benchmark report
airline marketing
air on the side of humanity
visit soon
JETBLUE
Back in October 2013 we covered JetBlue’s ‘Air On The Side Of Humanity’ bid to set the airline apar t from its competitors in a cross-media campaign that showed the plight of the ultimate frequent flier – the pigeon – in a documentary style video h that drew playful comparisons of how people are treated on other airlines today with the more respectful way that customers are treated on JetBlue. The latest reprise of the campaign is a five-par t video series titled ‘Shoo’s Bird’s Eye View.’ The mini videos (called ‘vignettes’) are designed to be viral adver ts that are showcased on the airline’s social hub ‘Central Perch ’. Starring ‘Shoo’ - a pigeon on the streets of New York - JetBlue collaborated with comedy website Funny Or Die, to produce
MAY 2014 ISSUE
BRITISH AIRWAYS
the series of ‘branded vignettes.’ The first video spot star ted airing in early April and every week a new video is launched on the site, which is also available on the JetBlue YouTube channel . According to JetBlue, the humorous campaign “delivers multi-media narratives from the perspective of a pigeon that draw playful comparisons on how people are treated by other carriers including cramped spaces, limited snacks, flying on someone else’s schedule and the feeling of being ignored.” Whilst some spots, such as the very first week’s video has only received 10,000 views, Episode 4, titled ‘Going Viral ’ has done just that, receiving 290,000 views in just 6 days.
For the third time in just 12 months, British Airways has created another heart-warming film, called ‘Visit Soon’. Following two previous campaigns, “Visit Mum ” (covered in our September 2013 report) and “Go Futher To Get Closer ”(covered in our March 2014 report), as par t of marketing strategy for India that focuses on introducing India-specific initiatives and create an emotional and meaningful connection with an younger audience, the airline has launched a film aimed at passengers on the Kangaroo route.
her grandparents who are in the UK.
The Visit Soon campaign , created by BA in par tnership with Tourism Australia, features a short video clip that por trays the real life story of Esme Rowling, an eight year old English girl living with her parents in Bondi, Australia. The video focuses on how much Esme misses
BA’s recent videos follows a bigger trend in airline marketing, namely that of story telling, whereby viewers build a deeper emotional attachment to the brand. Other prominent examples include the KLM Surprise and WestJet’s Christmas Travellers campaigns.
When Rowling’s grandparents went to watch a film in London, they were surprised to see the video of their granddaughter on the big movie screen, and even more surprised when they were presented with a flight ticket to Sydney by BA and Tourism Australia. The video has been viewed over 800,000 times within a month on YouTube equaling the success of the previous two campaigns by BA.
8
EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TRADITIONAL
