NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - March 14, 2017) - In a new, first of its kind analysis of combined online and offline consumer conversations, Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) released its TotalSocial rankings on the top performing airline companies in the U.S. and identified JetBlue and Alaska Airlines as the leading airline brands in consumer engagement.

The rankings of the top U.S. airlines are based on Engagement Labs' proprietary TotalSocial data, which measure the most important drivers of brand performance in a detailed and continuous analysis of social media and word of mouth conversations.

As a whole, the airline category performs better in terms of the quality of face-to-face conversations as compared to online social media. Consistent with its category, JetBlue tops the chart with a stronger offline score, which may be attributed to its in-person pop-up stunts and unique campaigns, such as its recent takeover of New York's Jamaica Station, offering local commuters a special flight promotion. Interestingly, JetBlue secures the top rating despite falling short of being the leader on any individual metric, such as volume, sentiment, brand sharing or influence. What allows Jet Blue to rise to the top is that it shows a higher relative consistency across all dimension compared to other airlines.

"JetBlue and Alaska Airlines have been very effective in generating meaningful and positive consumer conversations, both offline and online, and they are performing well with regard to the range of metrics that must all work together to drive consumer engagement; other airlines such as Delta, United and Spirit have yet to crack the code," said Ed Keller, CEO of Engagement Labs. "As shown in our data, JetBlue and Alaska are dominating conversations as a result of their innovative marketing tactics which go beyond the typical service expected from airlines and also go beyond the screen to consider how they can drive the all-important offline recommendations as well as tapping into social media. Other carriers seem to be playing it conservatively, and as a consequence, are suffering from sentiment lag. Picture these brands as an aircraft stuck taxiing without yet taking off."

The airline which is the most talked about offline is American Airlines, while Delta leads in volume of online conversations. At the same time, smaller airlines such as Southwest and Alaska are winning the category on sentiment. Known for its discount flight promotions, Southwest Airlines is the front-runner in its category in terms of sentiment in face-to-face conversations. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines, which reported a $911M profit in 2016, tops the category's rankings for its online sentiment.

With the biggest discrepancy between its online and offline scores, American Airlines ranks as the top airline in Engagement Labs' recently released Social Misfits report. A Social Misfit is defined as a brand that performs very well socially either online or offline, but not both, suggesting an opportunity for the brand to improve performance that could drive enhanced marketing effectiveness and ROI.

Download Engagement Labs' e-book to learn more about the Social Misfits rankings data at socialmisfits.engagementlabs.com.

To learn more about Engagement Labs or TotalSocial insights and how to increase your brand's word of mouth in real life and online, reach out at: [email protected].

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) is the world's first TotalSocial™ company, offering intelligent data, analytics and insights for marketers. We are leaders in tracking, measuring and benchmarking the impact of conversations happening around a brand and industry – both online and offline. Consumer conversations are a proven driver of critical business outcomes, including sales. The patent pending TotalSocial data solution provides brands with unique insights and powerful analytics to understand online and offline social impact and drive business results. TotalSocial demonstrates to marketers how their online and offline conversation compare and contrast and helps identify areas of competitive opportunity or significant emerging threats. TotalSocial is an "always-on" proprietary scoring system, based on the most important drivers of brand performance: Volume, Sentiment, Brand Sharing and Influence. TotalSocial was built on the pillars of Engagement Labs' patented social media measurement tool and the world's only offline word of mouth tracking system for brands and tracks 500 brands within the U.S. across 17 major industry categories, and 350 brands in the UK.

To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com / www.totalsocial.com.

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