Delta - College Partnerships

Delta - College Partnerships

Courting the hard-to-reach millennial age group is on every airline’s agenda. Social media is one method to get at this demographic, but Delta is tackling the challenge in a smart way.

Delta recently partnered with nine highprofile colleges in the Eastern U.S. (including Penn State, Duke and the University of Michigan) to offer selected seniors an eight week internship at Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta. During that time, the students and the airline hatched a plan to integrate the Delta brand into college life in a way that would be meaningful and memorable to students.

Michigan University was the pilot campus for the resulting activation, where Delta employees mobilized en masse to help students move in for the semester with luggage carts, refreshments and care packages that included the airline’s amenity kits. The airline also plans to bring it’s Celebration Grill school.

In an airline release , Jeff Robertson, Delta Vice President Product Development, Sky Clubs and Marketing Communications calls students a savvy consumer group. “We will give students and alums the opportunity to really get to know our airline ... we believe this will position Delta as their trusted partner over a lifetime of travel,” he said.

Marketing publications such as eventmarketer.com and advirtues.com wrote about Delta’s innovative effort to build positive relationships with tomorrow’s business flyers.