- Destination Dragons tour and National Flyaway Sweepstakes announced via Billboard.com and PR Newswire

- Airline’s digital newsletter sent to 10 million customers

- Reuters trumpets the tour on digital signage in Times Square

- www.destinationdragons.com launches with sweepstake details and social feeds

- Homepage takeovers and banners on Billboard.com and RollingStones.com

- 20 local market radio promotions with heavy social activity

- Geo-targeted tweets drive Scavenger Hunts in four concert cities

- “Smoke + Mirrors” begins featured streaming on airline’s wi-fi portal.

- Video re-caps and photos heavily socialized by Southwest, Imagine Dragons, Billboard, and fans with #DestinationDragons hashtag

Southwest exceeded every brand affinity and awareness measure it set.

Online Sweepstakes spurred 73,000+ entries in 13 days, up to seven times more than prior sweeps.

Digital media tie-ins garnered 1.5 million+ impressions.

6,301 Tweets and Facebook and InstaGram posts, many from the band and Southwest, generated 103 million+ impressions.

Views of in-flight concert on Southwest’s Facebook page outpaced prior record by 7627%

Comparable online and traditional media value topped $5.2 million with ONE BILLION+ impressions.

Southwest became part of pop culture phenomenon. When “Smoke+Mirrors” launched in the midst of “Destination Dragons” frenzy, it shot to #1 on Billboard 200.

In a competitive field of discount carriers, Southwest Airlines wanted to build brand affinity and awareness among adults 18-54.

Since Southwest’s mission is to connect people to what’s important in their lives, the team wanted to create a program that ignited their passions, infused cool and created lasting memories. It also wanted to raise awareness of the airline’s L.A. and Atlanta routes, Delta has long dominated the latter. From a strategic standpoint, the unifying power of music would be the connector.

Southwest already had a music property that featured emerging artists performing in-flight, but awareness of “Live at 35” was low. The big idea was to create a fully integrated, never-been-done-before program around an exclusive concert series with the white-hot Imagine Dragons, just as their eagerly awaited new album was set to debut.

The airline would literally bring Imagine Dragons’ die-hard fans together with the band for an unforgettable experience.