benchmark report
airline marketing
aegean marathon
#PopIntoBerlin
AEGEAN Few things in life are as intensely physical and emotional as completing a marathon, yet Aegean Airlines recently found a way to make this experience even more special for 10 lucky people. As official sponsor of the Athens Classical Marathon, Aegean invited runners to tell them (before the race) about a loved one who lives far from Athens, but who they would love to see waiting for them at the finish line. The airline then drew ten lucky winners from all the entries and, the day before the marathon, flew 10 special individuals to Athens. The ten winners were not told that they had won, or that they were soon to meet with the person they most dearly missed. Instead, the airline used chip technology embedded in the runner’s number bibs. When the 10 runners reached the 25th
DEC 2015 ISSUE
AIRBERLIN kilometre – known to be the most difficult of the course – their chips triggered a personalized video of their loved one to play on a very large screen with a message of encouragement, and the wonderful news that they were waiting at the finish line.
Airberlin, Berlin’s tourism authority, and a host of other hip or iconic Berlin brands and companies have banded together to generate buzz about the German capital, share it’s culture, in an effotrt to bolster tourism to the city.
This experiential campaign was designed around the tagline: “No distance is great enough to keep you away from what you love.”
The initiative is called #PopIntoBerlin and consists of a roaming pop-up store that has embarked on a 5-city European tour. The store appeared in Stockholm at the end of September before moving to London in October and travelling on to Vienna in early November. After spending a week in Amsterdam from November 16th to the 22nd, the store will appear somewhere in Paris from December 7th to the 22nd.
Aegean produced a touching video documenting the finish line reunions and also set up a special cheering area along the marathon route, as well as kiosks with branded signs for spectators to write messages of suppor t on.
kiosk within the store gives visitors the opportunity to book a trip to Berlin, right on the spot. Airline pop-up stores in major urban centres (like the one KLM did in New York and the one Lufthansa set up in Miami) have proven an effective way to engage with potential customers and establish brand affinity through fun experiences. By aligning with start-ups and design brands and presenting itself in an informal way, airberlin is effectively targeting a youthful audience that doesn’t typically respond to traditionally-formatted marketing messages.
At each new location, the Berlin-themed store provides a fun place to go and learn about the creative spirit of Berlin or purchase select products and designs. An airberlin
4
EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
