Airline Marketing Benchmark Report-January 2018

AIRLINE MARKETING BENCHMARK REPORT January 2018 and Issue 63

PACK ASSISTANT KLM

THE PRODIGAL BROTHER

BY VIRGIN ATLANTIC AND DELTA

GET PACKING

BY JETBLUE

WELCOME Published by aviation marketing strategy consulting firm SimpliFlying, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Report 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 next 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 field of marketing and corporate communications.

The monthly reports also help agencies that work with airlines stay on top of the latest innovative airline marketing initiatives.

For any questions about the report, please contact Dirk Singer at dirk@simpliflying.com.

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INSIDE This issue features: 1. KLM - CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH - Pack assistant 2. British Airways - Top 18 for 2018 3. Delta - Letters to Delta 4. JAL - The airline on the dot 5. JetBlue - Get Packing 6. Lufthansa - Stellar Tour 7. Qantas - Pupgrade 8. VietJet - The VietJet Bikini Collection 9. Virgin Atlantic and Delta - The Prodigal Brother 10. West Jet - WestJet Christmas Miracle

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CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH

KLM - PACK ASSISTANT 4

KLM regularly features in our monthly reports for a number of reasons. One reason is that it is a leader in embracing new technology innovations. It thinks about how this technology can help the business and enhance the passenger experience.

Meanwhile last month we talked about KLM’s ‘Care Tag’, a GPS-enabled smart luggage tag you put on your rucksack or handbag and which guides you around Amsterdam using the voices of KLM cabin crew. Originally only in English, the Care Tag is being produced in other languages in 2018.

For example, in November we covered the launch of ‘BB’, which stands for Blue Bot, The latest tech innovation is an interactive but we suspect was also chosen to make voice-driven ‘Pack Assistant’, which also people think of the Star Wars Droid, BB8. runs via the BB Bot, but this time on the Google Home service.

With BB, you can now book tickets over Facebook messenger without having to Once you’ve connected to Google Home, talk to a human being - unless you really BB asks you where you are travelling to, want to (or have to). when you plan to go and how long you plan to stay. From there, BB provides a list

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of recommended supplies you will likely the entire customer journey.” need to make your stay a successful one.

According to KLM, BB has her own Pieter Groeneveld, Senior Vice President personality, which KLM calls “friendly, Digital at Air France-KLM, said: “KLM is professional and edgy.” As well as well known for its personal approach. booking tickets via Messenger and KLM’s new service on Google Home with providing packing tips on Google Home, BB is the next step in its innovative digital KLM plans to launch more BB-focused strategy and the first step on voice, services through different social media offering personalised service through channels in 2018.

Google Home with the help of artificial intelligence.

KLM isn’t the only airline experimenting with AI and with voice-responsive KLM’s interactive pack assistant shows the services such as Alexa or Google Home. added value offered by KLM throughout In November, Air Canada launched new

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KEY TAKE-AWAY We’re big fans of KLM’s smart tech innovations because they are not PR and marketing stunts, they are real. By contrast, easyJet got a lot of coverage when it launched a pair of interactive “sneakairs” in Barcelona in 2016, but since then this initiative hasn’t been heard of again. We assume it was a case of ‘job done’ (get extensive media pick-up).

‘Alexa Skills’ offering passengers flight status information, fare quotes, mobile app tips, and general travel information via devices that support the Amazon Alexa service.

Meanwhile, American Airlines has adopted Alexa Skills developed by inflight entertainment company, Spafax, which will allow allows you to query Alexa-powered devices about what movies and programs will be shown on flights, including details about actors and film ratings.

KLM launched it’s Pack Assistant via a YouTube film where social media influencers were shown trying it out prior to trips to Geneva, Amsterdam and Nairobi.

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Contrast this with KLM, which is using smart technology to produce things which are new, genuinely useful, and get the airline coverage all at the same time.

For example the Care Tag started in English, and is now being produced in other languages. We can also see scope for it to be produced for other cities, as well as Amsterdam. It is an idea that is scale-able.

As is ‘BB’, KLM’s bot which is now being used across both Facebook Messenger as well as Google Home. Yes, the tech is still imperfect but the point is it will get better and smarter and KLM is making the necessary commitment and investment now.

Congratulations to KLM for showing how smart tech should be done right, and for being our campaign of the month.

