benchmark report
airline marketing
digital
bluey, the movie
seize the moment
KLM In order to appeal to young passengers, KLM at the end of 2014 introduced a new kid’s mascot named Bluey. This month, the carrier brought Bluey to life with the first installment of series of shor t animated films. ‘Bluey and the Flower Parade’ (video) debuted April 10 on KLM’s YouTube channel and Facebook page and was watched more than 181,000 times in just 20 days. The four-minute film introduces some new characters, including Bluey’s father (a 787 jumbo) and a scatter-brained she-plane friend named Windy. The plot follows Bluey from a KLM hangar at Schiphol, to soaring the skies with his father, to helping Windy with a distressing flower problem. Taking a style page from the Disney/Pixar book, Bluey’s first movie features some comedic nuggets aimed at parents and brings to mind popular family films like Planes and Finding Nemo. MAY 2015 ISSUE
BRITISH AIRWAYS ‘Bluey and the Flower Parade’ will be added to the children’s IFE selection onboard all intercontinental flights in June, and more animated adventures are being planned. Bluey will also be integrated into the graphical user interface (GUI) of the children’s IFE menu screens and the play area at Amsterdam Schiphol Airpor t will get a Bluey makeover. KLM’s VP of Inflight Cabin Management Els Polhuijs told the Holland Herald that Bluey’s likeness was originally integrated into the packaging of kid’s meal boxes and other merchandise like key chains, cabin baggage and plush toys – but his immediate popularity inspired KLM’s marketing team to think bigger.
British Airways stepped up its content marketing game by leaving the content to the professionals. The airline challenged two lifestyle magazine editors, Emily Johnston of Fashion Fois Gras and Charlie Thomas of The Gentleman’s Journal, to arrange surprise trips to each other—without ever meeting until it was time to take off. As explained in the YouTube video about the campaign, which was promoted on social media, each editor had to do a bit of investigating, reviewing the other’s online work and social media profiles to determine what destinations and travel itineraries their counterpart might enjoy during a 24 hour getaway. Because their own itinerary wouldn’t be revealed until right before departure, each had to improvise their packing, proving their travel savvy.
Johnston headed for Helsinki and Thomas to Madrid. Their adventures were chronicled on social media and later as articles in their respective publications. While Thomas wrote a short introduction with a link to the video, Johnston was more generous with her reporting , even including helpful travel trips for readers the next time they found themselves in Helsinki. Both Johnston and Thomas captured British Airways’ underlying message of “seize the moment” in an authentic and interesting way. Perhaps, next time, British Airways could consider requiring a minimum word-count from participants, but with the social media posts and the reach of each editor’s platform it was a win-win all the same.
The two editors met at the airport to exchange their surprise trips then set off;
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
