The Challenge: United Airlines operates out of Newark International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey. Despite being geographically closer to most of Manhattan, JFK was the default choice for most New Yorkers. Our objective was to disrupt this long-standing consumer bias and drive high-value traffic to United’s hub at EWR.
The Solution: I led the effort behind a first-of-its-kind OOH innovation that weaponized real-time traffic data to change public perception. We outfitted 125 NYC taxis with GPS trackers synced to live traffic data and displayed a side-by-side comparison of the travel time to JFK vs EWR. We knew EWR would have the time advantage from most areas of Manhattan but if JFK ever had the time advantage, the program automatically defaulted to a brand message. I pitched this concept to the creative team and clients, engaged our media partners and oversaw the production.
The Results:
Brand Sentiment: Brand favorability soared by 55%
Customer Acquisition: In the summer of 2017 we drove +810,000 new United passengers through Newark
Industry Awards: The campaign won a Silver Lion for Use of Real-Time Data and a Bronze Lion for Data-Driven Targeting at Cannes. These were the first Lions ever won by mcgarrybown US. The campaign also won a Silver Pencil for Dynamic OOH at The One Show.
So Successful, it's Still Running: In 2026 United rebooted our real-time taxi campaign, proving a great idea executed simply will always be relevant
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