British Airways - #ManVSPlane

British Airways - #ManVSPlane

In July 2013, British Airways created an online video that featured South African rugby player Bryan Habana (who once famously raced a cheetah) racing against a BA A380 taking off on a runway. The purpose of this video clip was to highlight the carrier’s plan to launch the A380 superjumbo on the London-Johannesburg route, which will commence on February 12th 2014. Amassing just short of 2 million YouTube hits since it was broadcast, BA has further developed the successful campaign to celebrate its first A380 flight to the African continent.

On January 10th 2014, Bryan Habana personally answered (on behalf of BA) critics of the YouTube video who stated that the challenge looked too easy, challenging them to take on the race themselves. Selected by BA, 5 applicants will now be given the chance to run against the plane when it starts flying to South Africa. To apply contestants had to write in 50 words why they deserved the chance to race the airline’s newest aircraft type.

The handful of winners will be flown, courtesy of BA, to South Africa to partake in the event and the winner with the fastest time earns a pair of tickets in BA’s Club World business class anywhere on the airline’s A380 network, which currently spans from London to LA, Hong Kong and Johannesburg.