Airline Marketing Benchmark Report December 2013

benchmark report

airline marketing

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com December 2OI3

Issue 16

benchmark report

airline marketing

welcome.

Published by market research agency airlinetrends.com and aviation marketing strategy consulting firm SimpliFlying, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Repor t contains a wide range of airline marketing case studies each month, providing you with the latest and most innovative social, digital, experiential and traditional airline marketing campaigns recently launched by airlines around the world.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration or are eager to help your airline move into the nex t stage of engagement, while also understanding how your airline marketing initiatives compare to campaigns from competitors in general, these repor ts are indispensable for airline professionals working in the f ield of marketing and corporate communications. The monthly repor ts also help agencies that work with airlines stay on top of the latest innovative airline marketing initiatives.

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

experiential

For any questions about the repor t, please contact Shubhodeep Pal at shubhodeep@simplif lying.com.

As innovative campaigns come in all shapes and sizes, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Repor t is categorized into the following four themes:

Faced with ever more experienced consumers, who routinely ignore the commercials and ads thrown at them, airline brands are finding new ways to break through the adver tising clutter to connect with consumers.

social

Besides engaging their online audience via Facebook and Twitter-based campaigns, the airline industry is also busy experimenting with new social media platforms.

digital

With the huge popularity of smar tphones and tablets, airlines are tapping into these digital platforms to engage consumers, as well as releasing videos online which they hope will go viral.

traditional

Despite the current focus on social, digital and experiential campaigns, airlines continue to serve up creative, traditional media-based, initiatives in order to reach a mass audience.

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experiential

cross-media

europe, just next door

flight therapy brand space

SNCF

DELTA

TBWA/ Paris has produced an interactive campaign in the streets of Paris for French high-speed rail operator SNCF and filmed the results to create a TV short to be shown in cinemas. The premise was simple: Set up a door in various public places in Paris and passers-by curious enough to open the door were greeted to a live, full-size, video conference with various personalities located in cities around Europe.

where their cycling tour guides would take them, or take on their street dance team with a dance-off.

Taking to the streets on the 13th and 16th of September, the live interaction meant passers-by were treated to mime artists, street dancers, bike riders and caricature artists based in cities such as Geneva, Milan, Barcelona, Stuttgart and Brussels. The experience, enabled by live satellite links and a custom-made digital screen that perfectly fit the door frame, let participants pick

“These interactive fun experiences not only created multicultural links among Europeans, but also enabled us all to realize that at the end of the day, Europe it’s just next door” stated TBWA\ on their creation.

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

The video , which so far has generated over 500,000 views on YouTube, was shown in movie theatres in Paris at the start of October, supported by posters on the Paris subway, bus advertsing, and entire stations redesigned in the colours of Europe and SNCF.

Delta Air Lines, possibly the most active airline when it comes to incorporating so-called ‘brand spaces’ such as its Sky360 Lounges , in its marketing mix, held a ‘Delta Flight Therapy ’ sensory experience pop-up event in Otemachi, one of Tokyo’s business districts.

The purpose-built space was set up in front of an office building between 23 and 25 October and combined visual, auditory and olfactory senses to promote Delta’s Business Class experience.

mood lighting that changed dramatically in both color and intensity, with ambient music at the background played via a high resolution sound system. The popup space also gave visitors a chance to experience Arobalance , a relaxation aroma developed by Australian company Air Aroma. Each visitor received a sample of the fragrance.

As Tokyo is a major hub for Delta, with daily flights to cities in the US and Asia, so Tokyo’s CBD was an ideal location to promote the airline’s premium product.

Inside the space, designed by Wieden+Kenney Tokyo , visitors could try out the fully flat bed installed in the airline’s B747-400 business class.

The Flight Therapy module spor ted an organic, futuristic ambience, including

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united chase vip lounge

dream terminal

UNITED

One of the f irst major airline marketing initiatives to celebrate the US holiday season comes from United, who together with its credit card par tner Chase created two VIP lounges in San Francisco and Shor t Hills (New Jersey).

Both SFO and Newark are two of United’s major hubs.

Visitors in both shopping centres can relax with creature comfor ts such as relaxed and cafe seating, complimentary refreshments, gift wrapping, Wi-Fi and f latscreen TVs. The return of both lounges (which also opened during the holiday season in the past two years) are meant to provide a haven for Chase United Card members during their shopping trips between November 23rd and December 24th.

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

JETSTAR

Or as the two companies put it: “Take a break from your holiday shopping at the Chase United VIP Lounge. Our exclusive Chase United Cardmember lounge opens just in time to pamper tired holiday shoppers. Join us and relax at the VIP Lounge.”

