• by Larissa Faw , August 7, 2019

Aided by 120 mile-an-hour blasts of air, IFly allows participants to lift-off and “fly” within the confines of large vertical wind tunnels.

In a new campaign to drive awareness, the company is embracing artistry and excitement to promote its indoor fly center destinations.  

As part of the push to attract more first-time flyers and motivate participants to fly more regularly, the company partnered with Greatest Common Factory (GCF) for its first integrated national campaign.

GCF produced the ads. The content focuses on flyers buzzing around in wind tunnels along with impressed spectators.  

The Texas-based agency's research discovered many users were scared off by thinking they had to jump into a wind tunnel -- a perception cemented by previous ads calling the experience “indoor skydiving,” which typically dominated billboards alongside highways where most iFLY centers are located.

There weren’t many repeat visitors, even among those who enjoyed and recommended the experience.

The new "Choose to Fly" campaign attempts to capture the thrill of the “flying” experience. Three TV ads illustrate the acrobatic movements enabled by the experience before ending with the campaign's Choose to Fly tagline.

“We had to educate and inspire, starting with getting people over the idea they have to jump,” explains John Trahar, GCF co-founder, creative and strategy lead. “We keyed on taking off, and chose a small girl as the voiceover for TV and video. The effect of this is exciting, but it’s aspiration within reach.”

Similarly, still images show feats of artistry that flyers can master during sessions in the tunnels. However, the agency “flew” models across a sound stage on wires, rather than try to shoot within the wind tunnel.