benchmark report
airline marketing
MAY 2014 ISSUE
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com May 2OI4 Issue 2I
benchmark report
airline marketing
welcome. Published by market research agency airlinetrends.com and 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.
MAY 2014 ISSUE
experiential
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:
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.
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.
traditional
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
experiential
cross-media
social soul
flight experience
DELTA
In an effor t to align itself with the ‘creative class ’, Delta has been the official airline sponsor of the annual TED conference for the past few years. Following last year’s installation of a jetlagreducing ‘photon shower ’ at the event in order to showcase its emphasis on sleep comfor t in Business Class, Delta this year at TED 2014 in Vancouver created a room full of monitors, mirrors and sound - called the ‘Social Soul ’. The ‘Social Soul’ allowed TED participants to connect with fellow conference attendees through an algorithm that analyzed their own social stream based on their Twitter feed in order to let them find their ‘social soul-mate’ among other attendees. Those entering the Social Soul structure found themselves
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EMIRATES
surrounded by a 360-degree display of monitors, mirrors and sound, and experience a captivating stream of the imagery, text, video, and audio made from their own Twitter feed and those they follow. Upon exiting, visitors and their matched ‘Soul Mate’ received a tweet encouraging offline connection and fur ther conversation. A video of how the ‘Social Soul’ works is available here . Designed by two digital ar tists in cooperation with experiential marketing agency MKG, the kaleidoscopic experience of notifications, updates, and hashtags was par t of a wider effor t by Delta that also includes a par tnership with LinkedIn - called ‘Innovation Class ’ which was featured in the April 2014 edition of this repor t.
Following last year’s opening of The Emirates Aviation Experience in London (featured in the July 2013 edition), Emirates has opened another A380 simulator at The Dubai Mall in its home in Dubai. Launched April 2014, the new ‘experience zone’ sits alongside the Emirates Official Store at the Dubai Mall. The Emirates A380 Experience introduces visitors to the flight deck of the aircraft, allowing them to experience the thrill of landing and taking off the world’s largest plane from 12 of the world’s busiest airports in differing weather conditions and for example fly past Paris’ historic sites, soar over the canals of Amsterdam, and take in Hong Kong’s cityscape. The simulator is almost exactly the same as a real A380, with users able to control the four aircraft engines, the landing gear and the rudders. Visitors
will be scored on how well they navigate the aircraft, allowing them to compete against family and friends. Commenting on the opening, Emirates Group CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said,“By bringing the Emirates A380 Experience and the Emirates Official Store to Dubai Mall, we aim to connect with a broader audience in a high-traffic lifestyle environment and provide them with a piece of the Emirates brand experience regardless of when they next travel.” The A380 simulator is the centrepiece of the 10th Emirates Store which offers a range of popular branded merchandise. Starting as a line of corporate giveaways, Emirates has progressively developed its range of branded merchandise eventually launching its first Emirates Official Store in 1996.
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faberge easter egg hunt
national shakespeare day
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt is an annual event that sees the jewellery f irm hide a large amount of huge ‘ar t’ eggs around New York which together act as a large scale ar t installation, with entrants from famous designers around the world. Of the 250 eggs on display across f ive of New York’s boroughs between April 1st and 26th 2014, one egg was designed by Virgin Atlantic, who had been invited to decorate and present its egg as par t of the charity event, in what is good f it with Virgin Atlantic’s ‘boutique’ brand image. The bespoke sculpture, entitled ‘The Frying Lady ’ was specially created by Virgin Atlantic’s in-house design team. The Frying Lady is the vision of Mark Jump, a graphic designer at the airline, whose entry was chosen after an in-
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EASYJET
house competition. The egg por traits a playful interpretation of the airline’s famous f lying lady, who features on the aircraft’s livery and according to the airline “is inspired by the brand’s adventurous optimism and proud Britishness.”
According to a VisitBritain repor t, heritage and culture remain one of the key drivers of tourism to the UK. To help promote the UK to international tourists, easyJet launched a campaign to make the 23rd of April national ‘William Shakespeare Day ’.
This year a dedicated smar tphone app was created to help par ticipants map and char t the eggs around the city. Once 10 people have vir tually ‘checked’ in at an egg, or “cracked” the location, the egg will be added to an interactive map. On April 18th, the full collection of eggs was moved to the Rockefeller Centre for a week-long free public art exhibition were they were up for auction.
