Airline Marketing Benchmark Report September 2016

benchmark report

airline marketing

SEP 2016 ISSUE

A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying Sep 2OI6

Issue 48

benchmark report

airline marketing

welcome.

Published by 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.

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EXPERIENTIAL

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.

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:

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.

TV, PRINT, OOH

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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benchmark report

airline marketing

big book swap

experiential

baby haven CEBU PACIFIC Cebu Pacific had a special delivery in-flight this past month, with the bir th of the first baby onboard one of the airline’s flights.

Baby girl ‘Haven’ was born prematurely about four hours after flight 5J015 depar ted from Dubai International Airpor t, destined for Manila. CEB cabin crew—and two registered nurses who were also passengers on the flight—assisted with the delivery.

The flight was diver ted to Hyderabad, India, to ensure both ‘Haven’ and her mother received medical assistance. Both mother and baby were assisted by CEB’s Customer Care team.

“We are happy that both mother and daughter are doing well, and would like to commend our flight and cabin crew for handling the situation with utmost professionalism and efficiency. We also express our sincerest gratitude to the two volunteer nurses who helped ensure the baby’s safe delivery,” says Lance SEP 2016 ISSUE

JETSTAR Gokongwei, CEB President and CEO. Baby Haven received a very special bir thday present when, CEB awarded her one million GetGo points, which she can use to fly for free throughout her lifetime. The baby’s points won’t expire, and can shared with her family.

The airline’s generosity and the cute baby factor of the story garnered a lot of positive media coverage for Cebu pacific around the world. The story was covered by major travel publications including both Condé Nast and Travel+Leisure , as well as international news outlets including CNN , the Guardian , the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post, the Toronto Sun, BuzzFeed News, The Sun, and many other global publications—including even the Weather Channel !

Everyone loves baby stories, but what makes this one special was the airline’s generosity with their littlest frequent flyer.

Jetstar has gone old-school for educational in-flight enter tainment by introducing a Big Book Swap , touted as an airline world first, in suppor t of Singapore’s National Reading Movement. The airline distributed over 500 books and bestsellers donated by the National Library Board, MPH Bookstores, Select Books, Book Point and Write Editions on July 30th—Singapore’s National Reading Day .

The National Reading Movement is a 5-year campaign by Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) which aims to encourage Singaporeans “to Read More, Read Widely and Read Together.” NLB is running community and nation-wide programmes to encourage more adults to read, promote reading in mother tongue languages and build a vibrant reading culture in Singapore. At the boarding gates of select Jetstar flights at Changi Airpor t Terminal 1, Jetstar passengers could pick up a book to take with them. The airline only asked

that passengers leave books in the seat pocket of their aircraft on their next flight after they’d read it, for another passenger to enjoy. Jetstar customers were also encouraged to share books of their own by asking cabin crew for a special sticker to put on the book’s back and leaving the book in the seat pocket. “Books are an increasingly forgotten form of in-flight enter tainment that can transpor t one to an imaginary adventure even before the flight depar ts,” said Chantal van Wijnbergen, Jetstar’s Southeast Asia marketing manager.

“Likewise, a holiday can be greatly enhanced with a good read, and we hope the books from our kind sponsors, including NLB, can reinvigorate our passengers’ passion for reading, and have the book swap flourish into the world’s first flying, communitydriven book club.” Jetstar also promoted the Big Book Swap on YouTube , where it received more than 80 thousand views.

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life in paradise

five up VIRGIN ATLANTIC Enhancing its reputation as a cool and fun way to fly, Virgin Atlantic recently par tnered with global hotel chain The Mondrian and its critically-acclaimed London bar called Dandelyan to delight premium passengers with creatively mixed cocktails in the Heathrow Clubhouse.

Par t of Virgin’s ‘Five Up’ initiative to provide outstanding big city cocktail bar experiences to guests, and have the chic bars effectively ‘take-over’ its own Clubhouse bars, the week-long Dandelyan pop-up cocktail lounge at Heathrow offered plush décor and selection of five botanical cocktails. According to Mr. Lyan , the acclaimed mixologist behind Dandelyan, the five specially selected drinks and airy, contemporary atmosphere were a hit with passengers.

