Creative Gimmick Makes the Best of a Missing Plane

An Interesting little marketing stunt was spied on the grounds of AirVenture 2023 in the form of an empty booth space, some floating tie-down ropes, and a sign exhibiting “The World’s First Invisible Plane”.

The stunt is aimed at driving traffic for the operator of N665CC, a fresh new Carbon Cub FX-3 called the ‘Cheshire Cat’ by its owner Mike Daniel. He’s proud of his bird, wrapped in a full body scheme featuring the classic character. When outfitting the aircraft, he elected to create an ‘augmented reality’ addition that results in an animated caricature of the cat coming to life through the phone screen. Since embarking on his project, Daniels has slowly built up a stash of videos on his Youtube page while going out and bouncing around the backcountry in the Cheshire Cat. He’s found some success courting the apparent - but unpaid - sponsorship of Van’s (the shoemaker, not the kit manufacturer) Smith optics, and a kombucha brand.

Why the booth has an “invisible plane” in it remains a mystery. AirVenture plots don’t quite come cheap, but many exhibitors have a bear of a time bringing their wares to the show in time - more than one apparently airworthy display is secretly grounded to sort out some issue found during the trip to Oshkosh. If Daniels did get waylaid along the way, the maneuver is a cute way to make the best of things, an attention grabber, and a fun little mystery for those savvy enough to figure out a QR code (which is sometimes a higher bar than you would think). The link serves as a landing page for Daniels’ adventures, showing off his adventures and collating his socials.

FMI: www.curiouser.cc