Were you part of the Piedmont family? Or at McKinney Silver & Rockett way back when? Please leave a message or comment at the bottom of this post. Or email me directly.
In 1984, Piedmont Airlines was named Air Transport World’s Airline of the Year. Tagged “The Up And Coming Airline,” Piedmont tapped into the civic pride of the mid-Atlantic and South as the little airline that could. For several years, it was the only profitable large airline, as competitors such as Delta, United, American and US Air lost huge amounts.
Piedmont was quite literally the airline of the 80s. Sadly (for a lot of people) it was folded into the less profitable US Air in 1989.
It was a great account for a young copywriter. I was forced to crank out copious amounts of work: small-space print ads, the occasional larger ad, and radio commercials on a weekly basis. Most of it was strictly tactical: announcing new flights that usually involved small Piedmont markets to larger destinations.
Steve Basset once even talked me into writing the Piedmont flight schedule… that’s the cruel sense of humor that today produces ads for Geico and WalMart.
It was a great lesson in how a large account should be run. Chick McKinney had assembled a wonderful and deep creative staff, including some of the best print art directors in the business. My partner on most of the work on this page was Danielle Renfer; the creative director was Michael Winslow.
Key insight
It was also a great lesson in the value of small-market agencies. The home-grown staff at McKinney Silver & Rockett of Raliegh, North Carolina, helped Piedmont outrun its bigger rivals with their big city ad agencies. For years, McKinney’s work for Piedmont was easily the industry’s best.
It’s no coincidence that the best airline advertising since then has come from Southwest Airlines and their agency, GSDM — from Austin, another small market agency. (NOTE: For Piedmont’s history, check out JetPiedmont.com.)
Note: Hey ex-McKinneyites and Piedmont fans – get Barrett’s Book updates via Twitter, at @barrettrossie
Barrett's Book 
October 4th, 2008 at 10:27 am
I worked for Piedmont Airlines and USAir between the years 1984 – 1992.
Long before I went to work for them, they attracted my personal business as a passenger with their Friendliness, Professionalism, Route network as well as their Advertising!
Thanks for some additional insight into their advertising!
Steve
October 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Steve, I’m so happy you found my site! Thanks for your comment.
I’m trying to find the old radio commercials. They were pretty good if I recall, though nothing groundbreaking. Harriet Frye was a great, great writer who conceived the radio campaign. It involved some wonderful music and a great voice talent from New York. We would write scripts and the voice talent (I know I’m getting this wrong, but his name is close to Allen Blevis) would record the voiceover in a New York studio, while I would direct via the telephone. It was a great system for cranking out dozens of spots a month. Each spot ran locally wherever there was a change in the service schedule.
I hope to get some of the commercials, if my old friends at McKinney still have anything on file. I’ll post them if I find anything.
November 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Barrett, I am not believing this! (And many, many thanks for that “was a great, great writer” comment, although I’m hoping it still applies in the present tense.)
I wish you luck on finding copies of your Piedmont spots in usable form. I still have about a zillion old open-reel audiotapes, including a bunch of the Piedmont stuff as well as my own personal favorite, the Pine State campaign featuring the late great Bob Dryden. The only trouble is, they’ve deteriorated to the point where they’re mostly just tape squeal. I think there’s some sort of expensive process that can be used to restore them long enough to duplicate them, but “expensive” is unfortunately the key word here.
And yes, the Piedmont announcer was Alan Blevis, although I’m not sure either one of us is spelling his name right. I suspect he’s still counting the money he earned over the years from that voice-over that said “Pick Enterprise. We’ll pick you up.”
Amazing what, and who, turns up when you get bored on Thanksgiving night and start surfing the net!
Love and kisses,
Harriet
November 28th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
IS a great writer! IS a great writer! How wonderful to hear from you.
I wonder what Mabon Childs, the last person at McKinney I still know, can do for us?
December 9th, 2008 at 6:02 am
I was actually looking for Mabon Childs and found you!
