Air France looked to increase its share of the U.S. air travel market by implementing an e-commerce marketing strategy focused on search engine marketing. It hired Media Contacts, a global interactive media agency, to help achieve these goals. Media Contacts utilized search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising on platforms like Google AdWords, and partnerships with companies like DoubleClick and Kayak to drive more online traffic and revenue for Air France.

2. INTRODUCTION Air France was formed on 7 October 1933 from a merger of Air Orient, Air Union , CompagnieGénéraleAéropostale , CompagnieInternationale de Navigation Aérienn (CIDNA),, and SociétéGénérale de Transport Aérien (SGTA). In 1990, the airline acquired the operations of French domestic carrier Air Inter and international rival UTA – Union des Transports Aériens. Air France served as France's primary national flag carrier for seven decades prior to its 2003 merger with KLM. Between April 2001 and March 2002, the airline carried 43.3 million passengers and had a total revenue of €12.53bn. In November 2004, Air France ranked as the largest European airline with 25.5% total market share, and was the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenue.

3. Air France is looking to increase the share of its’ own in the U.S air travel market. According to Sharon Benstein , director of insights media contacts, the revenue of this French company increasing by its’ media marketing strategy through ROA & online advertising. SEM (Search Engine Market) has grown by 62% from 2005 to 2006 which equals to $9.4 billion.

5. New hub setup at the main airport of the I1e de France Region in Paris

6. 75 years later, the hub had grown to be one of the most efficient in Europe with largest number of connections.

7. July 1, 1946, first flight to the U.S from Paris successfully lunched in 19 hours 50 minutes.

8. 2007, 383 aircrafts served 185 destinations in 83 countries.

9. May 5 2004, concept of “One Group, Two Airlines” between KLM and Air France with the name of Sky Team, 109 countries and 225 destinations with 150,000 workforces.

11. Substantial part of its’ fleet was on short or medium term lease. Known as “Progressive Operating Lease”.

12. The practice had dedicated positive results form 1999 to 2007 in crisis years for airline industry.

14. 2000 - 2006, 42$ billion losses.

15. 2006, $500 million (0.1% revenue) break even.

16. 2006 operating income $13 billion more than double comparing in 2005 which was 3% of revenue.

17. $42 billion losses from 2000 - 20006 generated in U.S market

18. 2006 returned profitability excluding $10 billion bankruptcy restructuring.

20. 2006, number of passengers kilometres grow by 6%

21. Domestic flights less than 4%.

22. 2/3 air passengers was domestic

23. RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometres), 60% revenue for international travels

24. 50% increase in economy class 2000 - 2006

25. 2006, 4.3% grew in premium

27. User friendly browsers was one of the reasons of transformation educational network into consumer-driven network.

28. User friendly interface made the benefits of browsing faster and at the users’ convenience.

29. Security trust by customers increased the e-commerce position as fast growing sales medium.

31. Third type, meta searches such as, Kayak.com or Sidestep.com. They don’t sell, they link customers to the direct websites and makes customer to be able to compare prices and decide where to purchase. These meta searches get companies paid instead of this service which wouldbe an advertising service.

32. Consumer Adoption Of E-commerce For Travel According to TIA (Travel Industry Association) number of online buyers increased by 263% 1996 - 2005. Reason of this growth could be the intangibility of this industry in comparison with other industries. In others, consumers rather to touch and see before making any purchase.

34. SEM constructed SERP (Search Engine Result Page) to show relevant pages to given search.

35. SERP has provided a huge space to connect customers to exactly what they are looking for.

38. Relevancy was determined by those keywords in comparison with competitor bids, the number of times an ad had been clicked on for a keyword, and proprietary “black box” algorithmic criteria from the search engine provider.

39. Pay-Per-Click, advertiser normally pays based on the number of clicks searcher does on the link.

41. Advertisers put the maximum bids on keywords and set daily budgets for campaigns.

42. Per-Pay-Click, campaigns were considered easily measurable, due to the ability to track precise actions on the internet.

45. Media Contacts was been noticed by Air France because they were believed that Media Contacts is paying attention to its’ customers needs and brand importance.

46. “One of the most refreshing aspects of working with Media Contacts is that they are genuinely passionate about our brand and delivering results for us. They constantly look to improve ouronline performance through innovative thinking and testing new approaches. The level of analysis and reporting we receive from them is crucial to the continuing success of our business”, Air France says.

48. Double Click’s advertising exchange service was designed to help customers maximize ROA through dynamic pricing and intelligent bidding.

49. Double Click, established a web-based search system which was integrated with leading engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

51. 1998 company was incorporated.

52. Google’s advanced internet search engine technology positioned the company for rapid growth.

53. 2004 raise $1.67 billion.

54. June, 2006 Google employed 7,942 full time workers

56. Focused on e-mail and as an ISP

57. To compete with Yahoo, they came out with the idea of Interactive Media Group (IMG)

58. Microsoft Ad Centre designed to work as Google’s Ad Word

59. Ad Centre used pay-per-click technology.

60. YahooWas created in 1994&Designed to search other websites

61. Yahoo pursued differentiation in SEM by combining ads with content matching.

63. Website provides a service to find a cheap flight

64. Focusing on a specific niche in the SEM industry

66. Being flexible to adopt aircrafts in different demand seasons.

67. Being totally understand of e-commerce and taking advantage of it.