To back its initiative, the carrier in the last week of April arranged a program of free Shakespearean performances at the airline’s check-in areas at airpor ts across the country to share the playwright’s most famous work. EasyJet also revealed a new William Shakespeare A319 logo jet titled ‘Romeo Alpha Juliet’. Besides these two larger campaign drives, there were smaller elements as well, including suppor t from (Shakespeare’s hometown) Statford Upon Avon’s
Member of Parliament, email newsletters that encouraged people to sign a petition, hundreds of seatback adver ts, an ar ticle in the airline’s monthly inf light magazine and a world record attempt on the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s bir th for the ‘highest theatrical per formance ’ with the UK’s Reduced Shakespeare Company. The petition to government can be made if easyJet can receive over 100,000 signatures from UK residents. To help suppor t the online campaign , the airline has created the #shakesonaplane hashtag to promote awareness. So far, the petition has only generated under 1,000 signatures though.
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social
heart of the community
fan force one
SOUTHWEST
Southwest Airlines is known for its folksy, quirky, egalitarian ethos, from its cut-rate fares and jokes from the flight attendants to its ticker symbol - LUV - to its unique corporate culture. For example, as part of its social commitment, Southwest Airlines works with communities around its network in order to bring additional community benefits beyond just flying to/from these destinations. Launched in April this year, Southwest’s most ambitious CSR initiative to date is called Heart of the Community , which has been developed to support and activate public spaces in the heart of American cities. The program aims to support Placemaking – a movement that reimagines public spaces as the heart of every community. After successful pilot projects in Detroit (transform an underutilized lawn in Campus
MAY 2014 ISSUE
AIR BERLIN
Martius Park into a seasonal beach with a deck and seating) and Providence , Southwest and nonprofit organisation Project for Public Spaces (PPS) will help transform multiple places this year in cities the airline serves. The latest initiative of Southwest and PPS has taken place in San Antonio where both organizations have re-activated the city’s historic Travis Park, which has been provided with new amenities including a sandbox, umbrellas, moveable tables and chairs, as well as public programming such as fitness classes, free movies and game tournaments.
With the upcoming FIFA world cup in Brazil nearing, airlines are becoming a more football minded. Whilst Lufthansa has just launched limited edition soccerthemed amenity kits in Business Class, its German competitor airberlin introduced a ‘Fan Force One ’ A320 logo jet in association with Germany’s largest beer brewery Bitburger. Airberlin and Bitburger have created two competitions off the back of the Fan Force One jet. The first competition - run by airberlin - asks the public to take a photo of its Fan Force One A320 and upload it to one of the airline’s social media channels - Twitter , Instagram or Facebook - accompanied by the hashtag #fanforceone. To help plane spotters follow the aircraft around its network, airberlin has published the flight
schedule
of the Fan Force One online.
The person who enters most ‘dramatic’ photograph will be deemed the winner of a trip to Brazil this June, which includes flights, hotel and football events. Meanwhile, Bitburger will feature special bottletops on its beers as par t of the competition. Those who find a Fan Force One bottle cap on their purchased bottles can enter into a contest to win one of 100 pairs of tickets for the World Cup in Brazil, or a selection of other soccerinspired prizes.
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widen your world blog
digital
my flightpath
TURKISH AIRLINES
BRITISH AIRWAYS
While a number of airlines have engaging blogs, most contain articles about destinations and travel written by a syndicate of writers, or republished from the inflight magazine.
destination. The content (still limited in this early phase) can be navigated by either city, author experience or a world map and also features a variety of standalone travel tips.
As airline employees – crew and non-crew alike – are some of the most widely travelled individuals, Turkish Airlines latest effort to add value to the travel experience - and to promote the fact that with 244 destinations it has the largest network of any carrier in the world - is through a ‘crewsourced ’ blog where all the destination tips are added by the staff of the airline.
According to Turkish Airlines, the content strategy entails prioritising the top destinations for the airline, and then asking the volunteers to submit content on their favourite destinations.
The Pinterest-style blog , which is published in both Turkish and English, features snippets of regular insights and experiences of the airline’s crew, offering advice on everything from the best places to eat and drink, to the must-see wonders of each
MAY 2014 ISSUE
On a related note, Scandinavia Airlines until 2012 published its annual print ‘SAS Crew Guide’ - a pocket-sized guidebook consisting of recommendations by SAS cabin crew and pilots in many of the cities served by SAS (which is now available as an app ) whereas Delta has given some of its cabin crew a camera to document their favourite cities in a series of SiteSeer ‘travelcasts ’ on YouTube.
Flight logging is popular amongst frequent f lyers and with the advent of Facebook posting upcoming-andcompleted trips has grown in popularity, as sharing f light itineraries always makes for a nice status symbol or conversation star ter. Wanting to give its customers something that would help them to capture the magic of f lying, British Airways’ ‘Executive Club’ frequent f lyer program has launched its own f light-logging app titled ‘My Flightpath .’ In a similar design to the now retired Flying app, BA’s online travelogue allows passengers to see their f light’s data displayed in several interesting formats, such as how many times around the world they have f lown. To
encourage future f lights and aviation ‘goals’ users can earn a variety of stamps in their digital passpor t. The app also highlights the destinations and countries that customers have f lown to most frequently and char ts all the destinations they have f lown to on a map. Whilst still in its infancy, and with a few glitches in the system, such as the inability to process multi-destination itineraries and f lights with par tner airlines, the BA ‘My Flightpath’ app showcases the depth of the information airlines can gather on their passenger’s f lying habits.