“Although they weren’t coming specifically to the Clubhouse to experience our drinks, SEP 2016 ISSUE

THOMSON they were keen to try something interesting, unusual and delicious,” commented the Virgin Blog . “We even had a comment that a visitor from the US called us (in the Clubhouse) the best bar in London!”

Over the past weeks, Virgin’s Clubhouse bars around the world have enjoyed takeovers from popular drinking spots in their own cities: From Quinary in Hong Kong and Hinoki & The Bird in Los Angeles, to Employees Only in New York. The final pop-up bar from Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco took place at the end of August.

Each featured bar has been invited to transform the Clubhouse space to reflect their vibe and city culture, to select their own cocktails and use their own staff, and Business Traveller ran a recent feature about it.

UK holiday carrier Thomson Airways (par t of TUI group) has been in the midst of a longhaul fleet upgrade now for several years in an effor t to entice British vacationers onto its planes and into TUI group’s many longhaul holiday resor ts.

The airline has taken delivery of 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and has done some cool marketing campaigns to build awareness of the high-tech planes. These include naming contests , giving away free tickets and creating virtual reality tours of the aircraft before they were even built.

While Thomson has built adver tising effor ts around “high-tech” aircraft, group hotel chain, Sensatori Resor ts, has gone the “low-tech” route with the latest “Life in Paradise” campaign. Life in Paradise adult colouring books (a huge trend ) are being promoted by Thomson on social media

channels and being given out at resor ts to help holidaymakers relax.

Custom-created for Sensatori guests, the Life in Paradise adult colouring books feature scenes from actual Sensatori resor ts that are based on photos taken

by Sensatori ambassador, model, designer and photographer Helena Christen. Nonguests can download it online and via the Thomson Airways Facebook page.

Inside the both the printed books and downloadable books is a fun contest , encouraging people to pull a post card out of the book, colour it in, and post the finished product on social media with the tags #SensatoriStyle and #colourinparadise for the chance to win a £250 holiday voucher

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round the world with star alliance

social

#Missingtype QANTAS Qantas has joined a global campaign to save lives by raising awareness of a greater need for blood donations.

The new #missingtype campaign was originally launched by the UK organisation NHS Blood and Transplant as a call to action after a 30% drop in donations over the past seven years.

As par t of the #missingtype initiative 26 different blood services in 24 countries and hundreds of suppor ting organisations, celebrities and brands from across the world joined forces to highlighting the need for donations by blanking out the blood-type letters A, B, and O in signs and adver tising.

Qantas faded the letter ‘A’ on its website and social media signage to grey or pink to show its suppor t.

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STAR ALLIANCE The airline explains , “In Australia, a blood donation is needed every 24 seconds to provide life-saving treatments to patients - that’s 25,000 donations every week.”

Star Alliance has selected seven travel bloggers to travel Round the World with Star Alliance member airlines and repor t on their journeys.

The Australian Red Cross Blood service, which Qantas suppor ts, needs 100,000 new blood donors over the next year to cope with demand. Qantas put these statistics in aviation terms in a series of tweets , saying for example, “In the time it takes this A380 to take off, four blood donations will be needed.”

While the world’s largest alliance says round-the-world tickets are already popular, it is using this campaign to promote a new simplified booking engine featuring new themed itineraries which cater to the interests of different types of travellers: World Food, World Wonders, Architecture Hotspots, Nature Trail, Aquatic Wonders, Ramsar Wetlands, Natural Wonders, Great Hotels, Spor ts Hotspots, Wine Tasting, Romantic Journey and Luxury Lifestyle.

Each of the bloggers selected document their adventures following one of those themes.

Others who joined the #Missingtype campaign around the world include Belfast International Airport , Brussels Airport , and Wellington Airport .

For example, Foodie travel blogger Mark Wiens is sampling culinary

delights across the globe. Luxury Travel influencer Scott Eddy is sipping fine wines on six continents. Travel blogger and photojournalist couple Megan and Mike Jerrard are enjoying a romantic journey spiced up with wildlife adventures.

Meanwhile SCUBA travel blogger Justin Carmack is diving in different underwater hotspots.

Bloggers and Star Alliance airline members have been sharing updates on the trips and promoting the Round the World itineraries by using the hashtag #StarAllianceRTW on Twitter and Instagram .

The new travel inspiration campaign is a collaboration with Marriott International Hotels, and Round the World themed stories also appear on the Marriott Travel Blog .