TOP 18 FOR 2018 - BRITISH AIRWAYS

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What are the top 18 travel hotspots for 2018? According to British Airways, they include Nashville, Muscat, Oakland, Croatia, Seoul and Tallinn.

To bring the ‘Top 18 for 2018’ list to life, BA worked with listing and entertainment magazine Time Out on 8-9 December. A “Pop Up” cargo container appeared in London’s Covent Garden area, complete In a press statement announcing the with British Airways branding. predicted hotspots, BA said that “highlyanticipated sporting events, and TV Passers-by who stopped to look at the programmes all influence the top travel container, then had the chance to speak predictions. to ‘Cornelius’ from British Airways, who gave them a series of questions and “The latest season of Game of Thrones challenges for a chance to win flights. has put Croatia firmly on the map, and For example, they had to open hatches a number of far-flung destinations in the container and tell ‘Cornelius’ what rank among the top picks, including was inside.

Barbados and Muscat.” What’s implicit but left unsaid is that BA has of course British Airways previously collaborated chosen these destinations with an eye on with Time Out earlier in the year, when a boosting seat sales to them. “pop up” Carribean themed supper-club appeared for one day in London.

For example, the Seychelles made the list, after the airline announced two weekly In fact, London was awash with airline flights between LHR and and Seychelles pop-ups in 2017. Last month we talked International Airport as of March 24, 2018. about Air Canada’s Poutine Pop-up.

Other airlines that have created pop-ups Nevertheless, the fact is that just like include Norwegian, easyJet, Air New with its ‘17 for 2017’, and ‘16 for 2016’ Zealand and SWISS - to name just a few. announcements, BA got good PR mileage out of ‘18 for 2018.’

Why? Are Londoners specifically receptive to pop-ups? We’d suggest an A number of websites and media outlets alternative explanation - London is the ended up covering something that, HQ of a lot of international ad agencies. initially at least, cost the airline nothing.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY We’re not against pop-ups as such, some are very creative and effective.

For example, our October campaign of the month was the Lufthansa Interactive Travel Kiosks, where shop owners from around the world were virtually beamed into a booth that was set up around German cities, to ‘sell’ their wares to shoppers in real time.

As we mentioned last month when covering the Air Canada Poutine, “reach for the pop-up” is one way in which agencies can upsell additional projects and services to clients. Pop-ups look creative and innovative.

The result is normally a nice video showing delighted passers-by interacting with it and winning prizes. But - how many people actually see it and is it a good return on the investment it takes to create it?

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It worked because it had the kind of wow factor that got it seen by many more people than the few thousand who would have passed by it - or the few hundred (at most) who will have interacted with it.

However pop-ups aren’t cheap, and it is important for anyone pitched a pop-up idea by a creative agency to look at both the idea (is it different than what’s been done before) as well as the exploitation plan (will anyone see or hear about this other than the people who physically walk past it).

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DELTA - LETTERS TO DELTA

Over the past few years a number of airlines have launched campaigns where the aim is to surprise or reward passengers. For some airlines, this takes the form of a stunt involving one or more flights of passengers, who are then given free flights.

A good example is WestJet, which last year created a giant illuminated Las Vegas ‘wheel’, visible to passengers on a Toronto - Las Vegas flight. The wheel spun,

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the winning ‘number’ (corresponding to a seat number) won a $2,500 shopping spree, while every passenger received free flights. See also the WestJet Christmas Miracle article in this edition.

Another approach is for airlines to help passengers with a particularly compelling story. For example, in both the November and December editions, we covered #BAMagic, an on-going scheme by British Airways which among other things has

helped a young girl undergoing cancer treatment realise her dream of becoming a stewardess, and flew a man recovering from a series brain injury to Ireland and Australia.

In “Letters to Delta”, Delta is adopting a similar approach to British Airways. In what appears to be an ad-hoc one off piece of activity, Delta produced a film just before Christmas chronicling the story of “Baby Colten” and his parents.

letters” from customers every year, and that this is story “62,792.” The film then talks about a farming couple from Minnesota, which moved temporarily to Colorado for work with their newborn son - Colten.

When it was time to move back Colten was diagnosed with a life threatening respiratory illness, which meant the mother had to stay behind while the father went back to the farm. The film then replays a phone call made to a Delta customer The short film starts with a message that services representative called Ann, who, Delta receives “thousands of positive with the help of her supervisors, took it

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upon herself to rearrange the family’s flight back at no extra charge, and to an airport which was closer to home for the family.

