This Associate Manager of Consumer Marketing has found success with integrated campaigns, and participates in user forums.

Michelle Mohr is Associate Manager, Consumer Marketing for America West Airlines. In that position, she manages online content and marketing initiatives for America West Airlines and America West Vacations, the vacation-packaging division of America West Airlines, which serves over 95 destinations in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica. Recent work includes a complete redesign of americawestvacations.com, and a new brand campaign set to launch this month.

iMedia: How has the media mix changed for you over the last few years? Is online still "an afterthought" or are campaigns, for the most part, conceived of in an integrated fashion from the get go? Or are you somewhere in between?

Mohr: The America West media mix has changed dramatically in the two years I've been here, but I'd say we're still somewhere in between.

iMedia: What was your most successful online or integrated campaign recently and what made it successful?

Mohr: We ran a sweepstakes in Q4 2004 to promote use of America West Airlines' Web Check-in feature. The goals of the promotion were three-fold: 1) to increase the number of online check-ins during a period of heavy air traffic; 2) educate consumers about the feature so they can use it in the future if they weren't traveling with us during Q4; and 3) increase the number of first class upgrades, which are available through Web Check-in.

We put together a robust, integrated marketing plan that promoted the Web Check-In Sweepstakes through links, banner advertising on americawest.com and emails to our customer databases, as well as editorial content and ads in our in-flight magazine, airport banners, and promotional messaging in-flight and through our reservations centers.

We doubled the number of Web Check-Ins and first class upgrades during the promotional period and have seen our numbers continue to rise.

iMedia: What is the greatest benefit of online advertising? The ability to measure? Precisely target? Gather data? Something else?

Mohr: The flexibility. If I need to promote a sale or a new product, I'm able to get my message out there quickly, which is key in our business. The ability to accurately track revenue and interest in a promotion is key, too.

iMedia: What still frustrates you most about online advertising? What can be done to improve the situation?

Mohr: There's not much that frustrates me about online advertising. Cheaper, more targeted distribution and easily tracked results -- what's not to love?

iMedia: Are you doing any behavioral targeting? If yes, please describe.

Mohr: No.

iMedia: Are you being affected by any consumer-generated marketing (CGM) -- blogs, user groups, etc.? Are you using any blogs or other social networking tools to market?

Mohr: We monitor and sometimes participate in frequent flyer forums and respond to the comments of travel agents discussing our vacation packages products in travel agent forums.

iMedia: Have you found agencies to be able to handle your changing interactive/integrated needs? What could still be better?

Mohr: Yes. The online advertising landscape changes so quickly it's hard to keep up on all the latest trends. This is where I've found my agency to be most helpful.

iMedia: Have you done much with wireless, iTV or other emerging mediums?

Mohr: No.

iMedia: It's the beginning of a new year. What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Mohr: I just redesigned the America West Vacations web site. In the one month since it launched, our number of online bookings have risen by 6 percent. I'd like that number to shift to 20 percent by end of year.

iMedia: What are you reading these days, other than iMediaConnection.com, of course?

Mohr: Travel Weekly, Air Transport Association Bulletin, Yahoo! Biz boards, Travel & Leisure, New York Times. And to keep my sanity, the latest McSweeney's humor anthology - "Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans."