Star Alliance - You Make The Difference

Star Alliance - You Make The Difference

With a growing middle class and bustling economy, China is the land of opportunity for many airlines and the business travellers who fly them to access the region.

The marketing landscape within China, however, can be difficult to navigate. Many brands struggle to produce communications relevant to the Chinese consumer, who trusts social media more than traditional media.

According to marketingtochina.com, social media “has become a real key target in marketing, with the highest penetration rate (45 percent) in the world.”

As popular western social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, social networks Weibo and WeChat are king.

Recognizing the link between Chinese social media consumption and brand relations, Star Alliance is running an outreach campaign called “You Make the Difference.” This project employs WeChat to target and build relationships with Chinese frequent flyers who travel international.

Friends, family and co-workers of a business traveller can send them a message of thanks (for hard work or a job well done) using WeChat. The recipient of the message then selects a Star Alliance airline loyalty program they’d like to have Gold Status in, and they are entered to win one of ten Gold Status give-aways.

The sender of the “thank you” message also has a chance at winning Star Alliance round-the-world tickets.

Star Alliance has created a Chinese language YouTube video to educate people about this promotion.