What do kids on spring break in Florida, fans at New England Patriots games and people at malls all across the country have in common?
All are likely to have seen something in the sky that originated in Haverhill.
AVPro Worldwide, an aerial advertising company, has its work towed behind airplanes all over the world.
They may work out of a fifth floor office on Wingate Street in the Queen Slipper City, but the folks at AVPro do business on a global scale.
"I think people would be surprised that this company is in Haverhill," said Stewart Allen, president and operations manager.
The men of the Allen family run the business. Martin, the father, founded the company in 1978 in his native Ireland. At the time, he promoted air shows and skydiving throughout the country. But in the 1980s he realized that aerial banners could be flown behind the skydiving aircraft when people weren't jumping out of the planes.
"He thought, 'We might as well make some money with it,' " younger son Stewart Allen joked.
In 1986, AVPro and the Allen family moved to the United States. About two years ago, they brought the business to Haverhill. In 2006, AVPro Worldwide expanded back into Ireland. Because the company is a broker for the advertisements, it doesn't own any of the planes the ads fly behind.
The eldest Allen son, Marty Jr., is the vice president of sales and marketing. He, his brother and his father give their cell phone numbers to all clients so they can always be reached.
The company also does light projection and unique outdoor advertising called ambient media. For a client, they wrapped vintage 1970s Mini Coopers in corporate logos.
In May alone, Allen advertisements will fly above Huntington Beach in California, in Miami, over the Jersey Shore and the Hamptons and over San Juan and Dublin.
Local clients include Herb Chambers and SBLI insurance, but the company also works on national and global campaigns, like McDonald's, TJMaxx, and Marshall's.
Aerial advertising is a little different from traditional promotions like billboards or newspaper advertisements because specific rewards from an aerial campaign are difficult to measure. The main goal is brand recognition.
"It's about letting people know you're still there," Stewart Allen said. "Instead of a billboard that everyone will see, we can target a certain demographic. For example, if our client really wants to target young people 21 to 28, we can fly over a spring break destination."
The average aerial banner is about 30 feet high and 100 feet long, but the Allens continue to make them bigger and better. For a while, AVPro held the world record for the largest aerial advertisement — a 7,320-square-foot banner flown behind a helicopter above New York City. Since then, their record has been broken by advertisements the size of football fields, but their recognition still hangs proudly in their office.
The Allen men are serious about their work, but also have a great deal of fun in the office that overlooks the Haverhill train station. With no other employees, they spend a lot of time together. Sometimes, Stewart's wife, Amy Allen, of Purple Crayon Studios in Haverhill, will help with a marketing design.
"It's truly a family company," Stewart Allen said.
