benchmark report
airline marketing
experiential
ny-lon lounge bar
wingman
VIRGIN ATLANTIX & DELTA This July, Delta and Virgin Atlantic will celebrate their trans-Atlantic joint venture – which star ted in January 2014 –with the opening of NY-LON , a swanky lounge and bar at The O2 , London’s premier large-scale event and enter tainment venue. Delta and Virgin Atlantic are the official airline par tners of The O2. Trendy Manchester-based design agency, LOVE has imagined the modern 6,000 square foot space with clean lines, a midcentury flare and definitive aviation theme. The dramatic entrance features a desk reminiscent of a real airline lounge and depar ture/arrival board inspired signage. A large bar area, relaxed seating space and “secret rooms” will accommodate up to 400 guests at once. It will be managed by leading hospitality brand, Levy Restaurants UK, and visiting members of the airlines’
JULY 2015 ISSUE
JETBLUE frequent flyer programmes – Flying Club and Sky Miles – will benefit from a range perks. This isn’t the first time an airline has used a branded lounge outside of the airpor t environment to create an immersive experience. Emirates and Turkish Airlines are both prolific suppor ters of the soccer world and each have opened a lounge in the stadiums of respectively Chelsea FC and Borussia Dortmund . Delta is actually a pioneer of the outof-airpor t lounge tactic though, having opened the first of its various Delta Sky360° Club at New York’s Madison Square Garden back in October 2011.
In a bid to inject a bit of humanity back into the increasingly detached and automated world of commercial air transport, JetBlue set up a surprisingly interactive storefront display in New York City. Unsuspecting New Yorkers were drawn to a shop window by what looked like the hologram or video of a JetBlue crewmember inviting them to interact and learn more about the airline’s services. People could select service categories like inflight entertainment, legroom, snacks and more, and then the “hologram” crewmember would proceed to share more information about those services. All caught on hidden camera, the experience started getting much more interesting when the female crewmember began personalizing the interaction to the individuals. She did this by commenting on their clothing or other specific things that a digital recording could
never know, or answering their questions in real time. Before long customers were laughing and joking and even dancing with the digital image of the crewmember. Then, in a move the everyday New Yorkers were definitely not expecting, their new digital friend appeared in person before their eyes and offered them vouchers for travel with JetBlue, even giving some a big hug. The JetBlue “Wingman” interacted with more than 2,600 individuals over a weekend in New York, and leading advertising news sources like Adweek and Creativity Online published the story. Three YouTube videos resulting from the initiative (a full length video of about 2 minutes and two 30 second spots garnered well over 26,000 views in less than 20 days.
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