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the infrequent flyers program
digital
flat or not
TIGERAIRAUSTRALIA
Tigerair Australia’s latest campaign ‘The Infrequent Flyers Program ’ reaches out to passengers who use the low-cost carrier less regularly than they would like. The tongue-in-cheek program, created by McCann Australia, pokes fun at serious frequent f lyer memberships and offers print-at-home membership cards in colours such as ‘Bin Green’ and ‘Aerobics Leotard Blue.’ Besides showcasing special offers, the stand-alone website utilises a variety of fun elements, from print-out luggage tags and a f light simulator, to stimulate interaction with the site and generate airmiles that actually mean nothing. The scheme’s humorous front is actually a customer relationship management program that offers regular updates on
MAY 2014 ISSUE
KLM
great travel deals as well as surprises and rewards without having to spend cer tain amounts to qualify. “We wanted to create a club that on one side is a bit of fun but on the f lip side offers some tangible travel benef its,” said Tigerair’s head of communications Vanessa Regan. The campaign consists of an integrated marketing platform including YouTube videos , out of home and radio adver tising, social media, airpor t adver tising and on-plane activation in order to drive traff ic to the stand-alone website and encourage membership uptake. The f irst 5,000 members were treated to a AU$100 voucher towards future f lights bookings.
To promote the recent introduction of full-f lat seating in its long-haul Business Class, KLM has created a multi-platform campaign titled ‘Flat or Not.’ Shot at KLM’s hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airpor t by adver tising agency DDB & Tribal Worldwide , the campaign is based around a fake seat in the airpor t, which without warning will recline to a fully f lat bed when passengers in the airpor t take a seat on it. On the day, passengers who accepted their reclining fate were gifted a pair of return Business Class tickets, whilst passengers who jumped from the seat as it star ted to recline were offered nothing. The event was f ilmed in secret by a series of f ive cameras hidden around the terminal. The footage was then used to promote the new Business Class seats
via social media channels. The YouTube video has been viewed over 700,000 in just over a week. The video also links to an online game that challenges visitors to guess whether passengers would go ‘f lat or not’. Through a series of three attempts, par ticipants were rated on their success which they could share via Facebook, as well as enter a draw to win a pair of Business Class tickets.
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air on the side of humanity
visit soon
JETBLUE
Back in October 2013 we covered JetBlue’s ‘Air On The Side Of Humanity’ bid to set the airline apar t from its competitors in a cross-media campaign that showed the plight of the ultimate frequent flier – the pigeon – in a documentary style video h that drew playful comparisons of how people are treated on other airlines today with the more respectful way that customers are treated on JetBlue. The latest reprise of the campaign is a five-par t video series titled ‘Shoo’s Bird’s Eye View.’ The mini videos (called ‘vignettes’) are designed to be viral adver ts that are showcased on the airline’s social hub ‘Central Perch ’. Starring ‘Shoo’ - a pigeon on the streets of New York - JetBlue collaborated with comedy website Funny Or Die, to produce
MAY 2014 ISSUE
BRITISH AIRWAYS
the series of ‘branded vignettes.’ The first video spot star ted airing in early April and every week a new video is launched on the site, which is also available on the JetBlue YouTube channel . According to JetBlue, the humorous campaign “delivers multi-media narratives from the perspective of a pigeon that draw playful comparisons on how people are treated by other carriers including cramped spaces, limited snacks, flying on someone else’s schedule and the feeling of being ignored.” Whilst some spots, such as the very first week’s video has only received 10,000 views, Episode 4, titled ‘Going Viral ’ has done just that, receiving 290,000 views in just 6 days.
For the third time in just 12 months, British Airways has created another heart-warming film, called ‘Visit Soon’. Following two previous campaigns, “Visit Mum ” (covered in our September 2013 report) and “Go Futher To Get Closer ”(covered in our March 2014 report), as par t of marketing strategy for India that focuses on introducing India-specific initiatives and create an emotional and meaningful connection with an younger audience, the airline has launched a film aimed at passengers on the Kangaroo route.
her grandparents who are in the UK.
The Visit Soon campaign , created by BA in par tnership with Tourism Australia, features a short video clip that por trays the real life story of Esme Rowling, an eight year old English girl living with her parents in Bondi, Australia. The video focuses on how much Esme misses
BA’s recent videos follows a bigger trend in airline marketing, namely that of story telling, whereby viewers build a deeper emotional attachment to the brand. Other prominent examples include the KLM Surprise and WestJet’s Christmas Travellers campaigns.
