DENVER--Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines has selected MWW Group to help build its national profile, two years after emerging from turnaround.

The decision comes three months after the Holmes Report revealed that Frontier Airlines had issued an RFP to several PR agencies. After a turbulent three-year period, the airline is hoping to forge a distinctive national positioning in 2011 to separate it from key rivals like United Airlines and Southwest.

MWW has been charged with raising awareness for the Frontier brand in its hub markets - Denver, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Omaha - in addition to West Coast markets and Texas. In addition, the firm will help guide strategy for all communications initiatives, as well as craft programs focused on enhancing the brand's social media presence.

The assignment will draw upon multiple MWW Group practice areas including consumer lifestyle marketing and is in-house Dialogue Digital unit.  The team will aim to utilise brand positioning, strategic messaging, leadership positioning and media relations initiatives to enhance Frontier's "whole different animal" brand positioning, support its expansion plans and generate consumer enthusiasm for the brand in their key cities and online.

"One of MWW Group's specialties is challenger brands; and like Frontier, we are a 'whole different animal,'” said MWW Group CEO Michael Kempner. “We believe in challenging conventional thinking and using communications to build trust and relevance with our clients' key stakeholders.”

Frontier has handled its PR in-house, after previously appointing Linhart McLain Finlon in 2006.

"Frontier has experienced significant changes in its recent history, and as we look toward our next phase of growth, we wanted a partner that would bring holistic, strategic thinking, expertise in digital and an intuitive understanding of our brand and our culture to the team.  We found that fit in MWW Group," said Ian Arthur, vice president of marketing at Frontier Airlines.

In 2008, Frontier filed for bankruptcy, before being acquired by Republic Airways Holdings in 2009. In 2010 Republic merged the brand with sister carrier Midwest Airlines, enabling Frontier to significantly expand its route map.

Frontier’s marketing is best-known for its use of animals on its airline tails and in its advertising, which plays on the brand tagline: “A whole different animal”. According to a copy of the RFP, the airline was seeking an agency that will take its “hometown” appeal to a more national audience, while Denver rivals United Airlines and Southwest undergo mergers this year. An increase in traffic to its website is also a priority.