Out Of The jetBlue — Spontaneous Content Creation

Something premiered today, and it wasn’t new fall programming on ABC. Instead, it was the first day customers could begin using jetBlue’s (sold-out) $599 All-You-Can-Jet Pass. For one full month, from September 8th until October 8th, 2009, customers with this Pass can become super-frequent flyers. Think of it as a monthly bus pass but for airplanes: jetBlue airplanes. It was a very successful promotion, and prompted jetBlue to halt sales a few days before the deadline, claiming they were ‘sold out’.

But something else happened as well. The idea of an unlimited plane pass excited and inspired a frenzy of creativity among designers, photographers, artists, writers, journalists, and others. What sort of adventures could be had? What stories could be experienced, captured, and told? The web savvy among them decided, independantly, to announce their intensions online and broadcast their 30 day journeys through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

Instead of watching The Amazing Race, I am now following the adventures of a few different teams and individuals as they zig-zag their way across North-America with different self-imposed limitations and goals:

The 30-Day Flight
Dustin Curtis is the first person I heard about who was creating a crazy public challenge out of the All-You-Can-Jet passes. Curtis and his friend Alaska Miller (very cool name) set up this special website where they will be “visualizing the insanity”, interviewing people in-flight, and having adventures. You might remember Curtis as the intrepid designer who wrote an open letter to American Airlines compaining about their online customer service, and posted suggestions and redesigns of their site. He actually got a response. But he has a new airline to fixate on now: jetBlue. His mission is to visit all 42 cities that jetBlue services, in just 30 days, on 83 flights. He has vowed to create a 30 page website, graphically (in a designer kind of way) depicting his challenge. You can follow Curtis on Twitter here.

Cross Country Carter
Carter is a ‘radio personality’ from Florida who is blogging his way to 23 cities in 30 days. He has posted his itinerary on TripIt, set up a blog, flickr, myspace and facebook page, a twitter account, as well as a YouTube channel. He has succesfully covered all his bases, it remains to be seen if he can deliver interesting content to some or all of them as he travels. He intends to fisit 62 famous landmarks, go through 36 time zones, and visit his home periodically to ‘grab more clothes’.

Twelve Hours In A City
These guys, Joe Dinardo and Clark Dever, are the most media savvy of the bunch. They have already hosted a fundraiser, got on the front page of The Buffalo News, and found their way onto CNN.com. On their first day, one of their sponsors, @dunkindonuts, scored them box seats at Fenway Park in Boston. Dinardo complained that he wasn’t allowed to smoke and Dever took a few pictures. You can follow both Dinardo and Dever on Twitter. They also have a 12hr Facebook fan page.

The 599 Club
Jennifer Milano has created a Meetup group a Facebook page for 599 Club members to meet and organize around. 599 comes from the price of the jetBlue All-You-Can-Jet pass. They are aggrigating links and finding places to party. 599club is also on the twitter.

So far the content has been pretty light, but considering the sheer magnitude of initial co-ordination, I will cut them all some slack on the first day or two. I look forward to watching, reading, and listening in to all of their travels.

I am also keenly interested in how jetBlue will be responding to these socially plugged-in travelers. They must know it is a potential nightmare for them, but also a chance to flex some social muscles of their own and come out shining. Either way, they can’t sit back and ignore it. They are already acknowledging some of the activity on their own twitter channel: @JetBlue. In the meantime, CNN has profiled the Twleve Hours crew, Cross Contry Carter is a radio personality, and Dustin Curtis has had a few words with airlines before.

This is the perfect storm of customer support, public relations, social media, spontaneous marketing savvy, and brand recognition. I will be glued to my computer screen until October 9th. Or at least until I am no longer entertained. Not everyone is willing to give them a chance, however. There are internet hecklers and trolls out there who don’t believe anyone should follow a dream, be happy, creative, have adventures in life, or even be online. Dever published the following on September 8, 2009, at 4:35 EST: