benchmark report
airline marketing
JAN 2016 ISSUE
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying | airlinetrends.com Jan 2OI6 Issue 40
benchmark report
airline marketing
welcome. Published by market research agency airlinetrends.com and aviation marketing strategy consulting firm SimpliFlying, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Repor t contains a wide range of airline marketing case studies each month, providing you with the latest and most innovative social, digital, experiential and traditional airline marketing campaigns recently launched by airlines around the world. Whether you’re looking for inspiration or are eager to help your airline move into the nex t stage of engagement, while also understanding how your airline marketing initiatives compare to campaigns from competitors in general, these repor ts are indispensable for airline professionals working in the f ield of marketing and corporate communications. The monthly repor ts also help agencies that work with airlines stay on top of the latest innovative airline marketing initiatives.
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EXPERIENTIAL
Faced with ever more experienced consumers, who routinely ignore the commercials and ads thrown at them, airline brands are finding new ways to break through the adver tising clutter to connect with consumers. For any questions about the repor t, please contact Shubhodeep Pal at shubhodeep@simplif lying.com. As innovative campaigns come in all shapes and sizes, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Repor t is categorized into the following four themes:
SOCIAL
Besides engaging their online audience via Facebook and Twitter-based campaigns, the airline industry is also busy experimenting with new social media platforms.
DIGITAL
With the huge popularity of smar tphones and tablets, airlines are tapping into these digital platforms to engage consumers, as well as releasing videos online which they hope will go viral.
TV, PRINT, OOH
Despite the current focus on social, digital and experiential campaigns, airlines continue to serve up creative, traditional media-based, initiatives in order to reach a mass audience.
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benchmark report
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experiential
christmas mini miracles
next stop new york
WESTJET Canada’s second largest airline WestJet has been successfully capturing the sentimentality of Christmas with experiential campaigns for several years – and Christmas 2015 was no different. On December 9th, WestJet held a “mini miracles day” where airline street teams wearing blue Santa hats joined forces with the WestJet Blue Santa to make 12,000 mini miracles (defined as any act of kindness evoking a positive response) happen across the airline’s route network. With just 24 hours to achieve a goal of 12,000 mini miracles WestJet enlisted the help of its customers, who contributed by doing something nice for someone and sharing the good deed on social media with the hashtag #WestJetChristmas . A total of 31,793 mini miracles in 10 time zones were registered throughout the day.
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NORWEGIAN Acts of kindness large and small included giving beach toys to children in Jamaica, giving warm clothing to the homeless, delivering Christmas groceries to families in need and even sending people on free holidays. WestJet compiled the highlights of the day into a video , which was viewed more than 1.3 million times in just two weeks. News of the effor t spread quickly across Canadian and international media. News outlets like the CBC , Adweek and Mashable in the UK all repor ted on the event. The WestJet Christmas Miracle is now in its four th year. The 2013 campaign , where passengers discovered wrapped gifts on a Calgary luggage carousel, was perhaps the most successful of all, with over 44 million views on YouTube.
For one day, Oslo metro had a new station stop in the heart of New York City. This fun stunt was put on to promote Norwegian Airlines’ low-cost non-stop flights to New York. With help from M&C Saatchi, Oslo’s Nationaltheatret station was transformed into Times Square hub, including walls, platforms, signage and advertising all changed out to match the actual station in New York City. For extra ‘local’ flavour, over half a million commuters were surprised to find New York City cops in uniform, hot dog vendors, American football players, a gospel choir, preachers, and Times Square legend: The Naked Cowboy. In a nod to the comedy crime , Mafioso-style trains discussed
popular Norwegian Netflix drama, Lilyhammer gangsters on the metro their subway routes. Even
Spiderman swung by Nationaltheatret station as part of the fun. “This has been an exciting campaign and we have received positive feedback,” says Norwegian marketing director Stine Steffensen Børke. “For us it is important to raise awareness of our long-haul routes, and this campaign fits well into our strategy.” Norwegian Airlines shared a video (180,000 views) of the New York-themed commute on YouTube. Last year, the airline let visitors in a shopping mall in Oslo tour New York City in realtime with its ‘Norwegian Red Cab’ campaign. A Norwegian Airlines cab in New York was outfitted with 360º cameras and sent live video to a screen display at an Oslo shopping mall. By touching the screen, shoppers could take a look around and speak to their remote ‘tour guide’ at the Big Apple.
