benchmark report
airline marketing
tv ads RYANAIR
As part of its drive to improve its image, Ryanair has released three new commercials , which are the carriers first TV adverts in almost 25 years. The brief 20-second spots highlight three major changes the airline has recently introduced - including new baggage rules, allocated seating, and a new website. These new changes were launched after the carrier in October 2013 announced a drop in passenger bookings combined with a profit warning. The new adverts show an older man calmly browsing Ryanair’s oncecluttered site, a business women with two carry-on bags in tow, and parents with a young child they know they will be able to sit near. In a calculated departure from its previous
MAY 2014 ISSUE
brand strategy, Ryanair’s CEO and public ambassador Michael O’Leary is notably missing from all three ads. However, staying true to Ryanair’s low-cost spirit, the three clips were shot in a single day in order to keep costs down. The airline’s shift in image has attracted a lot of press, due to its historic battle with the media, and the new adver ts were covered by British broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph. The publication ran an online poll to see whether the shift in adver tising would encourage future bookings with the airline. Only 52 percent of respondents suggested they would be more inclined to book with the airline after the campaign, although with the airline’s mammoth 82 million travellers in the last 12 months, this could be translated into a substantial revenue increase.
10
EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TRADITIONAL