In a bid to promote its new 787 Dreamliner experience, Jetstar - the only carrier ‘downunder’ to currently f ly the new aircraft - has created a pop-up experience that will travel around Australia’s shopping centres in order to showcase the aircraft’s new features.

Cardholders can bring up to three guests with them to the lounges and besides offering complimentary perks, the lounges also have a calendar of events, including ‘Football Sundays’ and ‘Toys for Tots Tuesdays’ whereby bringing up to two toys for charity will entitle the par ticipant up to two United Club passes.

Designed by brand experience agency URBAN, the temporary space is dubbed the ‘Jetstar Dream Terminal ’ and uses sensory cues to show the best of the aircraft’s key innovations, including dimmable windows, mood lighting, and comfor table seating. In an interesting off/online twist, Jetstar branded NFCenabled wristbands allow people to take a digital souvenir with them in the form of offers, faux boarding passes and photos.

According to URBAN business director Trish McNamara: “The New Jetstar Dreamliner comes with so many truly innovative features that all translate very well to a live customer experience.”

The ‘Dream Terminal’ tour commenced in Burwood Westf ield (Sydney) on the 17th October, before heading to the Robina Town Centre (Gold Coast) on the 24th and f inishing its tour in Cairns Central between the 31st October and 3rd November.

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social

golden ticket

instant take off

ETIHAD

Etihad celebrated its 10th anniversary last month and to celebrate this fact, the airline paid homage to Roald Dahl’s famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story, whereby a lucky winner would open a bar of chocolate to find a golden ticket.

The point of difference to this story is that with Etihad, the nine winners would be unwrapping their complimentary chocolate bar 35,000 feet above the earth. The lucky tickets were hidden inside complimentary chocolate bars that Etihad handed out to passengers on board inbound flights to Abu Dhabi on the airline’s ‘birthday’ on November 4th. The winners were given a pair of tickets to any Etihad destination of their choice.

To help promote the giveaway and increase longevity of the event, Etihad offered a

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

AIR FRANCE

further and final 10th ticket to one lucky social media follower who wished the airline well with the hashtag #EtihadTurnsTen on Twitter or Instagram. The whole event amassed over 4,000 likes on Facebook, and generally the feedback was positive on all of the airline’s social media channels.

Airlines have offered flights as competition prizes for years, so when ad agency Blueblancrouge created a flight giveaway for Air France Canada this October, they turned the concept on its head.

aboard flight AF351 for a four-day stay in Paris at the Best Western Folkestone Opéra.

According to the airline, over 5,500 people entered the contest of which 500 showed up for the live draw. Video here .

Instead of a simple giveaway on social media, consumers were asked to visit a dedicated Air France microsite and sign up themselves and one companion to receive fictional boarding passes. The passes entitled them to ‘check in’ in person, together with all the other competition entrants, at Toronto’s David Pecaut Square on October 24 with their luggage and passports ready, where one lucky winner was selected.

The campaign was aimed at adults aged 2545 and was supported by promoted posts on Facebook and social outreach through travel bloggers. The winners event was also posted on Instagram .

The winning couple were then transported immediately to Toronto’s Pearson International airport and pampered in the Air France KLM lounge before taking off

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#airnzpaper plane

#below10kfeet DELTA

The FAA in the US recently announced that it has finally allowed the use of electronic devices during all phases of flight. The first airlines to embrace the change in law were both jetBlue and Delta.

To promote the new FAA clearance, Delta launched a clever marketing initiative which encourages passengers to take photos from their mobile devices at low altitude and then (ideally) use the airline’s in-flight wi-fi to share it with their friends using the #below10kfeet hashtag.

The interesting evolution of marketing in the age of the connected traveller is such that Delta was the first to decide to promote something that actually was already being done, as many passengers take sneaky photos during take offs and landings.

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AIR NEW ZEALAND

Furthermore, since #below10kfeet was just a social media hashtag that was being promoted by Delta, jetBlue soon jumped on the bandwagon and started proliferating the hashtag from its own social channels as well.

Air New Zealand is no stranger to using the viral nature of online media to help promote the airline. It has pro-actively cour ted both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises to help raise awareness of the carrier.

The result? jetBlue is being mentioned/ perceived just as much as Delta as one of the saviours of the connected traveller by allowing them to use electronics gate-togate. Although, only Delta is offering a prize of free First Class tickets to those who share there photos.

This time ANZ used its social media outlets to promote the launch of its new ‘fern’ livery that was recently rolled out and is first featured on one of its A320 aircraft.

The airline has created two printable pdf sheets which could be downloaded from its social por tal ‘theflyingsocialnetwork.com ’, and featured cut-out paper planes that could be assembled and played with as executive toys.