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pop up cinema
#SandmanSelfie
JETBLUE X AMAZON Pop-Up campaigns just got a whole lot more enter taining. To celebrate the launch of their new inflight Wi-Fi enabled streaming content par tnership, JetBlue and Amazon delivered Prime enter tainment to travellers at Terminal 5 of New York’s JFK airpor t— inside a theatre designed to look like giant Amazon signature shipping box. The special-delivery ’Amazon on JetBlue’ theatre let travellers enjoy Amazon’s original programming releases as they waited for their flight. In a dedicated section of the pop-up theatre, kids could play with Amazon’s Kindle devices and watch Amazon’s exclusive ‘Tumble Leaf’ series. “We’re looking at how to bring the streaming experience to the ground and bring a tactile experience to what the next generation of movie theatres will look like, JAN 2016 ISSUE
AIR NEW ZEALAND that’s the kind of experience that we want to create,” said Anna McEntee, JetBlue’s manager of onboard content about the special interactive display. Once onboard, JetBlue passengers who have signed up for Amazon’s USD99-peryear Prime membership can use JetBlue’s free Fly-Fi high speed internet connections to stream Amazon TV shows and movies on their personal electronic devices at no extra cost. Non-subscribers can sign up for a 30-day free trial inflight. Amazon also offers JetBlue passengers selections from its music streaming service and access to the collection of apps and eBooks available on Amazon’s online stores. Virgin American announced a similar content streaming partnership with Netflix in September, which is also suppor ted by ViaSat’s high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi connection.
Over several days in frosty December, the Air New Zealand #SandmanSelfie tour helped city-slickers in cool climates “picture” themselves on a relaxing beach in New Zealand, where summer is now in full swing. The effort ran from December 10th to 16th and invited consumers in three North American cities on the Air New Zealand route network to enjoy elements of the Kiwi summer, while learning about the airline’s inflight services and getting a chance to win free non-stop tickets to Auckland. In Toronto’s busy Yonge-Dundas Square on December 10th, holiday shoppers and commuters visited an Air New Zealand kiosk where they dipped their toes in real sand and sipped on New Zealand’s favorite style of on coffee. In Chicago’s Wrigley Square December 12th and 13th, passers-by could pop into the Air New Zealand kiosk to taste
some Kiwi cuisine and test Air New Zealand’s popular Economy Skycouch . The final stop on the tour in Houston featured a choir singing Christmas songs and fell just one day after Air New Zealand’s non-stop service from Auckland to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport was inaugurated. To enter the free ticket competition, fans who visited the #SandmanSelfie locations were encouraged to take a selfie with Sandman (a snowman made of sand, sporting Air New Zealand purple) and post them to Instagram using the #SandmanSelfie and #AirNZ hashtags. This fun surprise resulted in tons of great exposure for Air New Zealand and more than 1,000 #SandmanSelfie pictures uploaded to Instagram.
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social
hidden #FeesDontFly day
social
kringle vision VIRGIN AMERICA For a little “gamified” social media fun this Holiday Season, Virgin America ran a campaign called Kringle Vision . Open to consumers in the United States, the Kringle Vision campaign was announced on December 8th with a shor t video on the Virgin America’s Facebook page and a funny animated GIF posted to Twitter. The 15-second video and par tner GIF depicted various well-known figures (i.e. Abraham Lincoln, Mona Lisa, the Queen of England Airline’s own celebrity founder Sir Richard Branson) wearing ‘Kringle Vision’ glasses. The initial and subsequent posts (which include Instagram) encouraged people to visit the campaign microsite , where they could order their own set of special glasses, enabling them to unear th secret images hidden within Holiday-themed pictures.
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SOUTHWEST X VISA Every day from December 17th until December 25th, Virgin America uploaded a new coded image across its social media channels. To the naked eye, the red-tinted images look like simple festive pictures of things like a nutcracker, Santa Claus riding a white horse , and a reindeer in the snow. For people with Kringle Vision glasses though, other images (like Virgin planes taking off, and a lady on water skis with a bag Christmas gifts) appeared. Gamification is an increasingly popular tactic being used in marketing campaigns across a variety of industries. Gamification techniques work by leveraging our natural desire to socialize, compete, learn, achieve status and express ourselves. In a previous gamification effor t (2013) Virgin America ran the “Go Big” Bingo promotion, encouraging those in the Elevate frequent flyer program to play bingo over in-flight Wi-Fi.
Southwest Airlines added an extra layer of goodness to its current ‘Transfarency’ campaign by reimbursing the fees paid by some flyers who complained about other carriers on social media. During its #FeesDontFly Day this December—just in time for Christmas— Southwest gave some travellers Visa gift cards in the amount of fees they paid to other carriers, along with roundtrip tickets to fly on Southwest. “As other carriers tack on outlandish surcharges for what should be considered a normal par t of traveling, we reminded folks there’s a better, friendlier option,” said Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Southwest Airlines. Southwest replied to complainer’s messages with animated GIFs , and some of the GIFs were directly addressed to the individual, listing their social tag .