The film finally concludes with Delta flying the family to surprise and thank Ann at her desk, for her efforts.

When watching the film we thought it was effective because it was human, believable and something a lot of people could relate to. No, Delta didn’t fly the family halfway around the world or provide some kind of luxury package, this was essentially just a simple flight change.

But it showed how something (relatively) small can make a big difference. It also put the spotlight on Delta employees in both showing the human face of the brand, while also suggesting that they have the leeway to make decisions such as this, as opposed to adopting a rule book mentality.

We don’t know if Delta is considering extending ‘Letters to Delta’ into a regular series, but they should.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY As a piece of PR this works precisely because it doesn’t involve a huge stunt or ‘trip of a lifetime’ type prize. It involves things a lot of people can relate to: A family member getting sick (in this case an infant), unforeseen events meaning your flights have to be changed at the last minute and having to depend on someone at the other end of the phone to show some sympathy and bend the rules to help you out.

You watch it and think “that could have been me” and “thank god the airline helped them out.” Delta could do worse than to extend ‘Letters to Delta’ into a regular campaign.

As an airline - what can you do to bring everyday stories like this to life?

JAL - THE AIRLINE ON THE DOT

In November, a Tokyo train company made headlines around the world because of its abject apologies after a train left all of 20 seconds too early. In many people’s minds, this reinforced something Japan is associated with - obsessive time keeping.

The campaign links to the fact that JAL has been the world’s most punctual airline five times. It is supported by an online video and TV ad called ‘Happiness.’ That ad talks about the importance of time when it comes to travel.

Japan Airlines via advertising agency MC Saatchi has taken this concept and blended it with another symbol of Japan - the red sun on the Japanese flag, or red ‘dot.’ The result is a brand campaign, “the airline on the dot.”

‘Happiness’ alternates images of JAL aircraft and passengers and loved ones.

It then talks about how “time is precious, for those who fly and those who wait.”

The ad then ends with talking about JAL’s excellent on-time record.

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According to M&C Saatchi Tokyo CEO Tamio Koshino, “The Airline, On the Dot message trickles down from the rational to the emotional. Whether it’s someone making it on time to a business meeting or a parent arriving in time for their child’s birthday or meeting their loved ones for that special day, it’s about getting passengers to where they need to be safely and on time.”

First of all, Campaign made the point that good time keeping is not a trait exclusive to Japan. People think the same thing about (e.g.) Germany or Scandinavia.

Secondly Campaign pointed out that sometimes delays are unavoidable, for example in extreme weather conditions and that JAL could be setting itself up for a fall by making promises it can’t keep.

Finally, Campaign talked about timekeeping being more of a hygiene factor.

It is simply something you expect, and some other differentiator (e.g. Japanese hospitality) needed to be added.

When watching ‘Happiness’ we thought it was relatively flat and uninspiring as a piece of communication. And we are not the only ones, in a review, Ad Industry trade magazine Campaign raised a number of issues.

We agree and a good example of an

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airline that did that was SAS, which as far back as 2011 ran a campaign around punctuality. The way SAS chose to do that was to release an app called ‘Time Killer.’

This was ostensibly aimed at passengers of other airlines, for them to play while they are waiting for their delayed flights at the airport.

‘Time Killer’ worked because it was fun and creative. It made a serious point, but in a light hearted way.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY You don’t expect an airline to be late, so the JAL claim does have an element of ‘so what’ about it. And would the fact that JAL’s on time rate is a few percentage points higher than that of its nearest competitors really be enough to get frequent travellers to switch?

Reliability is of course an important message, but as Campaign pointed out, there needs to be something else as well.

The SAS example is a good one. The fact that they made an app for passengers of other airlines says both ‘we’re on time’ but also ‘we are fun and human.’

JETBLUE - GET PACKING

If you were looking for an alternative to the usual Christmas game of Monopoly or Risk with the family, JetBlue had the answer. In December, JetBlue’s marketing team came up with the idea to produce a board game called “Get Packing.”

Whoever filled up their board first won the flight.

“The holidays are all about celebrating traditions and creating new memories.

But, we know that even the happiest families can get caught up in the tension The game included the usuals of cards, of the holidays,” said JetBlue’s Manager of dice, a rule book, a board….and a flight Advertising and Content Heather Berko. voucher. All for $20.