Air New Zealand then suggested par ticipants should assemble the planes and take a ‘creative’ picture of the selfmade aircraft. Using both Instagram and Twitter, creators of the origami-jets could showcase their entries using the hashtag #airnzpaperplane.

A variety of entries showed the aircraft in hand-made paper airpor ts, floating above cotton wool clouds, and even on the glareshield of a cockpit, and some of these winning the prize of a real model aircraft of the A320 spor ting the new livery.

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wannagives

#inspiredby

KLM

Dutch airline KLM, one of the main carriers to drive social media adoption in the airline industry, has responded to requests of its online fans and followers to launch its latest social media drive, called ‘Wannagives ’. To be launched in midDecember, the initiative will allow friends, family and colleagues of passengers flying with KLM to treat their loved ones with a surprise during their flight by pre-ordering a gift online. The service was revealed by KLM at the recent Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco.

People can select a gift online – whether a glass of champagne, a fresh orange rose, a watch, or anything else from KLM’s duty free catalogue – which will then be delivered to the passenger’s seat during the flight. A similar service is already offered by leisure-oriented airlines such as

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

LUFTHANSA

Virgin Atlantic and Thomson in the UK, but KLM is the first airline to offer the service via social media, lowering the barrier and adding a cool twist to it. According to KLM, the aim of the concept is to showcase KLM as an airline that cares for its customers.

The new Wannagives service is inspired

by KLM’s 2010 ‘Surprise ’ initiative whereby foursquare travellers were surprised by KLM with a personalised gift at the airpor t that was based on their online profile. KLM Surprise proved to be a massive success for the airline, gaining over 1 million hits on Twitter witin in a month and it paved the way for a variety of social media initiatives since.

Launched on November 25th, the premise of Lufthansa’s new #inspiredby social media campaign is to show how travel can enrich ones life. Featuring on both YouTube and Facebook (along with the #inspiredby hashtag appearing in Twitter and Instagram), the campaign looks to collate accounts of inspirational events from Lufthansa’s passengers and crew during their travels.

The campaign is aimed at a younger internet-savvy audience which interacts over social media channels so as to share their authentic travelogues with other travellers. The difference with other airline travel campaigns is that the focus of the content is on the person, rather than the destination.

off with the story of German Moritz Aust, a 17 year old photographer who repor ts on his f irst-ever trip abroad with Lufthansa to Oregon, USA. Other examples of stories the campaign has created sofar include Lars, who competed in the Iron Man competition on Hawaii, and Anne, who discovered a passion for f lamenco in Madrid.

Subscribers to the campaign, that will run until January 2014, will be offered weekly updates featuring other travelogues, which are produced in cooperation with production company VICE.

Lufthansa’s #inspiredby initiative kicked

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digital

choose your own adventure

look up

BRITISH AIRWAYS

British Airways latest promotional campaign, dubbed ‘Yourope ’, cleverly makes use of YouTube’s interactive features in a new video series that looks to generate demand for BA’s European destinations of Rome, Paris, Berlin and Barcelona.

Shot as a point-of-view first person experience, the viewer is transported via a series of feel-good short clips simulating their experience of British Airways from check-in to arrival into the city of their choice.

From there, the viewer can make a choice between two different sides of the city.

Berlin is split into Punk & Posh , Paris is Classic & Curious , Rome offers Old & New and Barcelona can be viewed

by Day or by Night . The narratives then direct the viewer through the city using slightly less obvious impressions of the city, giving a truer natural experience. Helping

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

BRITISH AIRWAYS

generate further traffic, the end of each clip then links the viewer back to the rest of the series of videos.

So far, both Barcelona and Paris have proved the most popular interactive video tours, gaining on average 20 percent more traffic than Berlin and Rome. All the videos were created by Ogilvy & Mather.

The videos are also done in bursts, bringing in short clips in a montage of travel experience. This delves into the Vine-style short video clip experience, while also reflecting the indelible, episodic memories that travel delivers. The campaign is part of an integrated whole, with a Vine promotion and Pinterest boards coming up next to encourage travelers to share their own 6-second postcards and other favorites in these destinations.

British Airways has worked with Ogilvy’s digital arm 12th Floor to custom-f it digital billboards with surveillance technology that detects and activates the billboards when the airline’s f lights pass overhead.

that will also help promote the points of difference the airline offers, such as ‘Fly the new A380 to Los Angeles. ba.com/ lookup’, or details such as the lowest fare available or the temperature at the destination.