The airline also surprised a handful of travellers at the baggage claim at Dallas Love Field airpor t with Visa cards covering the baggage fees they paid to other carriers on the flight in. Southwest released a video of the event on YouTube. “Thoroughly impressed by Southwest Airlines—gift card, flight voucher— customer service holiday win!!” said one flyer on Twitter who received a Southwest “ouch pouch” with a Visa card for her fees and a round-trip ticket on Southwest. While the fee reimbursements and free tickets por tion of the #FeesDontFly campaign lasted one day, the hashtag created a stir on social media and continues to generate conversation.
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delta #GiftGuide
filepse tous AEGEAN Greek airline AEGEAN gave its passengers a taste of traditional Greek hospitality with a new surprise and delight campaign called ‘Filepse Tous’ or ‘A Gift from Greece’. The airline encouraged Greeks to give a gift to travellers to take home as a memento of their trip as a way to thank them for their visit. Greeks who wanted to par ticipate could do so on a microsite by choosing a f light, seat number, and their choice of gift. They could add a handwritten card to go with the gift, which AEGEAN then delivered to the passenger on the plane. Gift items were local products—made in par tnership with Greek producers and ar tists—and included olive oil rusk, oregano, sesame snaps with Chios mastic, fragrant tea, herbs, pistachios from Aegina, Greek coffee, and mantolato nougat, as well as various crafted souvenirs. JAN 2016 ISSUE
DELTA With the collaboration of 31,000 par ticipants, Aegean arranged special treats for 1,000 passengers on their f light home. Gift recipients could thank senders on social media using the hashtag: #aGiftFromGreece . “Just before take off yesterday, I was given #AGiftFromGreece. Thank you, Nasia P. :)” wrote one passenger. “A nice surprise travelling home on AEGEAN Airlines #AGiftFromGreece— Greek coffee with a briki and Greek surprise,” wrote another. A third wrote, “Filepse tous thank you AEGEAN Airlines and Zarahoula S for this wonderful gift, you touch my hear t!” AEGEAN documented its ‘Filepse tous’ gift giving initiative with a video , which had over 240,000 views on YouTube.
One of the reasons people love social media is the way it allows them to aggregate and experience content in digestible snippets. But once an airline masters the ar t of condensing its marketing message into one image, a cool hashtags or 140 clever characters – what comes next? Now that many airlines have gotten the hang of social media, more and more are thinking outside the box. This is precisely the case with Delta’s recent Holiday #GiftGuide campaign, which shows us a novel technique for expanding beyond perceived limitations of Instagram, a powerfully visual social platform. An Instagram profile or homepage displays an account name and shor t introduction at the top, followed below by a tiled arrangement of photo uploads that’s three images wide and any conceivable length (this is dependent on the number of upload the account has). This profile design is
identical for corporate entities and the environment is ripe for reinvention. Described by the APEX blog as a “marketing matryoshka”, the recent Delta Gift Guide on Instagram uses a picture slicing technique to transform a large single image (in this case a flow-char t to the perfect gift) into an arrangement of separate images. Together, these separate images form a mosaic that fills the whole screen, but where each one of 18 pictures can be clicked and expanded individually. Want to try it out? There are a number of simple and free image division and collage-making applications (for example Giant Square for iOS) available in all the popular app stores.
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digital
santa stop here
no detail is too small
AIR NEW ZEALAND Air New Zealand touched hear tstrings this Christmas with its latest video ‘Meanwhile in New Zealand—Santa Stop Here’ . The airline shares the story of 6-year-old Archie, who has moved with his family from Broome Western Australia to Queensberry on New Zealand’s South Island, and who is concerned that he might be too far south— and in too remote a location—for Santa to find him. The video shows Air New Zealand crew helping Archie’s father create a huge sign in Christmas lights pointing toward’s Archie’s new home so that Santa knew exactly where to stop. The airline states that the video has been viewed online by more than two million people around the world, and attracted
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SINGAPORE AIRLINES more than 3,000 comments, 30,000 shares and 34,000 likes on Facebook; with a new comment, share or like posted on the airline’s Facebook page every minute. Air New Zealand’s Head of Global Brand Development Jodi Williams says the video was focused par ticularly on the Australian market, but news of the video reached beyond Australia and New Zealand to international press and on social media. Archie’s mother, Sam Davidson, said the response to the video was overwhelming. “Our phones star ted going crazy the day the video was released and they haven’t stopped since,” she said. “We’ve received lots of messages from friends and family, including many in Broome as well as from people we haven’t heard from for a while which is nice at this time of year.”
