How to make a slow Chopper look fast.

REALLY Simple Marketing Solutions

This is a series on marketing solutions. Often the simplest solution is the best. Here’s one you might find interesting.

Marketing is about making something appealing. It’s kind of making the sow’s ear into a silk purse (although I’ve never seen that done successfully but it’s an attention getter.) This articles about a chopper and a hog of sorts.

McDonnell Douglas was introducing their new MD 500 Explorer helicopter, which was designed for the Medivac market. It was a complete re-design from the sleek helicopters in the 500 series. It was well…fat and slow. The bigger cabin made room enough for stretchers and medical personnel but it certainly lowered the score in the sleek and sexy department.
So the marketing problem we faced with was how do you make a boxy, sluggish helicopter appealing?

Our creative department came up with the idea of positioning it with another chopper, i.e. the Harley Davidson Electro Glide.
We got a vintage Electro Glide and fueled up the Explorer and off they went into testosterone territory.
Click here to see the award-winning video that premiered the Explorer at the Helicopter Association Internal convention: