Hawker Beechcraft has opened an advertising campaign and is firing off news releases supporting corporations relying on business aviation to succeed.
“Many of America’s most successful companies are under fire for owning business aircraft,” one release states. “They still need to fly and Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is here to help.” In addition, its advertising campaign reaches out to corporations under intense pressure to divest themselves of business aircraft.
“Many in the media and some politicians have misrepresented business aircraft as a symbol of excess instead of an increasingly necessary business tool,” said Charles Mayer, vice president of marketing at Hawker Beechcraft. “This negative stereotype is damaging the ability of American corporations to compete globally and, at the same time, jeopardizing thousands of American aviation jobs. Frankly, we are puzzled by this approach given the importance of aviation to the American economy,” Mayer said. “It not only represents more than 5.5% of total GDP, but is an industry that America dominates globally. It is time to embrace our strongest industries, not destroy them.”
In the first of a series of advertisements, HBC pens an open letter to Starbucks sharing support for the company’s business aircraft needs via the headline, “Dear Starbucks, You Still Need To Fly. We’re Here To Help.”
“Starbucks is a uniquely American success story with thousands of locations in more than 40 countries,” Mayer said. “Like most successful corporations, Starbucks relies on business aircraft to manage and grow its business worldwide.”
The first salvo in the advertising campaign was fired on Feb. 19 in national business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Financial Times and others.
For information: www.hawkerbeechcraft.com.
