Airline Marketing Benchmark Report October 2014

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benchmark report

airline marketing

experiential

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#flightdecks

the game plane ALLEGIANT

Airlines have hosted everything from fashion shows and comedy performances to music concerts on their airplanes. The latest onboard micro event is a television game show set and shot onboard flights operated by Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, using passengers as contestants competing for prizes from cash to luxury vacations at resorts in Las Vegas and Orlando. Called The Game Plane – and described as part quiz show, part game of chance – the show is filmed entirely in-flight with real passengers competing to win prizes on the spot. The first season of The Game Plane includes 40 episodes and premiered September 20 in over 75 percent of U.S. television markets. Filming was done on regularly scheduled flights, with potential contestants alerted, pre-interviewed and prepped in the gate

OCTOBER 2014 ISSUE

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

areas before boarding. Passengers who didn’t want to participate, or chance being caught on camera, could request to be seated in sections of the plane away from the action. The game is mostly trivia, but also includes a variety of active challenges, such as in-flight putting contests. One of the games played during the show is called “How Smart is Your Co-Pilot,” and sends one half of a couple to an isolation booth — in this case the airplane lavatory — while the other half answers relationship trivia questions the partner emerging from the lavatory must try to match. “We like doing things differently and the majority of our passengers are going on vacation,” so letting a film crew shoot an inflight game show seemed like a great match, said Brian Davis, Allegiant’s VP of Business Development.

On October 23rd, Virgin Atlantic will operate the inaugural flight of its first B787 Dreamliner from London Heathrow to Atlanta. To mark the occasion, UK electronic music acts Rudimental and Gorgon City will play a so-called back-to-back set, in a DJ collaboration taking place 30,000 feet in the air – in the first ever inflight performance to be live broadcasted via Wi-Fi from a plane flying over the Atlantic. Besides being able to listen to the live performances, listeners on the ground will also be able to get interactive with the flight members and catch all the updates as they happen.

win a seat on the flight. Winners will receive two return tickets for the 787 inaugural flight and once in Atlanta will stay at the InterContinental hotel. According to Virgin Atlantic, the idea behind the inflight event is to highlight the carrier’s history of innovation, saying that “#FlightDecks allows us to show off the new technological capabilities of the 787 and also to provide our passengers with world class entertainment ... both in the air, and from the comfort of their own homes.” A video of the announcement of the #FlightDecks event is available here .

Dubbed #FlightDecks , the two acts will take to the skies for an exclusive audience of over 250 invited guests and Virgin Atlantic has called fans of both bands to register at the #FlightDecks microsite for a chance to

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EXPERIENTIAL DIGITAL SOCIAL TV, PRINT, OOH


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