50 Years Ago, a Black-Owned Ad Agency Named LAX’s Fly Away Bus.

Founders of Polymedia, Bob Dockery Jr., and Lee Triggs

Fly Away Bus Campaign LAX

Polymedia’s Bob Dockery, Jr. and Lee Triggs look back on winning a competitive bid against nine agencies and the opportunity that made it possible.

ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES, November 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — In 1975, the Black-owned advertising agency Polymedia, won a one-year contract to create and launch a campaign for the Los Angeles Department of Airports bus service between Van Nuys and LAX. Polymedia’s President, Bob Dockery, Jr. and Vice President, Lee Triggs, founded the agency in the early 1970s.

Polymedia’s campaign included a radio jingle recorded by pop singer, Carla Thomas, which aired on KGIL, KABC and KFWB. It urged drivers to leave their cars behind and “Be a FlyAway Rider.” Two weeks after it launched, the LA Times reported the buses were averaging more than 300 passengers a day, with the goal of 1,000 daily passengers expected within a month. Today, LAX’s airport transit service still goes by the name FlyAway.

In the 1970’s, Black-owned businesses rarely got the chance to compete for city contracts, and when they did, their bids were often considered only if no white firm showed serious interest.

The path to the FlyAway contract began in 1975 when R. E. “Bob” Collins, a member of the Airport Commission appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley, organized a January seminar for minority vendors called “How to Do Business in LAX.” Dockery and Triggs heard about the new bus service through the Black Businessmen Association (BBA).

“We were at a BBA meeting in 1975 when Collins announced that the Department of Airports was starting a bus service to run from the Van Nuys airport to LAX in order to alleviate the heavy traffic on the 405 freeway,” said Dockery. “Collins, who was on the airport commission, told them that at least one minority ad agency should be given the opportunity to bid on the contract.”

Polymedia’s winning bid did not come from special treatment. According to the LA Times, “Peggy G. Hereford, the Department of Airports’ director of public and community relations said the decision rested largely on the enthusiasm of Dockery and Triggs’ presentation and on Polymedia’s performance record.”

Polymedia catered heavily to the Black consumer market, but it stood out in its era by using a multicultural team to handle general-market creative work as well. Its clients included Host International, Continental Airlines, the California Nurses Association and Golden Oaks Furniture, to name a few.

Nine other agencies, all white-owned, were competing for the LAX account. “As a Black agency we never doubted that if given a chance, we could compete creatively and execute with the best ad agencies in the country,” said Triggs. “Thanks to Bob Collins and the LAX Department of Airports staff, we were given a DEI opportunity before DEI became the ‘woke’ acronym it is today… we not only won the LAXDA project, [we] helped create a 50-year branding legacy that is still going strong today.”

Polymedia’s win was covered by the Los Angeles Times in an article titled “A FlyAway Success Story,” by J.K. Obatala. The article highlighted how political involvement can create new opportunities for minority businesses.

“I told Lee that the adage that ‘Black people have to be twice as good as whites to get the same consideration’ definitely applied in this case,” Dockery said. “So I decided that we would create an actual ad campaign as though we had already won the account.”

Dockery has watched advertising change a great deal since 1975. “Fifty years ago, there were few, if any, Black people appearing in the same ads with white people. Today, advertising is completely diverse, including race, gender, sexual preference and more.”

Em Fergusson
Em Fergusson PR
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