ATLANTIC CITY— The Herald toured Cape May County from 500 feet on board the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Blimp on Sunday, July 11.
The Herald’s blimp adventure started at Bader Field in Atlantic City, where Chief Pilot Terry Dillard, of Kissimmee, Fla., was readying his crew.
Dillard was just as interesting as the blimp. If you were expecting a guy looking like airline pilot you might have been disappointed. Dillard and his ground crew were laid back and easy going. With no security check point or boarding pass required, the crew and its guests hopped aboard and were on the way at the blazing speed of 25 mph.
The blimp had a very gentle ride that felt like floating along on a magic carpet.
The blimp started down the coast south first passing Lucy the elephant in Margate heading for Ocean City.
The blimp would rock back and forth with the wind from time to time. Dillard was asked if the wind could tip the blimp over, Dillard responded, “Well if you wanted to fly in a hurricane I’m sure you could.
Dillard went on to explain the blimp only flies in favorable weather conditions as he pointed to a warning on the instrument panel that warns against flying in the rain or snow.
The accumulation of precipitation on the blimp will weigh the blimp down forcing an emergency landing. The blimp cannot land without the 13-member ground crew and mast.
Dillard said if the blimp lost an engine the ground crew would need to catch up in the chase van that has a portable mast. “So we can’t just stop for lunch,” Dillard said, just as we passed over the barbeque competition in North Wildwood.
Some of the most amazing views were in Cape May City, where prominent historic buildings like Congress Hall were easy to spot even at 500 feet.
The blimp continued on passing the light house and ferry terminal before making a turn to the north to head back to Bader Field.
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey joined an exclusive club in 1998 with a campaign that took their advertising to a whole new altitude.
At that time, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey was changing its name to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.
The company decided it needed an innovative, multimedia initiative to announce the company’s new name and a creative way to reposition itself within New Jersey’s media market place. The campaign was constructed to accomplish two main goals – reaffirm the tradition that the BCBS brand evokes with the public and emphasize that the company had neither been bought nor sold. With many consumers bombarded with advertising almost every minute of everyday how do you get the attention off the masses?
During a brainstorming session Horizon looked at aviation advertising and they were not thinking of a Piper Cub racing down the beaches of New Jersey with a banner. Horizon was looking for something a little more well, bigger.
That’s when the idea of a blimp came up. The value and broad exposure a blimp would provide became apparent, and it was decided that a blimp campaign was in fact the perfect way to build recognition for the company’s new name and logo.
Although blimps were not a new advertising concept this was the first time health-care company had used a blimp in its marketing strategy.
With their vision fully actualized on Oct. 11, 1998, the Horizon blimp floated out for a six-week tour emblazoned with Horizon’s name and its trademark cross-and-shield logo. Horizon was now part of a small group that included names like Goodyear and Virgin Atlantic.
The Horizon Blimp Tour generated excited responses from most that saw and used it — politicians, media figures, brokers, sales representatives, and the public-at-large. The original 42-day tour resulted in 15 million impressions from the blimp’s physical appearances alone. Earned-and-paid media exposure added another 9 million impressions, for a total of 24 million.
The tour was so successful that it became an annual event. In 2008, the last complete year of flight, 22-weeks of exposure resulted in over 103 million impressions including 18 print stories and coverage on ten television news broadcasts.
While the primary vision for the blimp was a clever way to get people thinking about their health care needs, Horizon had no problem sharing some the positive attention the blimp brings with some local non-profit organizations. Horizon regularly donates advertising space on the ‘belly’ of the blimp to worthwhile causes.
For 2009, the belly banner supports the American Cancer Society (ACS) to promote their “More Birthdays” campaign. With the donation, the American Cancer Society receives free advertising space and unlimited exposure on the bottom front half of the Horizon blimp. The “More Birthdays” campaign seeks to help people get well, stay well, and fight back against cancer – because a world with less cancer is a world with more birthdays.
If seeing the blimp can turn heads, a ride would surly bring a smile and that’s why every year Horizon donates blimp rides to groups like the Twilight Wish Foundation, a group that grants wishes to deserving senior citizens. To date, Horizon has granted wishes for 13 seniors who dreamed of riding a blimp.
Additionally Horizon donates rides that are auctioned off for fund raising. Horizon receives hundreds of requests from non-profit organizations to have blimp rides donated to be used as a fund raising tool for the organization. In 2008, blimp ride donations resulted in over $23,000 for various non-profits.
As popular as blimp rides have become, the Herald was honored to tag along for the three hour ride on July 11.
On the way back to Bader Field, Dillard asked if there was anyplace the Herald wanted to see while in the blimp and this reporter asked to see the Woodbine Airport.
The blimp headed over the thick forest in Lower Township passing the Cape May County airport flying along Route 47. Over Dennisville, the conspicuous hot pink house on Dennisville Road was easily spotted.
As the blimp made its way to the airport, Dillard radioed in to advise he planned a low pass on Runway 1 and someone replied, “roger Budweiser blimp.” Dillard shook his head and said, “I get this every where,” as he chuckled.
The blimp ran down the runway and gained more altitude and before this reporter knew it, the Herald’s tour of the county was over. With this experience of a lifetime it was not hard to see just how big a smile the blimp had put on the 13 seniors who dreamed of riding a blimp and did.
You can track the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Blimp Here on the blimps official Facebook Page
See additional high definition aerial footage from the Herald’s tour of the county below.
Click here to view Corson’s Inlet State Park & Strathmere
Click here to view Sea Isle City
Click here to view Avalon and Stone Harbor
Click here to view The Wildwoods
Click here to view U.S. Coast Guard Station Cape May
Click here to view Lower, Middle and Dennis Township
Click here to view Woodbine Airport
Click here to view Woodbine Airport ground video
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