Traveling for business can be hard. No one recognizes this truth better than Delta Air Lines.

Yet despite the many unfamiliar elements you encounter during travel, no matter how many pain-points, or cultural sensibilities you may offend, there is a welcome sight at the other end.

Bringing the refuge of the Delta One cabin to life in a compelling way was the goal of this special globe-spanning piece, brought to life by the director.

Innovation Class enabled us to prove to our flyers that our commitment goes beyond just getting people from point A to point B. It’s about starting, and leading, provoking conversations.

Throughout the year we isolated the key events most relevant to Delta’s target audience (Tech, Food & Wine, Entertainment, and more). From there, we promoted the open seat by targeting the specific communities within that given industry. Below are the events we’ve done, and since the program is an ongoing one, we continue to look for more:

TED in Vancouver, March 2014. Mentor: Eric Migicovsky, Founder, Pebble Smartwatch

James Beard Awards in New York City, May 2014. Mentor: Sean Brock, Executive Chef, Outstanding Chef Nominee

TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, September 2014. Mentor: Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-founder, Gilt

The GRAMMYs in Los Angeles, February 2015. Mentor: Ryan Lewis, Producer, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

To date, we’ve opened applications for four flights, generating:

3,550 mentee applications

10,882 sign-ups for emails about future Delta Innovation Class events

4,324 mentor suggestions (top suggestions: Elon Musk and Sheryl Sandberg)

429,733 video views across social media (YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+)

60 press mentions for over 300MM PR impressions

15MM paid impressions delivered

Furthermore, 20+ leaders and organizations have organically learned about the program and proactively reached out to get involved, including Martha Stewart, Gilt, Daymond John (Founder/CEO of FUBU), Kenneth Cole, Charles Schwab, and Fast Company.

Most notable are the number of people who voluntarily signed up to receive more information about Delta, and Innovation Class. Its data generation has allowed us to also view the platform as an incredibly powerful lead-generator tool. And that’s something that will continue to grow as we continue to fly to more events around the world.