• by Les Luchter , March 18, 2024

Six months after beta launching in New York City, Sanofi’s Allegra Airways mapping tool has gone national, providing real-time travel routes to minimize air pollution and pollen for bicyclists, runners, pedestrians--and pedicabs.

Allegra Airways-equipped purple pedicabs were on hand to ferry around SXSW attendees on the “cleanest” possible routes around Austin earlier this month as Allegra kicked off the service.

Austin also happens to be “one of the allergy capitals of America,” Jordana Barish, U.S. Allegra brand head, tells Marketing Daily, and the timing coincided with the start of spring allergy season.

Backing the launch, Allegra is running paid social centering around a spot starring Nsync singer/musician Lance Bass, who is also “an allergy sufferer impacted on a daily basis in Los Angeles,” Barish notes.

In addition to social media, Bass is doing “a lot of interviews” supporting Allegra Airways, Barish says.

Another influencer on board is allergist Dr. Kara Wada, who Barish says “brings an expert voice” to Allegra’s awareness and education efforts related to the little-known “intersection of allergies and air pollution.”

Bringing that connection to consumers on a hyperlocal basis, Allegra Airways uses real-time pollen and pollution data from intelligence company Ambee that narrows the info down to five-meter increments (about 16 feet). That compares to weather and other apps that just get down to the zip code level, Barish notes.

The hyperlocal data also allows Allegra Airways to send out Allegra coupons (for consumers who opt in for push notifications) "when pollen levels are exceptionally high in their area,” Barish says, adding that the coupons are usable directly from phones at physical retailers.

Allegra isn’t just bringing consumers travel paths with better air quality. In Austin, it also launched sponsorship of “Your Path to Greatness,” a series of PopSugar outdoor fitness activations.

In partnership with Vox Media, the first event was a rooftop “Class Fitsugar” HIIT pilates class run by the founder of the SimpleFit app. Other activations are planned over the next two months, says Barish, with attendance at a major one set for New York City in May to also be the prize of an upcoming sweepstakes.