benchmark report
airline marketing
social
flightfunding
tinder contest
KLM In a first of its kind initiative, KLM has conver ted its strong social media presence to help those in need travel with a unique ‘Flightfunding’ initiative. “KLM receives requests weekly from people who would like to travel but can’t afford the ticket. Each one of these requests comes with a hear t wrenching story,” explains Karlijn Vogel-Meijer, Manager Social Media KLM. Inspired by the principles of crowdfunding, KLM decided to promote wor thy causes on its social media channels to help persons in emergency or weak financial situations cover the price of a ticket. The first person KLM featured in the Flightfunding initiative was Juanita who because of personal hardships - hadn’t seen her family in Canada since 2009 and had been unable to hold her grandson, who has already turned 5 years old. NOV 2015 ISSUE
WOW AIR Juanita’s loved ones approached KLM for help, and the airline agreed to let them share Juanita’s dream—to celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada with her family— with its millions of Social Media friends. The airline set a challenge before its Social Media community to make Juanita’s dream come true by raising the money to fund her ticket to Canada within 24 hours.
In a campaign that business and economics blog Slate.com called “unabashedly tacky”, Icelandic low cost carrier WOW Air is using Tinder (a somewhat controversial dating app that matches local singles based mainly on looks) to match itself with potential customers and promote new routes connecting Nor th America to Iceland and beyond to Europe.
With 220 donations, KLM’s fanbase raised the necessary 1200 euros in only 7 hours and 14 minutes. On the airline’s Flightfunding microsite , people could also send messages of encouragement and suppor t to Juanita. KLM documented Juanita’s Flightfunding initiative on the site including videos of her story.
The tagline for this promotion is “Flir t Your Way To Iceland.” To take par t, people simply need to download the Tinder app (if they aren’t already using it) and swipe right to match with WOW Air. The airline will then match the contestant back, which enables the two to chat. It is then the contestant’s duty to send the best flir ty pick-up line they’ve got to the airline and hope their advance is rewarded. WOW Air made use of Twitter and to spread the word about Facebook this contest, and has employed another
‘happening’ social platform, Snapchat, to share pictures of some comical lines they’ve been sent. This type of edgy marketing gimmick is not for every airline, but works well for the quirky and colourful WOW Air. It also proves that a single set of airline tickets (unsold seats, most likely) and a clever idea is all you need to create a big buzz on social media. The WOW Air Tinder campaign was covered by Conde Nast Traveller and landed WOW Air on a list of small airlines “rocking” social media.
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
