The credit card-based, in-flight beverage, food, entertainment and Internet era has a new twist: “Froogll” deals that can be bought online and targeted to users based on destination (i.e. Las Vegas); gender; and observable family status (i.e. travelling single/married/family).
Froogll is the brainchild of Jetera, a targeted, in-flight ad provider based in Danbury, CT. The site, which is spelled funny to avoid a collision with Google’s defunct Froogle service, is a spinoff of Jetera’s in-flight entertainment (IFE) marketing concepts, but is being made generally available to on-the-ground customers as well as in-flight customers – a necessity, as the in-flight options may take several years to mature.
It joins other airport and plan-based concepts flirting with local commerce, including airport WiFi (JiWire), flight delay forecasts (NextJump’s FlightCaster) and flight status board (HelloMetro’s HelloFlight) .
Company CEO Jeff McChesney tells us that the in-flight portion provides great targeting, and airlines’ increasingly sophisticated Point of Sales systems provide a printed receipts for any purchase (i.e. pillow, Heinekin, movie, Deal for Penn & Teller show). In addition to voucher information, the receipts can also feature pre-print ads (two on the back) and targeted ads – three on the front). Actual vouchers are not part of the service at this point.
There are other limitations to in-flight services, he adds. At this point, only Air Canada is currently set up with an in-flight system at every seat. Passengers on other airlines can use Internet and local video-based ordering. (although it is a little early. In my experience, only six or seven passengers per flight are using in flight Internet, even on tech-heavy routes). Another issue: Walled gardens. One vendor, Airtel, blocks outside access.
In the meantime, the six-person, angel-funded service is ramping up in the New York metro area, with telemarketers and a couple of premise sales. The New York offers are being test-marketed to a list of 14,000 subscribers, although the site has potential access to a list of 225,000 people in the area. The site also features loyalty rewards, and 30 day windows for sales – an experimental feature that McChesney says has been embraced by merchants.