“With this in mind, we created “Get Designed for 3-6 players (i.e. for a family), Packing!” to save you from awkward the goal was to take a packing board and moments by literally getting you out of fill it up with items needed for a “trip.” there with a real JetBlue flight certificate.”

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to sell out very fast. When passengers Twenty dollars for a fun board game AND logged in to try and buy the game at the a flight voucher? Where’s the catch? alloted time of Noon on 12 December, Well, first of all your chances of getting none were available. your hands on one would have been infinitesimally small. That’s because the A backlash ensued, with Business Insider airline only produced 200 of them. And reporting that one angry customer ended up selling them on the world’s even starting using the hashtag most popular online retailer - Amazon. #jetbluepackingscam. Many suspected com that automated bots snapped up the games, with the aim of selling them on.

This is of course after the game was heavily promoted to JetBlue’s 1.3 million One Twitter reaction, typical of many, Facebook, 260k Instagram and 2.1 was: “Congratulations @JetBlue for million Twitter followers. pissing off and alienating thousands of customers. Did ANYONE get the game?

Combine a social media following in the Or was it a publicity scam? millions and an e-commerce platform with customers in the hundreds of millions and Indeed, third party sellers - many of who you’ve got a recipe for something like this employ bots as part of their Amazon

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shop - starting offering the game on for $40 (i.e. at 2x the original price), with one even selling it for $9,999.

In response, JetBlue subsequently decided to relist the game. In a statement: “Get Packing! sold out within seconds at 12:00pm ET today on Amazon. We are aware of the current situation and are working diligently with Amazon to confirm all sales are legitimate and further investigating any potential bot and/or reseller scenarios. We will be restocking the game on December 18 at 3:00pm ET.” Another airline that gave away free flights at Christmas via a game was SAS, which worked with Visit Denmark. #FindingHygge was a daily sweepstakes in the form of an advent calendar.

Customers opened each door with the chance of winning a prize.

These included everything from a three day ‘foodie’ trip to Copenhagen, to a surf trip to Denmark’s wild West Coast.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY Jet Blue’s idea was fundamentally sound and ticked a lot of boxes. Do something for families.

Create a Christmas promotion that is fun and stands out from all the promotional Festive noise.

And create an offer that people actively want to get their hands on (e.g. a flight ticket for $20 via game).

While the idea was great, it fell down in the mechanics by hyping customer expectations to a level that the airline couldn’t meet.

Using Amazon also meant that professional marketplace sellers were able to get their hands on the game, which further stoked customer resentment.

Jet Blue would have been better off taking what was a very good idea and running the game as a random lottery (e.g. enter for a chance to get the game for $20). On the surface, not as PRable, but it would have avoided a lot of problems.

LUFTHANSA - STELLAR TOUR

In early December, Lufthansa joined a select group of airlines - those awarded five stars by Skytrax. Others currently include Etihad, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Indeed, not only is Lufthansa the only European airline on the list, it is the only non-Middle East or Asian carrier.

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Not all aviation bloggers agreed with the decision. For example, ‘One Mile at a Time’ wrote a piece claiming that “Skytrax has lost all credibility with their Lufthansa 5-Star ranking”, taking issue with Lufthansa being (partially) given the accolade because it revealed it’s 2020 business class product early i.e. something that passengers couldn’t actually experience yet.

For example, a Reuters piece, which would have informed wider media coverage, talked about Lufthansa “investing billions in renewing its fleet and improving its cabins as it seeks to win customers in a fiercely competitive market.”

To mark the occasion, Lufthansa first of all changed ‘Lufthansa’ to ‘5 Star Hansa’ on some of its aircraft.

However, beyond aviation trade bloggers, Linking in with ‘Five Stars’ it then ran a the business media (i.e. the media most content-led social media campaign called business class passengers actually read) the ‘Stellar Tour.’ by and large covered it positively.

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This involved a video, where the Lufthansa ‘bird’ was formed in the sky by linking up stars. The airline then announced that it was celebrating five stars by visiting the best star-gazing places on the planet.

A series of posts, took Lufthansa’s social media fans to a series of locations, including the Swiss Alps, Tenerife and Japan.

The photography for the posts was beautiful, and the subject-matter made perfect sense.

