Rochester International Airport and local firm Hit Agency achieved a big win when their innovative “Flocal” (Fly Local) marketing campaign earned two prestigious Telly Awards earlier this month.
The Telly Awards are premier international awards honoring excellence in video and television content across all screens, from traditional broadcast to digital and social media. The Flocal campaign earned silver in the Telly Awards Travel & Tourism category and bronze in the Business-to-Consumer category. There were more than 12,000 entries in this year’s competition.
The origins of Flocal
The Flocal campaign’s creative success stems from a fresh, community-first approach. It initially took flight in the summer of 2024, when RST engaged Rochester-based Hit Agency for help in encouraging local travelers to fill more seats on RST flights rather than flying from another airport. The goal was to prove to airlines that customers want to use RST in order to bring more direct flights to Rochester — something local travelers have long asked for.
The Hit Agency team invented an entirely new word to represent this concept — Flocal — and splashed it across videos, billboards, buses, digital and print ads, social media, and even t-shirts and stickers.
“We got the idea during a team brainstorm session. Someone pretty quickly threw out the term Flocal, kind of as a joke. We couldn’t seem to shake the term, and it grew on all of us. We pitched it to the airport and they loved it,” said Tom Flessland, Hit’s Creative Director. Right after the campaign launched, RST’s performance on social media increased 54% and overall web traffic was up 42%. Then within a few months, more passengers were flying from RST compared to the previous year. “It’s been rewarding to see our campaign make such an impact,” Flessland said. “Not to mention, it’s a blast that so many local people have added a new, totally made-up term to their vocabulary!”
Flocal generates results
Flocal has been effective and continues to gain momentum about a year after its launch, said Mary Gastner, RST’s Marketing Communications Manager. Since the campaign began, RST has seen a 6% year-over-year increase in passenger numbers and the digital campaign has generated more than 7.8 million views. Watch the most popular post, which generated more than 2.1 million views below.
“The light-hearted, playful nature of this campaign has helped us deliver an important message and has really resonated with our audiences,” Gastner said. “Thanks to our excellent collaboration with the talented crew at Hit Agency, local travelers are getting the message — in a fun way — that airlines decide which flights RST can offer, not us, and that we need to fill our current flights in order to attract more direct flight routes in the future. The word is spreading — it’s smart to Flocal!”
Learn more about the Flocal campaign here and on Hit Agency’s website.
