Bamboo Social Rewards Platform Propels Estonian Air To New Heights

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grapevine Rewards, the leader in travel social rewards, today announced that its Bamboo Facebook and Twitter Rewards Platform is the “secret component” fueling Estonian Air’s Social Loyalty Program, AirScore. Running in parallel to their current frequent flyer program, AirScore, which achieved more than 1,340,000 wall impressions in its first ten days, has recently been awarded two major social media awards in the aviation loyalty and frequent flyer programs industries.

“These awards confirm that Estonian Air’s investment in social media prioritization has proven correct”

On November 29, 2011, the airline received a Mega Award for “Best Social Media Campaign” at the 5^th Annual Mega Conference for Airline Loyalty and Ancillary Revenue Programs in Hallandale Beach, Florida. At this event, Estonia’s National airline scored a major victory by beating one of the world’s powerhouses in airline loyalty – Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Program! And, earlier in the year (October 11, 2011), Estonian Air was also recognized for excellence in social media marketing by winning the 2^nd Annual SimpliFlying Award for “Excellence in Social Media” as the best airline in the world driving revenue via social media, beating out Malaysia Airlines. The event took place at the EyeforTravel Online Marketing and Social Media Summit in Amsterdam, Holland.

“These awards confirm that Estonian Air’s investment in social media prioritization has proven correct,” said Gunnar Mägi, marketing and development manager, Estonian Air. “Social media allows marketing efficiency and wide reach, and with the implementation of the Bamboo platform, it will continue to be the airline’s channel of choice for future route launches and campaign distribution.”

In its simplest form, Bamboo is a game in which fans get points and badges for creating awareness about a company. AirScore customers who use the Bamboo Platform become 'Brand Ambassadors' and gain access to the inside scoop, all the while distributing the latest news, videos, polls, quizzes, and special offers via wall posts, invites and gifts to their connected friends. The content delivered via the Bamboo Platform opens the door for travel brands like Estonian Air to reach untapped audiences to sell products and services to, thus generating a new incremental revenue stream while continuing to engage and drive sales from their existing fan base.

“AirScore is unique in that it changes the idea of current loyalty programs in the aviation world by rewarding customers and fans for being strong online advocates,” said Johnny Miller, developer of the Bamboo technology. “Estonian Air is the first airline in the world to launch a loyalty program fully-powered by social media and we are thrilled to be a part of such a forward-thinking company.”

Miller added, “The problem with airlines using Facebook and Twitter is that they never see any kind of ROI from their marketing efforts. With Bamboo, airlines can now tap into a fully functional and easy to integrate social loyalty program that delivers results and this is why AirScore is beating out airlines all over the world.”

About the MEGA Awards

The MEGA Awards are given out by Airline Information – a leading company in organizing commercial aviation conferences worldwide. The 5^th annual event, which is the biggest of its kind in the world, sees over 400 delegates attended from across the worldwide aviation, hospitality and loyalty reward industries. Winners of a Mega Award are decided by a Judging Academy comprised of airline loyalty experts and aviation executives. Mega Awards recognize marketing campaigns and product development excellence by Airlines and Vendors. Awards are also given for individual professional accomplishment. Recognized commercial areas include: Loyalty, Social Media, and Ancillary Revenue/Merchandising, all of which were considered by the Mega Awards Judging Academy.

About the SimpliFlying Awards

The SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence are organized annually and for this year, the nominees received over 35,000 votes in just a 3 week voting period. The finalists then presented to a panel of expert judges and they presented the awards in front of a Live audience. Past winners have included KLM, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines and London Gatwick Airport. The Awards are organized by SimpliFlying, an airline strategy consulting firm specializing in airline marketing. SimpliFlying.com is the #1 rated travel blog and one of the Top 3 in aviation. It is also one of the Top 5 most influential on airlines on Twitter. For more information, visit www.simpliflying.com.

About Grapevine Rewards

Grapevine Rewards is leading the way for travel companies to utilize Facebook and Twitter to generate revenue as well as brand awareness. The company offers travel companies its Grapevine Social Rewards Platform for Facebook and Twitter, which allows any company to have its own branded "Ambassadors Club" right out of the box. The turnkey platform offers an entertaining, compelling and inexpensive way for companies to distribute content and reach new audiences by leveraging the friends of core fans. With the platform, companies can generate new incremental revenue streams while continuing to engage and drive sales from its existing fan base. For more information, visit www.grapevinerewards.com.

About Estonian Air

Estonian Air, Estonia’s national carrier, provides both business travelers and tourists direct air link from Estonia to European cities. Estonian Air is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. The airline has recently announced new destinations for next summer, such as Helsinki, Riga, Jyväskylä, Hannover, Vienna, Venice, Kokkola/Pietarsaari, Joensuu, Kajaani and Tbilisi. The ticket prices start at 49.9 euros, if purchased from www.estonian-air.com, including all fees and taxes, baggage, snacks and soft drinks on longer flights and soft drinks on flights that last less than 1 hour. Estonian Air has won the award of most punctual European Airline in Amsterdam Schipol in 2009 and the most punctual Regional Airline in Brussels Zaventem in 2010. Estonian Air is continuously one of the most punctual airlines in the world.

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