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#AirportAthletes

digital

rate my flight

RYANAIR While airlines can’t compete in the actual Olympic Games, Ryanair’s Summer Olympic-themed #AirportAthletes social media campaign has definitely taken home the gold online.

Highlighting bad passenger habits like insanely over-packed luggage, chronically late passengers running to catch their plane and more in a series of clever online clips , Dublin-based Ryanair has shown once again that they are the masters of cheeky, attention-grabbing ad campaigns – like their proposed “Remain Sale” which offered passengers flights as low as £9.99 to encourage the UK to remain in the EU in the height of the Brexit dust-up earlier this year.

Reimagining badly behaved passengers as Olympians par taking in goofy, Olympic calibre events like kayaking down the airpor t terminal people mover, the clips also highlight the benefits of flying the ultraSEP 2016 ISSUE

KLM low-cost carrier, like super low prices and Ryanair’s two free carry-on policy .

Unlike United Airline’s epic and beautifullyshot “One Journey, Two Teams” TV spots featuring U.S. Olympians sprinting through airpor t security and performing dazzling athletic feats in the terminal the aisles of the airplane, Ryanair’s grungier, low-fi spots were definitely geared towards tech-savvy millennials.

Featuring very ordinary-looking men and women in badly lit and often downright dreary airpor t terminals, the spots also have an edgy, cheeky authenticity that suits Ryanair and their hip, no frills passenger base.

Already creating loads of buzz on the carrier’s Facebook page, Ryanair’s #Airpor tAthletes campaign has also generated something of a cult following on YouTube .

KLM is promising to bring transparency to the flights booking process by publishing customer ratings by each flight on the booking engine. The airline has been gathering data on passengers flight experiences through a ‘Rate My Flight System’ and is posting the results of those passenger ratings alongside flight searches. Cumulative star ratings for each flight, based on customer feedback, appear by each flight number as passengers review schedules available for booking.

The number of comments which make up that star rating are also listed. Detailed passenger comment cards on the flight experience appear for each flight.

There are ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’ points for each comment to show what passengers liked or disliked about their passenger experience. KLM says it publishes comments as written, filtering only sensitive personal data on passengers, their seat mates and crew names, and any unsuitable language. The system is being rolled out

slowly and has only been released in the Netherlands and the UK so far, but KLM says it is par t of a larger program of improvements.

“Showing stars in our search-flow is par t of a bigger concept,” says Jan Willem Kluivers, of KLM’s digital strategy team. “This includes informing customers on their upcoming flight information, asking customers how they experienced their flight (enabling repair of any issues) and last, being transparent to future customers but also to our crew on their performance.” Adding ratings to the booking process is par t of a larger trend by airlines to work towards more product transparency for potential customers. Ryanair has recently added a live flight review feature to its passenger app, and recently published its first performance repor t. Various airlines are working with TripAdvisor or Routehappy to give customers metrics which might guide their choices.

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SAS 70 years

kidcationers

SAS SAS is celebrating its 70 year anniversary with a series of stories and initiatives featured in its digital and print Scandinavian Traveller magazine, which reviews the past present and future of the airline. A dedicated landing page on Scandinavian Traveller digital lets readers interact with a historic timeline which features highlights of accomplishments over the decades and select highlights of the airline’s history.

Stories shared include the first 22 air stewardesses, the first intercontinental flights, the first flight over the Nor th Pole, and stories about today’s (and tomorrow’s) passenger experience.

SAS has encouraged frequent flyers who are avid readers of its publication to share their own stories with the editorial team through a dedicated email. SAS has

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SUNWING collected these in a special column called True Travelers’ tales .

The airline has also used the 70th anniversary celebration to give customers insights into its digital strategy which will make passengers travel experiences easier in the near future, as well as some of the technologies its SAS Lab innovation group is exploring .

Finally SAS debuted a dedicated 737800 as its anniversary plane , which will serve routes in Scandinavia, as well as Amsterdam and Dubrovnik airpor ts.

The airline put on a historic flight to commemorate its first1946 flight between Sweden, Norway and Denmark, when the airlines which formed SAS began working together (video) , and shared a video history of its fleet history over the past 70 years.