To celebrate their f lagship aircraft and build upon a tradition of high-quality marketing videos expressing customer dedication, Singapore Airlines has released a stunning video depicting the creation of a paper-craft A380. In the YouTube video called “No Detail Is Too Small” (which has nearly 1.1 million views) the airline shows us how much thought, care and engineering go into its onboard experience by having American ar tist Luca Iaconi-Stewart build a replica cabin section for each A380 seating class. The video is about 2.5 minutes in length and is accompanied by inspirational piano music. It shows only a drafting table, the ar tist’s hands and the delicate instruments he uses to mark, cut and assemble miniscule pieces of manila folder paper into cabin sections. There is a separate piece of paper cut and glued for every individual
par t in the cabin: tray-tables move, seats recline and First Class Suite doors slide open and closed. No detail is overlooked. The video is f ilmed mostly in time-lapse, but there are shor t intervals of real-time footage to emphasise special par ts of the building process. Within aviation, blog sites such as The Designair and One Mile at a Time gushed about the project. The video impressed bloggers outside of aviation too. Toy culture blog TOYSREVIL and enviro-architecture blog inhabitat reposted the video as well. Singapore’s social team was on point, creating a series of ex tra 15-second videos for Instagram and using the #NoDetailTooSmall hashtag. They also reacted quickly to comments from YouTube viewers.
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big metal bird
qantas assure
UNITED United Airlines has created a series of humorous informational short YouTube videos, called Big Metal Bird , which explain the complexities of the airline industry to flyers. The mini-series is hosted by Katie Nolan, of Fox Sports 1, and improv performer Rob Anderson, with ‘guest appearances’ by United Airlines executives. In the f irst episode , Katie reviews the journey of baggage after it’s dropped of at the check-in counter. The video features United staff who explain various parts of the baggage handling process. Even United’s Director of Baggage Strategy and Performance, Marc Zessin, takes part by allowing himself to be “checked in luggage” to prove his confidence in the system. explains the The second episode process United goes through to plan routes and schedules. Andy Buchanan, Managing Director of International Network Planning JAN 2016 ISSUE
QANTAS FREQUENT FLYER explains the process, and also comes across as friendly and accessible. It is this light-hearted tone to the series which is very effective at humanising the company to the general public. In addition to posting videos to YouTube, United has established a dedicated site which features accompanying posts providing more background information on the topics covered. The segments are designed to be short so that travellers can enjoy them ‘on the go’ with their mobile devices. “This is how our customs like to get their information—easy to consume, easy to understand and easy to share,” Mark Krolick, United’s managing director of Marketing and Product Development said.
Many airline passengers lament the traditional loyalty program format, which has become somewhat antiquated and can take forever to produce any useable benef it. But in a new loyalty tieup with Aussie health insurance provider nib , Qantas is demonstrating that it understands how people want to collect and redeem points in a digital world. Beginning later this year, Qantas Frequent Flyer program members can purchase Qantas Assure , a range of health insurance products powered by nib. Those who sign up can begin earning Qantas Points faster than with f lying alone, because they’ll collect points for achieving f itness goals. Qantas Assure customers will be able to download an app to a number of different wearable and mobile devices. Using the app, customers can choose from
a selection of physical challenges at varying levels of diff iculty. The app will monitor (by counting steps, for example) the customer as he or she progresses through the challenge and reward completion with Qantas Points that can be used on f lights, upgrades, hotels, car hire, at the Qantas store, and more. Though the program isn’t quite ready yet, Qantas has produced a shor t YouTube video to explain details for those considering taking par t. The video has more than 7,000 views, and Australian media such as Sky News and The Australian Business Review have written about the initiative. This isn’t the f irst time and airline has used f itness to inspire loyalty, and viceversa. In 2013, AirBaltic launched an app called Burn the Miles , which rewarded frequent f liers for burning calories.
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invest on board @ slush 2015
tv, print, ooh
going places together
TURKISH AIRLINES There’s an old saying that goes “It’s not what you know, buy who you know that matters.” It seems that airlines have been adopting this phrase as their mantra lately. Many are doing their best to “get to know” the tech, star t-up and creative communities as a means of getting in front of trends, scouting talent and mining for breakthrough ideas. In November, Turkish Airlines embedded itself in the front lines of creative innovation by taking a stand at Slush 2015 in Helsinki. Organized entirely by students, Slush is now Nor thern Europe’s largest tech star tup conference and it is growing rapidly. The 2014 event attracted more than 1,400 tech star t-ups and 750 investors – it’s an event not to be missed by anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the tech star t-up world.