However at the same time we wondered if more couldn’t have been done around the ‘stellar’ theme. For example, the posts could have easily been extended to a photo competition involving Lufthansa’s wider fan base, a series of social videos touring great stargazing locations, and work with an astronomer and / or a famous star gazer.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY Some trade bloggers may have been less than impressed, but wider coverage about Lufthansa’s new five star status was almost completely positive, touching upon two points in particular - the fact that it is the only European airline with five stars, and the investment Lufthansa had been making in its fleet and different products.

Even in your average business class cabin, most passengers may have a vague awareness of who or what Skytrax is, but little awareness of how the stars are awarded. However, saying “one star”, “three star” or “five star” will automatically say something to them.

As a result, this accolade is more than just a fancy plaque and logo, Lufthansa will get mileage from actively marketing it.

The ‘Stellar’ campaign was good, but as we’ve mentioned if anything it didn’t go nearly far enough. A lot more elements could have been added, in particular social photography and social video.

QANTAS - PUPGRADE

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According to a 2011 study, airports are “are more stressful than work or moving house.” So , if you are experiencing stress, how can this be reduced (other than create a different airport experience of course)?

keep their blood pressure lower during times of mental stress than patients without pets.

Those two insights - the stress associated with travel, and the calming power of pets - led to Qantas staging a “Pupgrade” stunt Common stress-busting solutions in December, in the domestic terminal of include everything from massages Sydney Airport. and aromatherapy to soothing music.

Stress relief solutions also often include Staff brought in a litter of Tarmaruke animals. For example, in a 2001 study, puppies, who had been “‘specifically researchers found that pet-owning trained for stress relief”, making them the patients with high blood pressure could perfect airport companion. Passengers

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were told that the pups were there to relieve the stress of Christmas so that they’d leave in the right frame of mind for the holidays.

say passengers were not allowed to take the puppies with them on board, but they were allowed to cuddle them in the departures area.

According to the Daily Mail, as well as The whole stunt was then turned into a being friendly and sociable, they are bred short video, which Qantas released on to have “no doggy odour.� Needless to social media.

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Qantas is not the only airline to have worked with dogs or other animals.

In 2015, United did something very similar by bringing 230 certified “Comfort Dogs” to airports in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark and Washington/Dulles. Passengers who uploaded a photo of them petting a dog, were entered into a competition to win flights.

Meanwhile, for several years, Virgin America staged “Operation Chihuahua.”

This involved abandoned dogs being transported from California, to the East Coast of the USA for adoption.

In 2016, Virgin America combined Operation Chihuahua with a “Tiny Dogs, Tiny Fares” sale where not only were flights put on sale at a discount of up to 30%, every booking resulted in a $10 donation to Virgin America’s animal shelter partners.

With Virgin’s new owner, Alaska Airlines retiring the Virgin America brand, it appears that Operation Chihuahua has now finished.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY Using pets and animals in marketing campaigns can work, with Forbes saying that “pets are serious business for marketers.” However, the key is tying it back to the brand and we’d agree with this quote from the Chief Strategy Officer of global ad agency BBDO Abbot Mead Vickers:” “Of course using cute animals in ads is an easy fix – which is why we shouldn’t shy away from using them. You only have to see the number of YouTube videos featuring cats and dogs to understand people’s endless fascination with them.

The challenge is to make a commercial get its communication across without it becoming just another nice film about an animal.”

VIETJET - THE VIETJET BIKINI COLLECTION

There is a saying that any publicity is good has seen it achieve just that. Of course, publicity, and Vietnamese airline VietJet this is not a calendar featuring scenic has certainly had plenty of it recently. holiday destinations or the airline’s newly acquired A321 aircraft. Instead, it features As a low cost airline which serves Vietnam, bikini-clad models.

South East Asia and China, you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see it get worldwide VietJet has made a name for itself over the coverage outside the region. years as the ‘bikini airline’. For example, 2012, the airline was fined for having five Yet, a calendar launched by the airline beauty contest finalists perform “an in-

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VietJet talked about is the annual calendar. Rather than actual staff, the airline recruited professional models who posed in red and yellow (the VietJet colours) lingerie.

This includes, Celine Farach, a 20-year-old American musician and model who has almost a million followers on Instagram.