Located in Piccadilly Circus and Chiswick in London, when the billboard ‘detects’ a BA f light f lying below the clouds that is visible to passers by, a child star ts running, pointing up to the sky – chasing the airplane. The billboard then updates to ref lect the f light details, like “BA f light 475 from Barcelona”, along with a URL ba.com/lookup . Onlookers can then go online and view destination details and ultimately make a booking.

The online video of the billboards in action has now gone viral and has already amassed 750,000 in less than 10 days, becoming an adver t in itself. It has been suppor ted by a microsite and the hashtag #lookup.

The f light messages are accompanied by other relevant messages to the f light,

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traditional

invest on-board

westjet channel

TURKISH AIRLINES

Istanbul’s startup sector, known as the ‘Digital Bosphorus’, is thriving. So when Turkish Airlines wanted to promote the city’s technology and Internet start-ups, it decided to do something different. The airline’s new ‘Invest On Board ’ program streams pitch videos from startups to the in-seat screens of passengers in Business Class, providing participating startups with a captive audience for their pitches.

Or as THY puts it: “Invest on Board is a one of a kind opportunity for investors flying Turkish Airlines Business Class to invest in hand-picked startups. Finding the next big business has never been so effortless.”

The aim of the program is to help investors take advantage of a time when they are typically away from their phone and business tasks and can concentrate on the

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

WESTJET

presentations. If any of the startups seem interesting, their contact details are made available for investors to follow up once they’re on the ground.

The project, which is also showcased on YouTube and on a microsite , is run by Turkish startup accelerator Etohum and the short videos, which run under two minutes, advertise mostly Turkey-based startups.

Participating startups in the first batch of IFE pitch videos include home accessories e-commerce site Dekoreko, commerce platform Ganipara, and dating service Pembe Panjur. Startup companies can apply via the ‘Invest On Board’ website for a chance to be featured on Turkish Airlines’ IFE system.

With an international first, Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet has purchased an entire TV channel as part of a marketing drive in Canada. In a partnership with media agency Media Experts, the airline has launched a 24-hour TV channel, available to Rogers Cable customers in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

Until February 2nd 2014, channel 206 On Rogers Cable TV will be dubbed WestJet Channel and will provide a continuous 24hour a day coverage of the airline. Targeting adults between 25-54, the WestJet Channel is a combination of original and repurposed content. Cameras will capture ground crews preparing the airline’s Boeing Next Generation 737 aircraft for take-off as they load baggage and push the aircraft back prior to taxiing to the runway.

The digital channel will also feature a series of roughly 30 second spots dedicated to various elements of WestJet’s business, from behind the scenes footage to montages of a selection of WestJet’s destinations.

Viewers are also encouraged to chat with WestJet about the channel by tweeting with the hashtag #WestJetChannel and over the course of the channel’s 13-week run there will be three Twitter-based contests .

Viewers are being driven to the channel by a combination of external sources, from social media through to online banners and TV sports running on other Rogers-owned TV channels. To help promote the channel, a tongue-in-cheek short promo video about the new cable channel features on WestJet’s YouTube channel.

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just another day in middle-earth AIR NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand has benefitted massively from its connection to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ franchise in the past years, producing a wealth of viral and safety videos, with even film director Peter Jackson having a cameo in one of the previous films.

Tourism New Zealand figures from last year’s marketing activity around The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey show that 82 percent of international survey respondents stated the campaign increased their interest in New Zealand, with 8.5 percent of international visitors to New Zealand during January-March this year said The Hobbit Trilogy was a factor in stimulating their interest in New Zealand and one percent said it was the most important factor.

this December of the latest The Hobbit episode - The Desolation of Smaug - ANZ released a new video titled ‘Just Another Day In Middle-Earth ’. The video, which got nearly 200,000 views on the first day it was put on YouTube, features real-life ANZ staff and showcases a ‘behind the scenes’ of the airline, but with the staff slowly being revealed as elves, dwarves and other fantastical creatures from the Tolkien world.

ANZ’s new video also features Kiwi Dean O’Gorman , who plays dwarf Fili in the movie, and the voice of Sylvester McCoy, a.ka. Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit Trilogy. The 2:30 min YouTube video, which so far has generated over 1.5 million views, is the first part of a broader marketing campaign by ANZ that will be launched in the coming weeks.

In anticipation of the upcoming release

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE

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A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world

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SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com of the most A monthly selection August 2013 campaigns innovative marketing around the world launched by airlines

At SimpliFlying, we believe in thinking differently about aviation marketing. We thrive at the intersection of aviation and marketing, and in the past four years have advised over 30 airlines and airports on customer engagement and marketing strategy. Our growing clientele includes Airbus, LATAM Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Toronto Pearson and more.

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