The King of Donair, from Eastern Canada, used clever wording as a ploy to get people in Western Canada – where it was opening two restaurants – to “Experience Halifax for $7” in ads for a made-up airline called “DonAir.”

DonAir had its own website, a booking widget, in-flight offers and video content with a flight attendant. Why an airline? Because seat sale ads perform better than almost any other ad on social media. Plus, West Coasters would typically have to travel to experience a donair, so the messaging was authentic.

The measurement folks were right: click-through rates for the fake seat sale were over nine times the industry average. Those ads
reached 384,111 people, the Alberta locations tracked a 429% higher sales volume compared to its Halifax locations and the campaign, by Wunder, won Bronze in Niche Strategy.