Southwest Airlines Company

Sandra Howard, Director of Advertising
Jena Atchison, Advertising Manager
Kevin Krone, VP, Marketing Sales and Distribution

GSD&M *Lead Agency

Jonathan Silverstein, Sr. VP/Group Account Director
Amy Lyon, Account Director
David Crawford, Sr. VP/Managing Group Creative Director
Rene Huey-Liption, VP, Strategy & Insights
Bryan Pudder, Creative Director
Clay Hudson, Creative Director

Camelot Communications *Lead Agency

Tom Kalahar, President

VML

In 2009 airlines began charging additional fees, most noticeably, bags. Southwest Airlines had a difficult decision to make - to charge or not. Walking away from an estimated $500M in annual revenue, SWA stayed true to its core purpose of giving people the freedom to fly, defied the industry and decided against bag fees. The campaign that followed not only announced this decision, but put competitors on notice for mistreating passengers and in the process galvanized SWA employees. The effort resulted in a market share increase, equaling $800M of incremental revenue.