The more you weigh, the more you pay ...

Seen this? A new campaign from Derrie-Air wants to charge passengers by the pound! Don't expect to get a seat because it is already fully booked.

You'll get the real story if you go to the home page tied to the one-day advertising blitz in The Philadelphia Enquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. No, this wasn't a campaign to get bums on seats (thin ones) but a campaign to show that advertising in newspapers still works. In other words, they were kidding.

Click rate for fake ad soars

IAB SmartBrief | 06/16/2008

A spoof ad for an airline dubbed "Derrie-Air" that promised to charge passengers based on their body weight, garnered a 1.25% click-rate on Philly.com -- well above the U.S. industry average 0.05%. Philly.com (06/07

Fly Derrie-Air Proves Newspaper Advertising Still Works (Sort Of)

A few weeks ago the Philadelphia Inquirer and a few other local papers in the Philly area launched a very interesting mock advertising campaign for a new airline called "Derrie-Air" which was proposing the revolutionary new business model of charging air passengers based on the combined weight of their luggage and themselves. The site describes what makes Derrie-Air unique: "the magic comes from our one of a kind "Sliding Scale" the more you weigh, the more you'll pay."

Brokaw on Letterman, Al Gore's latest project, and more buzz on green celebs

Tom Brokaw appeared on David Letterman last week to chat up his book, Boom! Voices of the Sixties. While speaking of his bike-riding Italian vacation, Brokaw was asked by Dave why Congress didn't get the Climate Control bill signed, adding that the government should lead the way. Brokaw responded: "Those of us who drive big carbon-emitting vehicles or fly in airplanes that have only two passengers...well, some tough decisions have to be made." Letterman, quipped, "It's not the greenhouse gasses, it's the White House gasses." Badump-bump. Maybe they should try Derrie Air (that's the real name!), the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, which claims: "You don't have to choose between living the high life and saving the planet." 

Great Work, No Matter the Platform, Will Make Heads Turn

Advertisers, agencies and the media are stretching themselves these days in an effort to demonstrate response rates and ROI in a climate of accountability. Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, made such an effort last week. The company performed a "stunt" by placing ads throughout their media properties for a fictitious airline, Derrie-Air, claiming to be the world's first airline to charge by the pound (of passenger weight, not luggage). It had all the makings of a hoax but, nonetheless, thousands of people logged on to the microsite, derrie-air.com, to learn more.

What the visitors found was that they'd been "had." What the publications demonstrated was that print ads -- with some help from their digital cousins on Philly.com -- still pull strong response rates if the creative is strong enough. (Or at least pique curiousity, if the business model is so unique.)

Flying these days is a weighty issue. But at least on Derrie-Air -- the "world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline" -- your conscience will be light as a feather. Unfortunately, your wallet will be too, after paying out the rear with those per-pound prices.