Continental Airport Express
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Continental Airport Express is Chicago’s
premier ground transportation company, providing
affordable, reliable transportation services between
O’Hare and Midway airports and all locations
in downtown Chicago. This airport shuttle service
transports over one million passengers annually
to destinations that include downtown Chicago hotels,
door-to-door business and residential locations,
McCormick Place, Lincoln Park, and also suburban
hotels, business and residential locations. It
also offers private charters to service business
or personal events.
The need
The company holds an exclusive contract with
the city of Chicago to provide ground transportation
for Chicago’s airports. As such, Airport
Express is extremely vulnerable to public opinion.
To that end, it wanted to communicate
its commitment to the city of Chicago and its citizens
in a demonstrable way.
Our approach
Hodge Schindler initiated an awards program for
Airport Express called “Heroes in the ‘Hood,” which
honors inner city teenagers for outstanding community
service. The agency enlisted the Chicago Crusader,
WVON radio and the DuSable Museum to co-sponsor
the event along with Airport Express. Each year,
Hodge Schindler recruits judges, solicits applicants,
manages the politically attended awards ceremony,
arranges a trip to Springfield for the winners
and handles the publicity for the program.
The outcomes
The program has built strong alliances for the
company with community groups, aldermen and other
city officials. In addition, winners are invited
to a city council meeting, where they are honored
with a proclamation and meet Mayor Richard M.
Daley.
In 1998, the Chicago Council on Human Relations
honored Airport Express for “Heroes in the ‘Hood” at
a citywide luncheon. Significantly, when the company’s
contract with the city came up for renewal, all
the media coverage was positive.
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