benchmark report
airline marketing
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com Dec 2OI4 Issue 28
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.
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
EXPERIENTIAL
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. 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:
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.
TV, PRINT, OOH
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
airplane apartment
cover greetings
KLM X AIRBNB
KLM
KLM has teamed up with popular accomodation site Airbnb for a promotion in which aviation enthusiasts could win a night’s stay inside one of the airline’s just-retired MD-11s parked at its hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The 366m2 plane has been stripped of its functional seats and boasts a game room, play area, a master bedroom, a terrace and a private cinema.
The Airplane Apartment was available for three nights only, from November 28 to 30. To be considered, would-be house guests had to submit a message of 100 words or less via the Airbnb listing why he or she “should win a night at a KLM airplane.”
In its listing for the Amsterdam ‘Spacious Airplane Apartment’ Airbnb says the Wi-Fi equipped two-bedroom lodging option also comes with two kitchens, a living room, eight “small” bathrooms, 116 windows and “a giant cockpit panorama window.”
The tongue in cheek house rules included “No flying” and “Please treat our plane like you treat your own plane,” and the first guests were Cristina en Tommaso from Rome, who were welcomed by a KLM stewardess (full report of their stay here ).
A one-night stay on board the MD-11 was on offer for three lucky people chosen from everyone who requested to book the apartment via Airbnb. They were flown in
The Airbnb competition earned KLM massive media coverage and a total of 10.207 people applied for a chance to stay a night at the MD11 apartment.
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
from anywhere in the world by KLM and also received an EUR 500 Airbnb voucher.
In the past months KLM has also launched several initiatives to surprise passengers with unexpected touches, such as setting up a dedicated ‘Lost & Found’ team at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport that aims to reunite lost items as soon as possible with their legitimate owner via social media. Furthermore, KLM’s bold #HappyToHelp campaign saw a dedicated team scanning social media during five days for any passenger facing travel woes throughout the world, and respond with real-time answers and support. In an effort to highlight the sheer diversity of stories of passengers travelling with KLM on a given day, KLM’s latest initiative is called ‘Cover Greetings’ and involved placing a personal message from loved ones who are staying at home to their boyfriend, girlfriend
or relative on the headrest of their KLM aircraft seat. The airline spotted people saying goodbye to their families at the departure gate, then whisked their relatives away to a place where they could decorate a seat cover with their own message. KLM and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport worked together to ensure that the personal message was placed on the right seat in the aircraft. A moving video showing passengers’ responses has been posted on YouTube (625,000 views) and the video is also played on a large centrally located screen at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Although the stunt took place on a single day, involving passengers from three different flights, KLM says it might develop ‘Cover Greetings’ into a permanent service.
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benchmark report
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happiest travel day
connection day
JETBLUE X ZAPPOS
Last year online retailer Zappos put a positive spin on the notoriously busiest travel day of the year and on Thanksgiving Eve transformed Houston Airpor t’s baggage claim carousel into a mock Wheel of For tune-type game. Zappos Roulette let passengers win prizes such as gift cer tif icates, Ugg boots, Nor th Face jackets, Kitchen-Aid mixers, etc. based on whatever prize their luggage landed on. This year Zappos joined forces with JetBlue to surprise unsuspecting passengers at JetBlue’s JFK T5 base by creating the ‘Happiest Travel Day.’ The brands took over both depar tures and arrivals at JetBlue’s T5. In the depar ture area, the team uncovered personal travel stories of interest from travellers and relayed them to a post-security cheering
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
VERIZON WIRELESS
section that was ready to wow customers with customized cheers, well wishes and Zappos merchandise gift packages. For example, one passenger was wished a happy retirement with handmade signs and cheers. In arrivals, a baggage belt was transformed into a prize wheel where lucky customers had the chance to win prizes from both JetBlue and Zappos, ranging from every thing from slippers to free round-trip f lights. Watch passenger reactions unfold here and here .