Different pages in the calendar feature models draped over the cockpit seats, flight bikini show” without first gaining on the luggage carousels, and in front of permission, on its maiden flight to the VietJet aircraft. Bizarrely, VIetJet says tourist hub of Nha Trang. that the aim is to “showcase the airline’s high quality service.”

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Vietjet had to do something fairly unusual for an airline Needless to say, VietJet’s calendar has - it had to promise to make sure all its both gone viral and has been controversial. staff would be fully clothed. This was as VietJet launched flights to Jakarta, with As Reuters reports, critics point out that Indonesia of course being the world’s VietJet’s approach objectifies women, and biggest Muslim-majority country. sexualsies the image of flight attendants and passengers at a time where sexual At a press conference, VietJet’s deputy harassment is a growing issue for the director for commercial affairs, Jay L airline industry.

Lingeswara, told journalists that the airline only featured bikini-clad flight The airline remains unrepentant, with attendants on “specific occasions” and VietJet’s female billionaire owner, Thi said that services to Jakarta would be Phuong Thao claiming that showing appropriate for the Indonesian market women in this way is actually empowering (which includes serving Halal food). given Vietnam’s conservative culture.

One of those special occasions that And according to Luu Duc Khanh, VietJet’s

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KEY TAKE-AWAY Vietjet’s approach is certainly unusual, we will will give them that. However it falls down on a number of counts. First of all, it is clearly sexist and demeans what is a serious job that requires skill, professionalism and high levels of customer care (being a flight attendant).

Secondly, you could argue it does nothing to tell you what flying with VietJet is actually like. The airline claims that the calendar promotes a high quality service.

How so? How many people who own the calendar will see anything other than the models?

managing director, “We are not upset when people associate us with the bikini image. If that makes people delighted and happy, then we’ll be happy.”

VietJet is not the only airline to have used bikini wearing staff as a marketing stunt.

In 2014 Irish LCC Ryanair produced its own bikini calendar with proceeds of the sales going to a cancer charity.

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As the Jakarta flight launch showed, it could cause problems for VietJet in certain markets and it is not what a mature brand does. You can still be fun and creative without going down this road, as the hundreds of articles and case studies we’ve produced in these reports demonstrate.

Indeed it is worth noting that Ryanair’s repositioning, which saw them adopt a more professional and customer focused image, came shortly after the 2014 calendar launch. In a sense, the calendar was the last campaign from the ‘old’ Ryanair, it would be difficult to imagine the Ryanair of 2018 doing something similar.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AND DELTA - THE PRODIGAL BROTHER

In 2013, Delta acquired half (49%) of UK airline Virgin Atlantic. According to Virgin, the result is “an airline partnership that truly redefines transatlantic travel”, with the two airlines being ‘co-located’ at major airports such as LHR, JFK and LAX. Virgin and Delta are now promoting the partnership through a marketing campaign called ‘Together we make togetherness.’ The first effort was a Christmas themed TV ad produced by US ad agency Figliulo & Partners (F&P), called “The Prodigal Brother.”

UK until 25 December, a man flies from the US to London where he bursts in unannounced on his brother and his family.

He proceeds to give the three children identical red scarves as a Christmas present after which he spins a tale about yaks, the Andes and a wise man called Socrates as a way of apologising to his brother for once ruining his wedding. As well as admitting that he is only there because he got dumped by his girlfriend in the US.

In the TV spot, which ran in the US and “We wanted to convey to our shared

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customers the benefits of flying with Cronin, The Prodigal Brother is the start of Virgin and Delta,” explains Virgin Atlantic a wider marketing collaboration between Chief Marketing Officer Claire Cronin. the two airlines, which will see quarterly campaigns being produced in 2018.

“We’re super proud of our shared commitment to our partners and we As the lead creative agency, F&P was asked Figliulo & Partners to come up with chosen not only on the quality of its work, a vehicle to help convey that. The thing but because it has a significant client base that came out loud and clear, was that in Atlanta, where Delta is of course based. we’re really about connecting with family At the same time, the Virgin Atlantic and friends over the holiday period. They USA marketing team now sits with the wanted to show our two brands bring Delta team, and there is regular ‘ideas people together.” sharing’ between the two brands, which for example has led to Delta introducing The ad was directed by Tim Godsall, who complimentary Prosecco on its flights. has overseen ads for Southern Comfort, Hyundai, Old Spice and Ikea - to name a While the two airlines used a US ad few. agency, the backdrop to the ad is the UK, for the reason that Delta is trying to According to Virgin Atlantic’s Claire increase awareness in the UK market.