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QATAR AIRWAYS In their booth at the event, Turkish Airlines set up a small TV set comprised of a chair, a camera and a studio light. Then over two days, the airline enticed entrepreneurs to sit down and pitch their start-up on film for the chance to become par t of Turkish Airlines’ Invest on Board program, which sees pitch videos incorporated into the IFE offering in Business Class. Other airlines that have been engaging the tech/star t-up community include Virgin Atlantic – which recently paired on a campaign with co-working center group WeWork – and Delta, which offered customers the chance to win a flight ticket seated next to a rising star of the Creative Class .
After running its ‘World’s 5-Star Airline’ campaign for 18 years, Qatar Airways has launched a new global brand campaign “Going Places Together” [video] . The campaign focuses on the travel lifestyle and on the airline as an ideal connector for the world. While Gulf competitors have recently launched campaigns featuring Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Aniston, Qatar Airways has shunned celebrities in its new promotions, making its customers the stars of the show instead. Featuring sites and a host of activities travellers can enjoy at key Qatar Airways destinations, the 60-second TV spot features a voice-over encouraging travellers to explore the places they have always dreamed of visiting. “Go to that famous city; the one you always see in the movies,” the narrator says against a backdrop of New York. “Hop on another plane and go someplace
else,” he continues as we see highlights of Barcelona—where FC Barcelona players make cameo appearances—Paris, Doha, and Shanghai. The commercial ends with the question: “Where do you want to go?” Accompanying digital, print and OOH campaigns expand on the “Going Places Together” theme, including the hear twarming image of a young girl and her teddy bear holding hands with a Qatar Airways flight attendant as they transit through Doha. The video of the commercial has had over 2 million views on YouTube. And Qatar Airways hasn’t left celebrities out of its promotions entirely. Its latest —viewed over 9 in-flight safety video million times so far—was filmed at Camp Nou and features FC Barcelona’s top football stars.
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the leaflet LUFTHANSA With a recent campaign promoting sun destinations, Lufthansa recently took out of home adver tising to leafy new levels of outdoorsy-ness. In the nor therly city of Stockholm, Sweden, Lufthansa and adver tising agency DDB employed the help of a professional arborist, whom they sent up numerous trees in a public park. There, while the leaves in the trees were still green, he used 100% natural and environmentally-friendly materials to stamp messages onto hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of leaves. The faint, but easy-to-read messages included the names of Lufthansa’s many sunny destinations, adver tised low fares and touted warm temperatures that could be enjoyed elsewhere. Then it was time to play the waiting game for fall. As the leaves changed colors and slowly drifted to the ground, citizens began finding the JAN 2016 ISSUE
special leaves. Hidden cameras in the park captured all the surprised reactions. “Watch autumn become our voice for summer!” reads the description of the video (84,300 views) that was created and posted on Lufthansa’s dedicated YouTube channel. “With the help of a professional arborist and 100% environment-friendly products, our new sun destinations are revealed in a surprisingly natural way.” In 2014, Cebu Pacific also created an innovative outdoor campaign with the help of Mother Nature. In this case, the airline used water-repellant paint to draw a message on the pavement that revealed itself in the rain. People saw the tagline “It’s Sunny In The Philippines” and could then scan a QR code for a Cebu Pacific discount.
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about us.
Pricing SimpliFlying is a global consultancy that believes in thinking differently about aviation marketing. Having worked with over 50 airlines and airports around the world, it has presences in Singapore, UK, Spain, Canada and India. Today, SimpliFlying advises airlines and airports on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space. The firm also conducts MasterClasses to train and develop airline and airport teams to become self-sufficient in executing measurable and rewarding social campaigns.
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SimpliFlying’s growing list of clients includes Lufthansa, Emirates, Toronto Pearson Airpor t, Halifax International, KLIA, Jet Airways, LAN Airlines, airBaltic, Airbus and Bombardier. Get in touch at engage@simpliflying. com or visit www.simpliflying.com.
Airlinetrends.com is an independent industry and consumer trends research agency that monitors the global aviation industry for commercial innovations in response to changing consumer behavior. Airlinetrends.com repor ts its f indings in a free monthly email newsletter as well as in paid trend repor ts and corporate trend sessions. Get in touch at info@airlinetrends.com or visit www.airlinetrends.com.
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