Another Thanksgiving campaign in the USA that saw a consumer brand partner with airlines in order to surprise passengers with a generous gesture is Verizon Wireless’ ‘Connection Day’ initiative. The US telecom company took a page out of Google’s playbook (who has provided free wifi to passengers during the holiday season on several occasions) by handing out free digital treats that made passengers’ holiday trip on the busiest travel day of the year less painful. In order to do so, Verizon has partnered with Amazon, Apple, Conde Nast, Pandora, Boingo, Gogo and JetBlue to declare the day before Thanksgiving (November 26) ‘Connection Day’ and make WiFi access and digital content available for free. In the content area, there were free music downloads from Amazon, free magazine
downloads from Conde Nast, and free access to Pandora’s music-streaming service. With regard to connectivity, passengers travelling on a JetBlue flight received a free Wi-Fi session for the duration of the flight, while Gogo (for passengers flying on American, Alaska, Delta, Air Tran, United, US Airways or Virgin America) and Boingo each offered one-time 30 minute free Wi-Fi sessions in airports and in-flight, respectively. Verizon Wireless’ initiative is a good example of the Brand Butler trend (coined by trendwatching.com) as the brand provided travelers with a bit of distracting entertainment as well as saving them a few bucks on one of the most stressful of all travel days.
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airline marketing
social
altitude community
gift of home AIR CANADA
Right on the heels of rival carrier WestJet’s video , which shows the airline making the Christmas wishes come true for an entire town in the Dominican Republic, Air Canada has joined the spirit of Christmas giving with a holiday video as well. The touching video (1.7 million views on YouTube so far) captures two pilots going into The Maple Leaf , a popular bar in London (England) where Canadians go for a taste of home. After asking several patrons what they miss most about Canada, the pilots silence the bar with the ring of a loud bell. “We have an announcement,” says one of the pilots. “Because we are in the holiday season, I would like to take this occasion to offer everybody here present this evening a round,” said the other pilot.
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
AIR CANADA
With the promise of a free drink, the bar, of course, erupts in cheers. But, it’s not a free drink the pilots are handing out. “There’s more to the story,” says one of the pilots. “When we say ‘a round’ we mean roundtrip tickets for everyone to back to Canada for the holiday season.” In disbelief, Canadians in the bar begin to cheer, shed tears and hug each other. In true Canadian fashion, the crowd then breaks into a sing-along, belting out ‘O Canada.’ Recipients of a free ticket were asked to take their joy online and tweet photos with the hashtag #ACgiftof home
Over the past years, several airlines – including Air France-KLM (Club China and Club Africa) and Qantas (Epiqure ) have launched branded communities around common interests of their frequent flyers. However, these communities have seen mixed results at best and mostly can be characterized by a lack of engagement among community members. Following focus groups that found customers were looking for greater connections with fellow flyers and recognition for their many trips, Air Canada has introduced the Air Canada Altitude Community where frequent flyers can create or read lists outlining the top activities in a destination and they receive points and awards for earning “Likes” on their content.
list) and Shout Out Badge (awarded when members post a list to one of their social networks). Awards will also be accompanied by travel-related and bonus Aeroplan miles. Says Ian Di Tullio, director of loyalty marketing at Air Canada, “While there are numerous travel-related recommendation sites, they tend to have a narrow focus on categories like hotels and restaurants, and typically don’t boast the insider knowledge of frequent travelers. Instead of trying to reinvent a Trip Advisor or a Yelp or anything like that, we wanted to create something really small to start that didn’t box them in to any kind of category…it’s really a “best of” in cities of their choice,” he said. “Our goal is to have 20 percent of the base sign up within the first year.”