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KEY TAKE-AWAY A ‘two coming together’ marketing campaign isn‘t easy to get right. For example, the initial Virgin America / Alaska Airlines campaign “Different Works” arguably felt forced, and indeed Alaska Airlines of course ended up deciding to shut Virgin America down as a brand.

However, to us this works because it seems natural.

It doesn’t seek to ram commercial or sales messages down viewers’ throats. Instead, a watchable, funny and very human story makes the point of “togetherness.”

It also manages to cross the US / UK cultural divide - it manages to be heart warming rather than “schmaltzy.’ You don’t feel that either brand has lost anything, and any of its personality via this collaboration.

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WEST JET - CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

WestJet’s annual “Christmas Miracle” has over the years become something of a stand-out among festive airline campaigns because of its scale, creativity, and the way each miracle gives back to local communities and / or rewards passengers.

Meanwhile in 2014, WestJet brought Santa Claus, snow and a ton of gifts to the community of Nuevo Renacer near Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Each campaign has generated a lot of positive coverage for the airline and millions For example, in 2016 WestJet’s Christmas of video views, leading Forbes to say: “The Miracle involved staff hosting a surprise Real ‘Christmas Miracle’ Of WestJet’s Viral party for residents of Fort McMurray, which Video: Millions In Free Advertising.” had been badly affected by the Summer fires a few months earlier. In 2015, staff This year the theme was “The 12 Flights of performed 12,000 ‘mini miracles’ for Christmas.” passengers across Canada, the US and in London.

For twelve consecutive days in the run-

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box was placed in the terminal.

With the help of Santa, dressed in WestJet blue instead of traditional red, passengers unwrapped the box. Each time there were more boxes to unwrap, some contained items such as headphones, other gift card, until passengers reached the final present, free flights.

Once the twelve flights of Christmas had finished, WestJet had one more reveal. In a video on December 11th, WestJet showed that the inspiration for the twelve miracles had been suggestions from the St Alban’s Boys and Girls Club. As a result, the whole campaign was meant to symbolise Christmas magic through the eyes of children. up to Christmas, WestJetters and special guests spread holiday joy to travellers across different Canadian airports by performing ‘miracles.’ . For the first time in WestJet’s history, all of the highly-visual “miracles” were also shown in real-time on Facebook Live.

Just as in previous years, the campaign got a huge pick-up on social media. Each of the twelve day videos received views in the six figures, while the final campaign video was seen over a million times.

It was a lovely theme, however it took us WestJet social media fans were also given a while to piece all the different elements the chance to input on the direction of together to figure out how everything each miracle. For example, one of the 12 worked, and some of it was confusing. days involved fans choosing “domestic” or “international.” They chose “international”, For example, when we saw that social media so the WestJet team headed to Edmonton fans were asked to vote between ‘domestic’ International Airport where a massive gift and ‘international’, we first of all assumed

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that WestJet would be doing something in the international departures area of a major Canadian airport, not in the main terminal hall of Edmonton International Airport where the prize winners included mainly domestic passengers.

As a result, we’d agree with One Mile At a Time’s review of the campaign: “It’s a really cute video, and I love that they have kids come up with the ideas for what they should do, and that this aspect of it remained a surprise for so long. It’s a great video, it’s just not quite as cohesive or overthe-top as the 2013 video.

“Still, very well done, WestJet, and if you have a few minutes, it’s definitely worth a watch.”

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KEY TAKE-AWAY In a sense WestJet has become a victim of its own success. The 2017 campaign follows five years of other Christmas miracles.

For example, the one that One Mile at a Time still references, four years after it happened, is the 2013 video which featured “Santa” asking passengers on two Calgary bound flights what they wanted for Christmas with those presents appearing on the luggage carousel on arrival.

In isolation, the 2017 Christmas Miracle had a real wow factor about it. However, the bar is being raised higher for WestJet every year, and the challenge for them is now how can they beat what went on before.

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 airpor ts on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space.

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

SimpliFlying’s growing list of clients includes Lufthansa, Emirates, Toronto Pearson Airport, Halifax International, KLIA, Jet Airways, LAN Airlines, airBaltic, Airbus and Bombardier.

Get in touch at engage@simpliflying. com or visit simplifying.com.

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