Google and Priceline.com surveyed 15,723 Americans last year and learned that just 8 percent take "Summer Fridays," or the privilege of getting a free day off—thanks, boss—or at least leaving between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on days like today. That small percentage, though, isn't stopping brands from digitally jumping into the theme.Â
For instance, Delta this week announced a "Go Fridays" initiative, complete with a bot that will appear in New York-based companies' Slack channels. For the uninitiated, Slack is a workflow management system that businesses use to expedite internal communications and eliminate email backlog. Programmatic advertising company Spongecell, social news player NowThis and online mattress seller Casper are participating; their staffers will see messages from Delta's Slack bot, encouraging them to send an Out-of-Office auto-reply from their work email addresses.
"Delta will be giving some of New York's busiest people a chance to get out of the office and reboot," said Bill Betz, Delta's general manager, marketing communications.
The underlying message seems not-too-subtle: Hey, it's summertime. Get out of the office and get out of town—and buy a plane ticket to get where you are going!
Delta certainly isn't alone in attempting to capitalize on Summer Fridays.
Leinenkugel, for the second year in a row, is promoting an endeavor called #LeinieFriday, imploring business owners to let their employees off early on Fridays for the next few months. The Chippewa Falls, Wisc.
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