benchmark report
airline marketing
experiential
cross-media
social soul
flight experience
DELTA
In an effor t to align itself with the ‘creative class ’, Delta has been the official airline sponsor of the annual TED conference for the past few years. Following last year’s installation of a jetlagreducing ‘photon shower ’ at the event in order to showcase its emphasis on sleep comfor t in Business Class, Delta this year at TED 2014 in Vancouver created a room full of monitors, mirrors and sound - called the ‘Social Soul ’. The ‘Social Soul’ allowed TED participants to connect with fellow conference attendees through an algorithm that analyzed their own social stream based on their Twitter feed in order to let them find their ‘social soul-mate’ among other attendees. Those entering the Social Soul structure found themselves
MAY 2014 ISSUE
EMIRATES
surrounded by a 360-degree display of monitors, mirrors and sound, and experience a captivating stream of the imagery, text, video, and audio made from their own Twitter feed and those they follow. Upon exiting, visitors and their matched ‘Soul Mate’ received a tweet encouraging offline connection and fur ther conversation. A video of how the ‘Social Soul’ works is available here . Designed by two digital ar tists in cooperation with experiential marketing agency MKG, the kaleidoscopic experience of notifications, updates, and hashtags was par t of a wider effor t by Delta that also includes a par tnership with LinkedIn - called ‘Innovation Class ’ which was featured in the April 2014 edition of this repor t.
Following last year’s opening of The Emirates Aviation Experience in London (featured in the July 2013 edition), Emirates has opened another A380 simulator at The Dubai Mall in its home in Dubai. Launched April 2014, the new ‘experience zone’ sits alongside the Emirates Official Store at the Dubai Mall. The Emirates A380 Experience introduces visitors to the flight deck of the aircraft, allowing them to experience the thrill of landing and taking off the world’s largest plane from 12 of the world’s busiest airports in differing weather conditions and for example fly past Paris’ historic sites, soar over the canals of Amsterdam, and take in Hong Kong’s cityscape. The simulator is almost exactly the same as a real A380, with users able to control the four aircraft engines, the landing gear and the rudders. Visitors
will be scored on how well they navigate the aircraft, allowing them to compete against family and friends. Commenting on the opening, Emirates Group CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said,“By bringing the Emirates A380 Experience and the Emirates Official Store to Dubai Mall, we aim to connect with a broader audience in a high-traffic lifestyle environment and provide them with a piece of the Emirates brand experience regardless of when they next travel.” The A380 simulator is the centrepiece of the 10th Emirates Store which offers a range of popular branded merchandise. Starting as a line of corporate giveaways, Emirates has progressively developed its range of branded merchandise eventually launching its first Emirates Official Store in 1996.
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TRADITIONAL
