedule
- Packing list with recommendations. This is helpful if you’re keeping itinerary details quiet until the influencers arrive, so they can feel secure they’re bringing all the right supplies. It’s also nice to let influencers know whether they should plan to leave extra space for gifts or anticipated takeaways.
- Contact information for everyone on the trip and a “home base” contact that all attendees can use for questions throughout the journey.
- Overview of attendees, including influencers and guests. Influencers within the same space often are friends—or interested in getting to know each other—so it’s nice to let them know who will be coming.Social sharing details, including attendees’ handles and brand tags to use.
- Welcome gift with food and drinks as well as items influencers may want to use on the trip, for example, a portable phone charger or CamelBak. This also is a great way to provide influencers with branded swag.