Airline Marketing Benchmark Report-February 2016

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benchmark report

airline marketing

gronk is my co-pilot

batman vs superman

JETBLUE For millions in the USA, NFL Football is a way of life. Especially as the season reaches its climax in the annual Super Bowl, excitement builds among the spor t’s hundreds of millions of fans. As a result, JetBlue’s recent announcement that it is the new official airline of the New England Patriots football team – with an accompanying TV ad campaign suppor ting the par tnership – is making big waves In November, the first of a series of five hilarious television commercials jointly promoting JetBlue and the New England Patriots aired on network television and across the web in the USA. is the longest The first commercial and features Patriots star player Rob Gronkowski (“Gronk”) sitting on a JetBlue plane, asking his uncle (a real JetBlue pilot) FEB 2016 ISSUE

TURKISH AIRLINES if the new sponsorship deal means that he can fly the plane. Thankfully the answer to that question is no, but Gronk’s uncle has a few other ideas for how to put him to work onboard the aircraft. The rest of the commercials are follow-ons to the first. They depict the athlete as he attempts to do various things on the plane – such as dancing, operating the flight attendant touch-screen control and fitting into a lavatory in his full gear. The spor ting community has gone mad for this campaign, with publications like Patsfans.com, Beacherrepor t.com, and NESN.com repor ting on it. This is great for JetBlue’s reach and reputation within the large American spor ting community. The hashtag #gronkismycopilot , itself a play on a 1945 WW2 film (God is my Co-Pilot ) about fighter pilots, has lit up on twitter.

Airlines have long enjoyed a close relationship with the studios which supply their In-Flight Enter tainment, but there are plenty of brand building oppor tunities beyond securing the rights to play Hollywood’s top blockbusters on seatback screens. One example of that is Turkish Airlines, which recently entered into a marketing par tnership with Warner Bros timed with the premiere of the new ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’, which stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman and Jesse Eisenberg as Superman’s rival Lex Luthor. The deal between the airline and the studio includes in film “product placement” for the airline . “The image of the Turkish Airlines airplane will be shown in the movie with our logo. What is more, one of the biggest knots of the movie will be untied in flight on our Business Class,” said M. Ilker Aycı, Turkish

Airlines’ Board Chairman. Turkish Airlines first announced the par tnership with a special trailer video on YouTube, which it shared with fans on Facebook and Twitter . Turkish Airlines also revealed a speciallythemed Boeing 777 aircraft with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice livery, separate movie-themed in-flight amenities, menu items, a special Time Out travel guide featuring content on Gotham City and Metropolis, as well as a special edition frequent flyer Miles & Smiles card. The hashtags #flytogotham and #flytometropolis are being used in suppor t on social media . Other airlines that have enjoyed high-profile Hollywood par tnerships include ANA and Disney Studios for the launch of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and American Airlines and Disney for Planes .

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