‘Gamification’ awards include the Tastemaker Badge (awarded for receiving 1,000 likes on a
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#ekselfiesong
set the price
EMIRATES
V AIR
‘People Power’ is one of the trends featured in our The State Of Airline Marketing 2014 repor t and describes how – inspired by the numerous group deal sites such as Groupon and Gilt – several airlines have been experimenting with initiatives that let the ‘crowd’ drive down fares. The latest example comes from V Air , the new low-cost subsidiary of Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways, which will launch services on December 17 with an inaugural flight from Taipei to Bangkok. To promote the new carrier, V Air launched an online campaign that invites the public to par ticipate in order to set a superlow introductory fare, with 10,000 tickets provided with the fare decided by the public. The introductory fare for the one-way trip star ted at NT$1,988 (USD64) and DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
the higher the number of people who par ticipated online, the lower the price would drop. V Air’s introductory fare could reach as low as NT$520 (one way, including fuel surcharge, excluding airpor t tax) if the number of fans would reach over 200,000. Between November 21 and 30, consumers could access the campaign site or V Air’s Facebook page , to play a game to lift up the V Bear (V Air’s mascot). The higher the V Bear would rise, the lower the introductory rate would be. In addition, V Air would give away 100 free tickets to par ticipants. The final price for the inaugural flight and the official flight schedule were announced December 1st, and according to V Air over 200,000 fans joined the campaign to vote on v Airs launch fare.
As a spin-off of its sponsorship of Arab Idol – Season 3 , the regional edition of the globally known reality show contest for aspiring singers (see the October 2014 edition of this repor t), Emirates has launched a musical competition for fans and music lovers in the Gulf region, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Jordan. Taking inspiration from Arab Idol, the Emirates #EKSelf ieSong contest offers fans a chance to showcase their talent and share their musical creations with their friends. Called the Emirates Self ie Song Challenge , contestants simply have to f ilm themselves singing, humming or using a musical instrument to play the 15-second Emirates ‘Hello Tomorrow’ tune , and then upload their creation to Instagram or Facebook using a dedicated
competition hashtag #EKSelf ieSong Video explaining the competition here
.
All entries will be mashed into one crowdsourced version of the Emirates ‘Hello Tomorrow’ tune and shared across Emirates’ Facebook and YouTube channels. See this video for an example of an EKSelf ieSong entry All #EKSelf ieSong submissions will enter a draw to win two Economy Class return tickets to any Emirates destination. Bringing in family and friends in the video will get par ticipants bonus points, as will spreading the word by tagging friends in their online social circle.
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thank you / #flyba2015
digital
epic food TURKISH AIRLINES
BRITISH AIRWAYS
Another user generated content campaign comes from British Airways. The airline has created a seasonal ‘thank-you’ video message in which the airline expresses its gratitude to customers for choosing the flag carrier.
BA is also running a #FLYBA2015 competition in parallel which invites the public to submit images recommending destinations to others for 2015 by uploading their images to Instagram using #FLYBA2015 and tagging @British_Airways.
In December 2012, the Turkish Airlines spot featuring Messi alongside Kobe Bryant hit 20 million YouTube views in just five days (and 108 million views in total). A follow-up spot released last winter featured Messi and Bryant taking dueling selfies also became an online hit with 140 million views on YouTube.
The 70-second video features images sent in by travellers and is distributed across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google + as well as BA’s in-flight enter tainment system.
Adds Abigail Comber, “With so many places to travel to in the world, it’s hard to decide where travellers should go next. We’ve seen from the photos they shared with us in 2014 what a great year it was with beach holidays, city breaks and new adventures. We want to help people decide where they should travel in 2015 by giving them our suggestions as well as those from fellow travellers.“
In the airline’s latest spot, called ‘Epic Food’ – the final spot in the series – we see Messi getting the better of Chelsea legend Didier Drogba. The commercial shows Drogba going to various locations on the planet and trying out the local cuisine. But wherever he goes, he realizes that Messi has been there before him when he notices various pictures of the Argetinian with the chef framed on the wall.
The winning image will be judged by the renowned Italian photographer Massimo Vitali and the grand prize is half-a-million Avios points, which is enough to get to New York eight times in First Class.
