DENVER — Spring Break marks one of the busiest travel seasons in-and-out of Denver International Airport. But, the next time you're on a plane, glance out the window at the buildings below, and you might find a billboard made for the sky. You're In Good Company this week with FlyBy Ads.
Before they were entrepreneurs, Jack Delehey and Jordan Tannenbaum were college buddies who found themselves working in a corporate world where they were jet-setting between cities.
"It was on one of these flights where the idea stemmed from," said Tannenbaum, one of the company's co-founders. "Which was to actually place advertisements on these rooftops, near airports, for passengers just like ourselves."
That's when FlyBy Ads took-off. They're gigantic billboards, pieced together like a puzzle, on buildings that can be seen from a plane.
"When you see a 75,000-square foot sign for an upcoming movie premiere or a new release of a clothing line, that's something that sticks with you and you take away," said Tannenbaum. "And, you might nudge your neighbor and say 'Did you see that?!'"
Los Angeles is a big market for them because movie studios and fashion lines have embraced their temporary billboard model. But, Amazon helped spread the wings of possibility.
"When Amazon didn't just buy one rooftop, they bought six all together, and added lighting," said Delehey. "Jeff Bezos tweeted it out, and all of the sudden it was kind of like 'Whoa!', this is a new step."
FlyBy Ads has found success around big events like Bud Light's ad for Super Bowl LII, and other major travel destinations.
"We would love to expand our imprint and go global with it," said Tannenbaum. "Because there's no reason not to. It's the same target. So, whether you're on a plane in Singapore or here in Denver, it's the same impact."
Couple that with the thousands of social media impressions from aerial footage and passenger photos, and it's a first-class ticket to marketing gold.
"One of the most rewarding things that happens to us, is when we hear from c-suite execs from the brands that we're posting," said Tannenbaum. "They're telling their marketing team, or their agency, 'I just flew into LAX. Wow!' And, to us that's as good as it gets."
Their Amazon "Jack is Back" campaign won a Gold OBIE Award in 2020 for creative excellence in advertising.
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