United - Athletes Aboard

United - Athletes Aboard

Whilst many airlines have chosen not to connect to align themselves with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, United – who has been the official airline of Team USA for the past 34 years – embraced the fervor surrounding the US team by creating a 60 second (and shortened 30 sec) ‘Athletes Aboard’ spot which made its prime-time debut on TV during the Opening Ceremony. Part 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 sports athletes from skaters to bob-sledders, skiers and lugers finding their way to their seats and preparing for take off in a way suited to their sport.

For example, reigning women’s U.S. figure skating champion Gracie Gold pirouettes her hand luggage into an overhead compartment, 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.