TAMPA 鈥� At Tampa International Airport, you can fly to Amsterdam, Halifax, or even Havana. But if you鈥檙e online, you鈥檙e probably flying straight into a giant flamingo meme.
Last week, 草莓视频 students got a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make an airport go viral when C.J. Johnson, Tampa airport鈥檚 social media guy, landed at the Muma College of Business for a speaker event as part of the School of Marketing and Innovation Practice Center鈥檚 Workshop Series.
Spoiler: it鈥檚 not fancy cameras or paid influencers driving (or flying) the airport鈥檚 social media feeds 鈥� it鈥檚 jokes. Lots of them.
Johnson walked through some of the airport鈥檚 greatest viral hits, starting with the campaign to name Phoebe, the now-iconic giant flamingo that looms over travelers in the main terminal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a six-story-tall bird,鈥� Johnson joked. 鈥淥f course people were going to have opinions.鈥� The contest drew in thousands of suggestions and votes, turning a piece of public art into a community mascot.
Then he discussed the day Tampa International 鈥済ave up鈥� its name entirely. For a few hours online, it wasn鈥檛 an airport anymore 鈥� it was simply 鈥淏ig Flamingo Home.鈥� The cheeky rebrand went viral, earning national media attention and more than a few calls from confused travelers wondering if their flights were still taking off.
And who could forget the Crocs post? Johnson said the joke spiraled far beyond Tampa, and to this day, people still engage with it.
Contrary to popular belief, these posts weren鈥檛 just chaos for chaos鈥� sake. They were, as Johnson explained, part of a deliberate effort to grab attention in the middle of a crowded social feed.
鈥淵ou have to give people a lot of sweets, so when you need to feed them a vegetable they鈥檒l listen,鈥� said the account manager. 鈥淚f I got on everyday at Tampa International Airport and tweeted we have flights today, who would care? No one.鈥�
鈥淚f we do funny silly stuff like this with targeted messages that grow your audience and then I say, 鈥楬ey guys, by the way, we are closing the airport due to a hurricane,鈥� then people lean in and listen,鈥� he said.
While humor drives the content, data keeps the plane in the air. Johnson emphasized that C-suite leaders may not always understand why an airport is joking about Crocs, but they understand numbers.
According to numbers Johnson shared:
- Tampa International Airport has over 500K followers on its four social media platforms
- It鈥檚 the No. 1 most-followed airport in the U.S. when comparing followers to passengers
- Over the past three months, the airport averages 809 messages on social media each weekday
It鈥檚 the tongue-in-cheek humor that keeps followers engaged. Commenters not only declare their love for the account but describe the posts as 鈥渓egendary鈥� and 鈥渦nhinged.鈥� Many ask airport bosses to give Johnson a pay raise. He made a post pointing that out as well.
For Johnson, it鈥檚 all a delicate balance of creativity, humor and risk-taking.
鈥淚t鈥檚 silly, and so for those senior marketing people in the room, a lot of them would look at you and wonder what you are doing? Is this intentional? The answer is yes, this is very intentional, it鈥檚 building brand awareness,鈥� he said.