The Ivory Coast legend pretends to look disheartened until he gets on to the plane. However he does not know he has in fact been overshadowed by Messi once again as
Abigail Comber, BA’s head of global marketing, said: “Featuring our customers at the hear t of this campaign is just our way of saying a really big thank-you for sharing those experiences with us this year. They have sent in all sor ts of images from oncein-a-lifetime parachute jumps to visits to great global sites like the Taj Mahal.”
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
a giant image of Messi’s face is printed on to the side of the plane. The 60-second spot – which currently stands at 60 million views – is supported by a social media initiative calling on viewers to upload their own epic travel photos through the microsite EpicFoodMap.com for a chance to win a trip to the locations featured in the commercial. Drogba and Messia kicked off the competition themselves on November 18th with their favorite foods. The food photos will then be compiled into an interactive map of the “epic food” the world over, reinforcing the brand’s promise ”We fly to more flavours than any other airline.”
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the welcome of the home
paris/new york
BRITISH AIRWAYS
Following British Airways’ successful ‘Visit Mum’ campaign last year, the airline has launched another emotionally charged film designed to engage the Indian expatriate community. The 4-minute ‘The Welcome of Home’ video is posted on a special landing page touting the airline’s offerings to its target audience. Nor th America is home to close to three million Indian residents. A large propor tion of these people have large extended families back in India and travel back for family events, festive periods and special occasions. The film follows the story of an Indian woman named Chitra who lives in Toronto and is preparing to travel home to India to visit her family, specifically her grandmother. But Chitra has a surprise for her
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
grandmother; she is traveling to India with her intended fiance seeking the blessing from her grandmother. This is something her grandmother is more than willing to do as she says, “I want to see Chitra get married. Only then will I ask God to bring me up there.” With the ‘Visit Mom’ and ‘The Welcome of Home’ stories BA is doing its best to make sure the Indian expat community that lives in America and Canada understand the airline truly grasps what that life of separation is like and how it can help eradicate the barriers of geography. Suppor ting the effor t is a social media contest launching today which encourages expat travelers to share a photo that reminds them of home to @British_Airways with the hashtag #WelcomeOfHome. Those selected will earn the chance to win a trip home for two.
OPENSKIES
As two of the world’s cultural epicenter, Paris and New York are constantly being compared in terms of everything from fashion and food to art and attitude. However, those differences have been the inspiration behind so many books, movies, TV shows and plays, they’ve become clichéd. ‘Paris/New York’, a two-minute spot for Open Skies (a British Airways subsidiary that flies exclusively between Paris and New York), nevertheless manages to inspire by drawing a series of visual comparisons between the two cities.
surrounding the Arc de Triomphe next to the Washington Square Arch; the Métro running parallel to the subway. The video progresses from sunrise to sunset, ending with a final sunrise over the wing of an Open Skies plane. Some of the pairings are a bit stereotypical (the Eiffel Tower next to the Statue of Liberty; a plate of escargots alongside a pepperoni pizza), but other seemingly mundane shots (Vélib’ vs. Citibike; a man selling crêpes on the sidewalk paired with a street meat vendor; graffiti on the sides of two buildings) provide delightful little snippets of everyday life.
To create the ad, Paris-based filmmaker Franck Matellini shot time-lapse video of dozens of everyday scenes in New York and Paris, then connected similar shots on a split screen. Examples include a bridge on the Seine matched to a bridge on the Hudson; the bustle
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your ana
flight mode
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS
The past year can be regarded as the year when wearable technologies such as intelligent glasses and smar t watches have become mainstream. Besides the hype surrounding Google Glass and Apple Watch, CNN recently reported a niche in consumer electronics that appears to be growing even faster is GoPro’s line of wearable cameras. GoPro’s high-definition cameras and strapon accessories may have originally been popular with extreme spor ts enthusiasts and ‘vloggers’ but these days the por table cameras are growing in popularity with mainstream consumers even as smar tphone cameras continue to improve. Inspired by this popularity of wearable cameras, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways has produced a series of videos that have been made from footage shot by
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
LUFTHANSA
100 passengers who shared 50 wearable cameras among them. Called ‘Your ANA’, the airline says it aimed to offer a realistic, first person, view of what a journey in its Business Class actually is about. As ANA put it: Our “Omotenashi” service is hard to tell by words. To experience it, we invite you to join the journey in our Business Class. Through our passengers’ experience, you can actually feel like you are there too.”
