After the pandemic, small businesses were suffering––and that had particular significance for Delta. Using its massive national network to serve small businesses in America is a pillar of Delta's legacy, and its business. Small businesses seemed hesitant to fly again; only 28% of Delta travelers were small business owners during the time.

As a brand on a mission to better connect the world, Delta saw an opportunity to connect small business owners with new customers they needed.

How could Delta use its power to uplift small businesses? Our idea wasn’t just to speak about small businesses, but to speak to them and with them to bring their products to a larger audience.

To encourage and support business travelers, we enlisted Issa Rae, known supporter of local businesses and frequent flyer, and worked with eight SkyMiles Members running six small businesses to create an exclusive line of travel-savvy products for flyers, by flyers.

Then we sold those products at a live event (and online), becoming the first-ever airline to create a sellable fashion line.

We called it: The Delta Runway Runway Collection.

Our target audience consisted of travelers who are employees of small-medium enterprises, as well as independent small business owners. We overlaid this base audience with an interest category in travel-oriented fashion––functionality being top of mind for our brand and product approach.

Our strategy emphasized providing a form of inspiration for this key audience, Delta being a facilitator in the travel arena, while our collaborator, Issa Rae, is known for being a keen observer of different cultures. It was fundamental for our activation to tap into the potential impact and benefit of travel.

Upon confirmation of the strategy to activate within the travel-fashion space, we selected markers (drop-culture, runway shows, fashion week, influencer programming) to seed messaging within. In addition to Issa Rae’s collaboration with Delta, all of these elements culminated in our Runway Runway Show activation.

For the Delta Runway Runway Collection, and in conjunction with our small business partners, we created and sold products that make traveling easier, better, and chicer. These products included a slip-on shoe that makes traveling through TSA easier, innovative capsules designed to hold daily essentials, an on-the-go tracksuit that goes seamlessly from boarding to boardroom, and more.

In addition, each small business creator sat down with Issa for an interview and photoshoot that generated 119 pieces of social content and 30 mixed media assets. This helped boost the profile of our small business partners and garnered them both earned and paid media to support their companies.

Finally, the collection debuted at LAFW, where 200 guests joined us in a converted airplane hangar custom-designed with clever signage nodding to airport wayfinding, display booths for each designer and their products, and runway-reminiscent lighting for a fashion show hosted by Issa herself.

In three short months, we facilitated the opportunity for two icons to build a strategic partnership to elevate small businesses. Ultimately, we were able to support small business owners by creating and selling almost 500 items in record time, with over 2,000 people tuning into the livestream of our runway show.

Total campaign results generated 2.4M microsite impressions, 2.1M organic views on social posts, and 160K organic engagements on social posts. There were over 2,000 public mentions of our campaign on social media, 95% positive or neutral––a drastic difference from Delta’s average of 64% positive/neutral mentions. And the campaign garnered the attention of nontraditional publishers like Hypebeast and Essence, proving Delta’s ability to enter cultural conversations beyond the airline industry, ultimately connecting small businesses with even more potential customers.