JetBlue’s innovative solution to book deserts: free book vending machines.

The custom machines allowed children and families in Anacostia to take as many books as they liked, as often as they liked. The goal was to foster a love of reading, to encourage pride in book ownership by helping them establish their own at-home libraries, and to increase access to age-appropriate books. Three machines were placed in high-traffic areas (grocery store, church and community center) and were stocked with new titles ever few weeks for children aged 0-14.

To expand the program beyond D.C., we created a national social-media-driven voting competition allowing JetBlue customers to determine which city would receive 100,000 new children’s books in 2016.

Using the hashtag #BookBattle to generate awareness, drive social engagement and increase online voting, we created a social content calendar that maintained a steady drumbeat of posts, celebrity spokespeople, and program partners.

Prior to the launch, we arranged an interview with WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show in conjunction with their annual summer reading program. The interview was mentioned on air and was featured on the program’s website, gaining additional exposure when it was featured on NPR’s social channels as well as Reddit’s homepage.

We launched the campaign in July, unveiling the machines in D.C. and opening online voting. To maintain media interest, we hosted community “reading hours” each week for local families to gather at the vending machines for a reading by a local on-air TV personality. Following the initial local traction, strategic proactive media outreach resulted in mainstream lifestyle and news coverage.

To announce Detroit as the winning city, we enlisted Victoria Justice to create a video congratulating Detroiters for receiving more than 590,000 votes. We conducted targeted outreach to local press, securing both broadcast and online coverage in the market.

• 30,000+ books distributed via vending machines in Washington, D.C.

• 1.3 million votes in the online #BookBattle

• 12x more engagement with the Soar with Reading website than 2014

• 180+ earned media placements

• 560+ million earned media impressions

• 100+ million social impressions among influencers and media

• 70,500+ impressions and 34,800+ engagements on Facebook and Twitter from paid promotion

• Gained public support and recognition for the brand from education and literacy groups/influencers across the country, including Reading Rainbow, Good Reads, National Book Foundation and then U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

• Praise for the brand’s CSR platform that recognized JetBlue’s efforts were a strong step in contributing positively to the community.