Many airline passengers appreciate being able to switch their phone to flight mode once on board and to be unavailable for the duration of the flight. But who says that one needs to be in the air in order to take a digital time-out?
To follow the actual support provided the public can visit the Flight Mode microsite and also see where in the world people are currently enjoying a time-out with the Flight Mode app.
That’s the premise behind Lufthansa’s Flight Mode smartphone app (iOS , Android ), which aims to help busy people avoid their digital obligations and temptations for a while, particularly during the busy festive season.
Two videos showcasing the ANA experience were created: one on the ground inside an aircraft located at ANA’s Maintainance Center and one onboard an actual flight. shows how passengers A third video are using ANA’s smar tphone app.
And, with the help of the app users can help not only themselves, but also others. Whenever the Lufthansa Flight Mode app is activated it registers every minute in which the smartphone is in flight mode – whether on board or on the ground.
Says Alexander Schlaubitz, Head of Marketing at Lufthansa: “For us, the Lufthansa Flight Mode app is the natural continuation of what we offer our passengers on board, namely a good time. We are aware that many of our passengers lead a hectic life and are often stressed. That’s why we’d like to remind them that they shouldn’t be permanently ‘on call’ – especially at this time of the year.”
Until December 24, the minutes collected in this way are totaled from all app users worldwide and translated into donations for school and daycare projects in India, Brazil and Benin.
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tv, print, ooh
feels like home QANTAS
Another emotionally led brand campaign comes from Qantas and is centered around the flag carrier’s role in bringing Australians back home to their loved ones. Set to the Randy Newman song Feels Like Home, performed by Aussie singer Mar tha Marlow, the videos tell the stories of five Qantas passengers and their journey home to Australia, to be welcomed by their loved ones at the airpor t. The airline has created five 60-second videos, each of which shares one of the five homecoming stories from Pilbara, Western Australia, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and Santiago, Chile. It has also created a two-minute extended clip showcasing all five stories. “Our hope from the [new] ads is it is all about rekindling that emotional connection with Qantas that we all know Australians DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
have for the airline,” said Qantas head of marketing and corporate affairs Olivia Wir th. “We also believe that this is an oppor tunity to really tell the stories – and they are authentic stories. This is about five real passengers, five real Qantas customers and our Qantas staff. That authenticity was really impor tant to us. It is real, it is authentic, and it is impor tant that that genuine experience of homecoming really comes through in these ads. It is about the pull of home.” The brand campaign encompasses TV, print, outdoor adver tising, cinema and online adver tising. Qantas said content will also be utilised across other customer interactions including social media, Frequent Flyer member newsletters, while the song will also be played on-board flights.
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about us.
Pricing SimpliFlying is a global consultancy that believes in thinking differently about aviation marketing. Having worked with over 50 airlines and airports around the world, it has presences in Singapore, UK, Spain, Canada and India. Today, SimpliFlying advises airlines and airports on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space. The firm also conducts MasterClasses to train and develop airline and airport teams to become self-sufficient in executing measurable and rewarding social campaigns.
DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE
SimpliFlying’s growing list of clients includes Lufthansa, Emirates, Toronto Pearson Airpor t, Halifax International, KLIA, Jet Airways, LAN Airlines, airBaltic, Airbus and Bombardier. Get in touch at engage@simpliflying. com or visit www.simpliflying.com.
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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