Air Show: An Event to Look up to

Is there any publicity event more effective than an air show?

I ask this as several Boeing F/A-18 Hornets roar over Milwaukee … and the adrenaline begins to flow.

If you live or work anywhere near downtown, as we do, you know the Air and Water Show is happening this weekend—because you’ve already heard and felt the Blue Angels in their preview runs.

The Navy flight demonstration team’s stated objective is recruiting, and I’d say they’re pretty darned good at that. Although the U.S. Armed Forces have certainly had some recruiting challenges in recent years, something tells me that prospective recruits find these spectacular performances to be quite persuasive.

It’s like back when I was 12 and I watched Top Gun (another compelling recruiting vehicle) for the first time. Except an air show is real, live and much, much louder. I dare you not to get at least a little fired up.

So, is there a lesson here for your next media event? OK, maybe not much. You’re probably not going to be able to book a fighter jet flyover or anything like that.

But you can still use an air show as inspiration, whatever your objective and budget. When it comes to making the right impression on your target audience, sometimes you gotta reach for the skies.