Sunwing Airlines is a division of Sunwing Vacations offering package holidays to family-friendly resor ts across the Caribbean, Mexico, the USA and Central America. The company’s “Kidcation” program is designed to help parents find kid-friendly holiday deals and prepare for family travel with the help of exper t tips and advice.

a free family holiday (to a destination and resor t selected by Sunwing) and have 15 minutes of fame as a result of their holiday review being featured on the Sunwing Kidcation website , YouTube Channel and in Sunwing’s annual Kidcations magazine.

But Sunwing knows that getting “kidapproval” on family vacations is good for business, so the airline spent much of this summer judging entries and interviewing finalists to find four Canadian kids or teens to become their 2016 “Kidcation Testers” and inspire future “Kidcationers” with the their firsthand reviews.

During the contest period, parents could visit a special website , complete an entry form, upload a family photo and explain why their child deserves to be the next Kidcation Tester. A panel of judges then narrowed the field to ten finalists who they asked to submit a video. From there, Skype interviews with parents and were conducted and the four 2016 winners are due to be announced soon.

The campaign called for travel-savvy kids and teens to enter and audition (with permission and par ticipation from a guardian) between February and June for the chance to become a Sunwing Vacations child ambassador. If picked, they could win

This campaign has seen great regional coverage from the likes of CTV News , Montreal Families , and TravelPress. com .

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luxury awaits above the clouds

the MEA safety video MEA

LUFTHANSA

MEA has released a new destination-based safety video, which takes a page from other popular videos we’ve featured over the years in these repor ts by showcasing iconic landmarks and the natural beauty of Lebanon, while delivering critical safety instructions in a fun and engaging way.

The airline chose to publish it as a Facebook video where it received over 880,000 views and nearly 8,500 likes in just over one week. Most of the comments were very positive with people expressing amusement and pride that Lebanon’s beauty was showcased in this way.

It features a group of dancers standing-in as passengers who are led by two members of crew who tour Lebanon’s mountains, snow covered peaks, ancient ruins, the Jeitta Grotto and the famous Pigeon’s Rock formation on the beach.

One commenter on Facebook who saw the video on the aircraft had this to say: “I saw it on Monday on my way to Nice. amazing It is the first time that I watch the safety instructions. A smar t way to make people watch and pay attention. I looked around.

Everybody was watching.”

The crew and dancers change location as they step and swing through the various safety instructions. Seat belt fastening is demonstrated on aerial ski lifts, and life jacket donning instructions are demonstrated on the shores.

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On YouTube the video had nearly 80,000 views, which is good for one week, but suggests that Facebook might be helping these campaigns get more attention when they are published directly to Facebook.

It’s been a while since an airline attempted to leverage the incredible global traction of Airbnb (the powerhouse travel accommodation sharing website valued at $30 billion) for marketing.

Two years ago, KLM used Airbnb to launch a contest where the winner got to stay in a remodelled airliner. This summer, Lufthansa, gave it a shot with the aim of promoting and selling seats in its long-haul Premium Economy .

In June Lufthansa listed itself as an Airbnb host, with a profile on the peer-to-peer accommodation platform. The airline then created a listing called ‘Luxury Awaits Above the Clouds’ (which has now been removed) listing a bed, four bathrooms, a common room, TV, air conditioning and wireless internet as amenities. In the listing, Lufthansa adver tised its Premium Economy

“accommodation” as follows: “Our cabin isn’t in the woods, but in the sky! Personal food and beverage service at 910km/h.

Multimedia enter tainment is included in our Lufthansa Premium Economy Seat from Frankfur t to NYC and Wi-Fi is available.

Includes return flight.”

The only flight adver tised was a Frankfur t to New York return, so the campaign was clearly intended for the German market.

Passengers who took advantage would have cer tainly saved some cash, as the Airbnb price was just €699 (plus Airbnb fee), while the cheapest fare one reporter found online was about €934.

This story was picked up by several mainstream digital and travel publications including tnooz , The Economist , and Digital Trends .

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fly the new feeling

tv, print, ooh

#FlytheFlag AIR CANADA Thanks to Air Canada and national broadcaster CBC’s very cool Fly the Flag contest, Canadians from coast to coast were recently given the oppor tunity to fly like Olympic champions.

