benchmark report
airline marketing
digital
althetes aboard
plane pitch VIRGIN AMERICA
UNITED
Virgin America has par tnered with Here On Biz , a mobile app that connects business travellers, to launch what is claimed to be the first in-f light social network , which was rolled out on all domestic Virgin America flights by the end of February.
Fi network (powered by Gogo) and purpose-built APIs that identify an aircraft’s location in the air to connect fellow travellers. Until July 2014, passengers on all domestic Virgin America flights can access the Here On Biz app for free through the Gogo network.
Travellers who have downloaded the free Here On Biz app from the Apple App store can use it to connect with passengers on their specific flight, but also on other Virgin America flights in the air, as well as with fellow travellers at their destination. App users can manage their privacy settings, so that travellers can shut off or limit their visible connections to others onboard.
To celebrate the new in-flight network, Virgin America has launched a Twitter promotion called Plane Pitch that invites flyers to share their dream business travel connection and describe how they would break the ice in 140 characters using the hashtag #planepitch . A weekly winner receives a complimentary Gogo WiFi pass and one Grand Prize winner will win Virgin America Elevate Gold status, six Business Class flights and an annual Gogo pass, “so the winner will never miss a connection on the fly,” as the airline put it.
Here On Biz’s geo-location technology uses Virgin America’s in-flight Wi-
MARCH 2014 ISSUE
Whilst many airlines have chosen not to connect to align themselves with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, United – who has been the off icial airline of Team USA for the past 34 years – embraced the fervor surrounding the US team by creating a 60 second (and shor tened 30 sec) ‘Athletes Aboard’ spot which made its prime-time debut on TV during the Opening Ceremony. Par t of the airlines ‘Friendly Skies’ campaign, the video has already amassed over 1.2 million views on YouTube. Scored with United’s long term soundtrack ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and narrated by Matt Damon, ‘Athletes Aboard’ was created to promote the connection between airline and Olympians and features winter spor ts athletes from skaters to bob-sledders,
skiers and lugers f inding their way to their seats and preparing for take off in a way suited to their spor t. For example, reigning women’s U.S. f igure skating champion Gracie Gold pirouettes her hand luggage into an overhead compar tment, while gold medal-winning Olympic speedskater Shani Davis skates through the aisles. United has also invested in a heavy social media and native ad push. The airline asked viewers to use the hashtags #AthletesAboard and #TeamUSAfriendly in their Olympic tweets (syndicated on United’s hub page ), and sponsored interactive content on The New York Times’ website, videos on Yahoo Screen and BuzzFeed posts.
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VALENTINES SOCIAL DIGITAL TRADITIONAL
