On Thursday, Port of Oakland Aviation Marketing Manager John Albrecht received the Ted Bushelman Legacy Award for Creativity and Excellence from Airports Council International North America (ACI-NA). This lifetime achievement award was received during the Airport Marketing, Communications, and Customer Experience Awards ceremony, part of ACI-NA’s Marketing and Communications annual conference that was held in Vancouver. Additionally, OAK & About, the airport’s monthly e-newsletter, won first place in the airport newsletter category.
The Ted Bushelman Legacy Award for Creativity and Excellence recognizes the values, accomplishments and creativity of airport marketing and communications professionals. Since the inception of the award in 2008, an individual is periodically chosen from airports throughout North America for the award based on their lifetime body of work serving airport marketing and communications. This is the first time that an individual from an airport within the state of California has been awarded the Ted Bushelman Legacy Award.
As Aviation Marketing Manager, Mr. Albrecht leads the airport's marketing and communications team that manages air service development, advertising, and public communications. He has held that position with the Port of Oakland for 14 years. Key developments during Mr. Albrecht’s tenure at OAK include:
- In partnership with Oaklandish, Oakland’s own grass roots enterprise promoting “town love”, development of the iconic, globally recognized “I FLY OAK” logo and suite of ads.
- Addition of 51 nonstop destinations to OAK’s route map.
- Board member of Visit Oakland, Chair 2019-2021, and the Oakland Aviation High School.
- Pioneered social media leading OAK as an early adopter of the medium with award-winning campaigns and content programming.
- Work to develop and establish OAK as a primary North American gateway to the State of Hawaii with two airlines, Hawaiian and Southwest, serving the four main islands.
- Developed the innovative partnership with Cal Athletics featuring the “Cal Fly OAK” logo and advertising across Cal Athletics channels and stadium/arena venues.
- Executed innovative and award-winning advertising in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the USA and in Europe and Mexico.
“On behalf of the Aviation Division of the Port of Oakland, I congratulate John for his excellent work in promoting Oakland International Airport over the past 14 years,” says Bryant L. Francis, Director of Aviation at the Port of Oakland. “Throughout the past decade and a half, John and his team have held steadfast on the mission to share with the world the myriad benefits of using OAK as a gateway and what it means to Fly the East Bay Way.”
Albrecht also held roles at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. He also had an accomplished airline career spanning 19 years and was the Regional Vice President of North America and South Pacific at Aloha Airlines which operated the world’s first Boeing 737-700 on extended transoceanic operations between Hawaii and OAK before expanding to other West Coast destinations.
