benchmark report
airline marketing
above & beyond stories
a boy and three gifts
WESTJET Canada’s airspace is largely a duopoly, where WestJet and the country’s flagship carrier Air Canada compete head to head for passengers on nearly every route. WestJet has always positioned itself as the more “in-touch” or caring airline of the two, and its ‘Above and Beyond’ campaign does a great job reinforcing that stance. The ‘Above and Beyond’ project sets out to recognize everyday Canadians who inspire others through good deeds or by overcoming life’s challenges. Late last year, WestJet set up a micro-site for the initiative and put out a general call for compelling stories. So far, eight of these real-life stories have been made into shor t videos and posted to the airline’s YouTube channel as well as the ‘Above and Beyond’ web page. All of the videos have been well-watched. One story in particular , about a MAY 2015 ISSUE
AIR CANADA bullied high-school boy who became prom king, went viral. Today it has been viewed 5.5 million times and has amassed overwhelmingly positive commentary from over 700 YouTube watchers. Josh’s story was picked up by Huffington Post in an article that was shared many times on social media. What works so well about this campaign is that it has nothing to do with flight or travel. Refreshingly, there is very little WestJet branding on the micro-site or in the videos (just a logo at the very end of the clips). By keeping self-promotion out of this endeavour, WestJet is showing customers that it cares about people, and not just dollars. More ‘Above and Beyond’ stories are expected this summer.
Through its Air Canada Foundation , established in 2012, Air Canada has done a world of good supporting hundreds of charities. It recently introduced a content marketing initiative to highlight one of these worthy projects, the Breakfast Club of Canada , in collaboration with Montreal-based ad agency Marketel. “We thought the foundation was an under leveraged part of their business,” Marketel creative director Jo-Ann Munro told Marketing Magazine, Canada. “Hopefully it makes [consumers] feel good about the brand. It’s the hidden things it’s doing that it hasn’t been talking about.” To that end, the agency worked with Air Canada develop its ‘A Boy and 3 Gifts’ campaign which tells the story of Trent, a young boy from the First Nations community of Anahim Lake, BC, who gets to meet and spend some time with is
idol, Montreal Canadiens goalie and Breakfast Club Ambassador, Carey Price, who is also one of Anahim Lake’s home-town heroes. This touching campaign documents Trent’s difficulties as a foster child, the challenges of his small community, and at the same time inspires. In this very human drama, we also see the joy of a child when his dreams are realised, and the happiness of his community when they get a chance to share their own gifts. ‘A Boy and 3 Gifts’ (video) has had more than 420,000 views since its March debut. It also features on Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment and is promoted on the airline’s social media channels.
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