During the Rio Summer Games, Air Canada invited Canadians to post their most patriotic pictures on social media and tag them with #FlyTheFlag and @ AirCanada for a daily chance to win two round-trip tickets.

The official airline of Canada’s Olympic Team since 2006, and its Paralympic Team since 2007, Air Canada estimates that they flew almost 700 Team Canada athletes, coaches and suppor t staff to Rio for the games last month and their pride in their mission extended to the contest via heavy online promotion and an inspiring “Flying the Flag” TV spot that aired during the games.

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VISTARA The TV spot already has more than 2.3 million views on YouTube and at its peak, the contest scored upwards of 500 mentions per hour online via social media. The #FlyTheFlag contest was written up on sites like Marketing Magazine and proved a runaway hit with Facebook users, with Air Canada’s Facebook page generating nearly 1.7K likes per week during the games.

A simple glance at the stunning winners’ photos proves that Canadians everywhere where definitely flying the flag high for this feel-good initiative. And with Air Canada’s Managing Director of Brand, Andy Shibata hinting at even more emotional, hear t-tugging TV spots to come next year in celebration of Canada’s 150th bir thday, this campaign looks to be the star t of something truly golden for all involved.

Indian airline Vistara has been looking to make itself a household name by appointing a celebrity brand ambassador who already is a household name in the country.

Deepika Padukone , a beautiful and high-profile Bollywood actress, is a perfect fit for Vistara as she embodies elegance, sophistication and class; all qualities the domestic full-service airlines believes its target customers are keen on.

Vistara helped build hype around the unveiling of their celebrity ambassador by launching a Twitter and Facebook contest where, over several days, they posted photo clues about their secret star. Social media fans of the airline were invited to guess, using the hashtag #whichstar, who the brand ambassador would be – and enter to win free tickets. The hints and excitement (including a flash-mob ) culminated in a big reveal and a television commercial

which hit Indian airwaves on August 22nd.

It suppor ts Vistara’s brand promise “Fly the new feeling” by showing how new every flight feels to Deepika. The TV spot (which has been viewed more than 3.7 million times on YouTube alone) depicts her in a state of childlike wonder – switching back and for th between star as an adult, and a little girl actress who represents her inner child – as she indulges in the creature comfor ts of a Vistara aircraft.

In a press release, the airline said: “Through this campaign, Vistara wishes to reach out to its core audience of corporate and frequent flyers, who value a seamless, reliable, and consistent service experience above everything else.”

Deepika also graces the cover and inside pages of Vistara’s latest inflight magazine .

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the world’s greatest fliers AMERICAN AIRLINES American Airlines has rolled out a new adver tising campaign that rather than emphasise features such as business class seats or the in-flight enter tainment system, focuses on people. And while other airlines (for example Cathay Pacific and Swiss) have featured their staff, the American campaign is all about passengers. The tagline of the campaign is “the world’s greatest fliers fly American”, with the idea being that if you want to be a great flier, that’s the airline for you.

What do great fliers do? They fly often enough to know correct passenger etiquette, that in turn improves the in flight experience for everyone. For example, one print ad reads, “You know a smile goes a long way on a shor t flight. You know to ask before reclining your seat. But more impor tantly, you know sitting next to you would make for a more pleasant flight.

In fact, you’d probably help you lift your luggage into the overhead.” While it’s a SEP 2016 ISSUE

different approach, the reaction to the new campaign has been mixed . As the New York Times has pointed out, “in an era of smaller seats, longer lines and increasing fees, it is an open question how receptive travelers will be to the message that a positive air travel experience is really in their control.”

Other commentators have taken this argument one step further by claiming that American is essentially telling passengers’ that it is their fault if they are having a bad flight. The danger of this campaign is that by not promising anything, or by not making any points of difference, it could be seen to be highlighting perceived weaknesses.

The campaign will initially be running in key hubs such as Chicago, Charlotte and New York, and will feature print ads, TV spots and 15 second online video ads.

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about us.

SimpliFlying is a global consultancy that believes in thinking differently about aviation marketing. Having worked with over 50 airlines and airports around the world, it has presences in Singapore, UK, Spain, Canada and India.

Today, SimpliFlying advises airlines and airports on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space.

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The firm also conducts MasterClasses to train and develop airline and airport teams to become self-sufficient in executing measurable and rewarding social campaigns.

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