Barrett, it’s so nice to know you are around and doing well.
Harriet too!
McKinney was a unique place, never to be repeated.
Best,
Gina
September 15th, 2009 at 6:59 am
zdravo draga drugarice!
daj mi se javi da znam da sam dobro spojila Chapel Hill, Damjanovski, art i Gina Morehead!!!!
Ja zivim u Montrealu vec 15 godina.
Ljubac,
Mirjana Marjanovic, zvana Jenny, klupa iza tebe i Biljke (koja BTW zivi u Vankuveru)
September 15th, 2009 at 11:27 am
We’ll have to get Ms Morehead to translate…
March 16th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
SO THERE YOU ALL ARE!!! I decided to spell my name with one “s” and look who I have found……the group from McKinney, Silver And Rockett. It was a great Agency and I spoke recently with Mabon. I speak regularly with Charlie Ashby about the “Heels” and my loyalty there goes back to all of you and Piedmont and Charlie Ashby.
It was great advertising created for Piedmont and I agree that Southwest’s ads are memorable for the same reason. The correct spelling of my name is Alan Bleviss, but legally there are two “l” in my first name, but I always wanted a “stage name” so I dropped one.
Nice to see you are all still around, even if spread around. So, let me say thanks for including me in Piedmont’s history… it was an honor.
Alan
November 9th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I heard your voice on an Enterprise commercial. I remeber it from when I worked at Clare Burt Studios in Toronto in 1975. Some voices you don’t forget.
Ray Munroe
March 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Alan! How great to hear from you. We never met in person but we recorded radio scripts via Ma Bell 2 – 3 times each month. We were in Raleigh, you were in NYC, and we had access to one of the all-time great voiceover talents. For a young copywriter, it was an experience. (And it kind of spoiled me, too.)
Alan, I don’t have any of the old Piedmont radio spots. I probably wouldn’t even remember which ones I wrote and which ones belonged to Mabon, Harriet, Steve or Charlie. But if you have a digital version of any of them, please let me know. I’d love to post one or two.
Thanks for the kind post. Please tell Ashby to get in touch before the Heels get eliminated. He better hurry!
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Barrett–boy, do those Cavaliers know their basketball.
It was great to see your work and how well you’ve done.
Take care. Come visit if you get back east.
Charlie
June 21st, 2009 at 10:14 am
Oh, my gosh! Alan Bleviss himself! Sorry about the spelling, Alan; I guess I never knew that because I wasn’t the one who wrote the checks to you.
I’ve talked to Mabon and Barrett recently but haven’t been in touch with Charlie Ashby in years. Do tell him I said hey, would you?
July 4th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
[…] | Official Web Site of The Piedmont Aviation Historical Society The second has some background. Piedmont Airlines Barrett’s Book Piedmont expanded considerably in the 80s adding 727-200s to the fleet along with 767-200ERs for […]
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
All I know is to hell with all this airline stuff. I MISS ALL OF YOU. A LOT!
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
What Harry said.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Oh my gosh. Suddenly its 2 AM and I’m back in the studio at McKinney kerning type with my trusty exacto…….
Wonderful stuff!
July 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I still have two of those lead drawing table base & drawing boards abd they are still square & level. Bring on the spray mount.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:33 am
And wearing all those little spray-mounted bowties home, no doubt.
February 6th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Do you, Sir, have any information on a small airfield (if it was even that) in Williamsburg, VA during 1947-1949? A Ralph A. Midgett, Jr. came from there to then work at Piedmont as a mechanic, as best we can tell from records. But, he also had small props planes that he possibly flew from Williamsburg to Norfolk for business people. Thank you for your time, if this is of any interest to you.
February 6th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
MP, I do not have this information, but maybe someone reading this will — and will pass it along. In the meantime, I’ll ask some folks who may know. Thanks for posting!
February 9th, 2011 at 9:38 am
So wonderful reliving those memories. Best agency and best client EVER to work for in my career. Miss you all personally and professionally.