When Rowling’s grandparents went to watch a film in London, they were surprised to see the video of their granddaughter on the big movie screen, and even more surprised when they were presented with a flight ticket to Sydney by BA and Tourism Australia. The video has been viewed over 800,000 times within a month on YouTube equaling the success of the previous two campaigns by BA.
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traditional
when you dream
endurance
TURKISH AIRLINES
A prime example of an excellent storytelling campaign is one that has no need for translation and can work in any language. Turkish Airlines has accomplished just that with its latest video advert . The twominute long footage - in Turkish only - brings childlike wonder back to travel and follows four young children’s attempt to lure a plane to their runway and eventually succeed much to their delight. In the advert, we see four kids in the countryside looking up into the sky and watching planes pass over. Wondering why the planes never land where they are, they decide to build a makeshift airport to see if this will make an aircraft land. After many failed attempts, utilizing string lights and rubbish to build a control tower, one aircraft finally makes an approach. But in what is the reveal of the story, it skims the makeshift airport and
MAY 2014 ISSUE
HK EXPRESS
continues just over a mountain ridge into the real airport nearby. The underlying message of the video is to state how Turkish Airlines as a global airline also has a very large domestic network as well. In an additional sub-story to the campaign, the kids feautured in the video weren’t actors but children of Imecik village, near Antalya. Since the launch of the advert, the kids - who were paid with flights, bikes, PCs clothing as well as cash - have discovered fame and - just like any kid would - have decided to become pilots themselves. The video has gone viral in many languages and has already amassed 180,000 views in just a week.
To raise awareness for its new positioning as Hong Kong’s first LCC, HK Express mixed a traditional advertising location - a bus stop in central Hong Kong - with an experiential element by challenging passersby to interact with the advert for as long as possible for a chance to win a return flight to one of the airline’s destinations. The HK Express Endurance Challenge asked contestants to place their hands on electronic panels within the bus stop advertising displays for exactly the same amount of time it takes to fly to a particular HK Express destination.
three electronic displays - located on a bus shelter on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui showcased different destinations every day between 28th March and 14th April. Besides the interactive element, the bus stop displays also showed HK Express’ new print campaign and its new livery. A nice element of the campaign was the quick response from HK Express’ advertising agency to deteriorating weather conditions during the campaign, creating branded Cheap-Cheap Umbrellas in order to protect participants against the rain torrents.
For example, participants hoping to win a return flight from Tokyo had to stick their hand on the panel for roughly four and a half hours. The competitions shortest time was Taichung (Taiwan) at 1 hour 45 minutes. The
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tv ads RYANAIR
As part of its drive to improve its image, Ryanair has released three new commercials , which are the carriers first TV adverts in almost 25 years. The brief 20-second spots highlight three major changes the airline has recently introduced - including new baggage rules, allocated seating, and a new website. These new changes were launched after the carrier in October 2013 announced a drop in passenger bookings combined with a profit warning. The new adverts show an older man calmly browsing Ryanair’s oncecluttered site, a business women with two carry-on bags in tow, and parents with a young child they know they will be able to sit near. In a calculated departure from its previous
MAY 2014 ISSUE
brand strategy, Ryanair’s CEO and public ambassador Michael O’Leary is notably missing from all three ads. However, staying true to Ryanair’s low-cost spirit, the three clips were shot in a single day in order to keep costs down. The airline’s shift in image has attracted a lot of press, due to its historic battle with the media, and the new adver ts were covered by British broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph. The publication ran an online poll to see whether the shift in adver tising would encourage future bookings with the airline. Only 52 percent of respondents suggested they would be more inclined to book with the airline after the campaign, although with the airline’s mammoth 82 million travellers in the last 12 months, this could be translated into a substantial revenue increase.
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benchmark report
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world
airline marketing benchmark report airline marketing
SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com of the most A monthly selection August 2013 campaigns innovative marketing around the world launched by airlines
At SimpliFlying, we believe in thinking differently about aviation marketing. We thrive at the intersection of aviation and marketing, and in the past four years have advised over 30 airlines and airports on customer engagement and marketing strategy. Our growing clientele includes Airbus, LATAM Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Toronto Pearson and more. One of the top five most influential on Twitter with over 12,000 followers, with over a million YouTube views, SimpliFlying. com is also recognised by Flightglobal as one of the Top 2 blogs on aviation.
Airlinetrends.com is an independent industry and consumer trends research agency that monitors the global aviation industry for commercial innovations in response to changing consumer behavior. Airlinetrends.com repor ts its f indings in a free monthly email newsletter as well as in paid trend repor ts and corporate trend sessions. Get in touch at info@airlinetrends.com or visit www.airlinetrends.com.
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contact Shubhodeep Pal at shubhodeep@simplif lying.com.
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