benchmark report
airline marketing
JUNE 2016 ISSUE
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying June 2OI6
Issue 45
benchmark report
airline marketing
welcome. Published by 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
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:
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.
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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human alligator
experiential
fly babies JET BLUE In the consumer goods market, women are fuelling incredible growth . They are a major demographic targeted by sales professionals in a vast array of industries, including travel. For a lot of brands, there is no bigger prize than winning the loyalty of Moms. After all, who can deny that in most family homes, Mom does a lot of the shopping, the gifting, the event planning and the travel organization? With a sweet and sincere campaign executed on a flight in May, JetBlue demonstrated that it is acutely aware of how impor tant mothers are, and that it’s sympathetic to the challenges they face on a daily basis – especially flying with a small child. A YouTube video posted by the airline on May 7th depicts a real day-of-travel for JUNE 2016 ISSUE
BRITISH AIRWAYS passengers flying JetBlue’s flight 213 from New York to Long Beach, CA. It star ts with filmmakers speaking to moms who will be on the flight with a baby. They reveal what they’re worried about – irritating other passengers.
It’s a well-known fact that Britain hasn’t been home to any large, predatory animals for thousands of years. That’s probably why British Airways’ latest experiential campaign, the Human Alligator, proved to be such a big head-turner.
But on this flight, a stewardess announces that for every baby who cries, every passenger will receive 25% off their next JetBlue flight. In the end, four babies cried – and so free, round-trip tickets were promised to all the passengers onboard. It really changed everyone’s attitude toward the fussy infants onboard.
The airline wanted to promote flights from London Gatwick Airpor t to Florida, and in par ticular, the increasingly popular tourist destination of Tampa Bay. Famous for its abundant alligator population, Tampa Bay is not really a top destination for many travelling Brits, so British Airways decided to shock folks into considering the destination with an optical illusion of ‘wild’ propor tions. In late May, the airline teamed up with body paint ar tist Johannes Stoetter to execute the Human Alligator. Over the space of five intensive hours, Stoetter airbrushed three human models.
The video for this campaign has been viewed nearly 3 million times between Facebook and YouTube , and a wide range of media covered the story; from big mainstream sites like Huffington Post , to Mom-focused blogs and communities like Her Family .
Then the very supple models inter twined limbs and lay semi-still on a runway at London’s Gatwick Airpor t, causing the three airbrushed designs to combine to replicate a Florida alligator. It was a thrilling spectacle for many passengers travelling through Gatwick Airpor t on an otherwise typical day. A video posted to the British Airways YouTube channel shows a time-lapse of the entire body-painting process and it has enjoyed over 11,000 views. The story of this unusual, yet creative project was told in repor ts by the Independent , International Business Times , BizJournals and a number of other local and international press.
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easyjet sneakairs
match made in HEL
EASYJET After experimenting with the introduction of LED light crew uniforms last year, easyJet has now taken its next step into wearables. Last month, it unveiled prototype smar t trainers called ‘Sneakairs’ which aim to help travellers better navigate the cities they visit. Sensors in the spor ts shoes connect to a smar tphone app via Bluetooth, using the smar tphone’s GPS system, and vibrates to tell the walker when to turn left or right. The campaign also draws attention to easyJet as a choice airline for fun getaway destinations in Europe. easyJet prepared two videos about the Sneakairs; one which shows how the Sneakairs work and another which gives more details on the technology
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FINNAIR used to make them. The airline also created a dedicated Barcelona Street Project microsite to garner interest and suppor t for the idea, similar to what a Kickstar ter project might want do when launching a product idea. This campaign taps into the buzz on wearables, and also matches easyJet’s focus on technology solutions like its mobile and smar twatch apps. The campaign also draws attention to easyJet’s popularity among millions of adventurous passengers across Europe who set off for quick city breaks. The promotion was well received by the media , including technology site Gizmag , Wired and Digital Trends .
Finnair and Helsinki Airpor t’s management company, Finavia, held their second Match Made In HEL event on May 24 featuring the fashion creations of seven European and Asian top designers at Helsinki Airpor t. This year the two aviation par tners put on a very unique runway show . The airline’s new A350 aircraft served as the backdrop to the runway catwalk drawing attention to the design quality of the aircraft. The airline promoted the Made In HEL campaign on social media, from the announcement right up to the day of the big event, and featured stories of each of the designers selected to par ticipate in a series of posts on Facebook and YouTube . Media from around the world, including leading fashion bloggers and journalists, were present on the runway to watch as the models dressed in designs reflecting these
different cultural influences strutted by. For Finnair and Finavia this was an oppor tunity to build relationships with their customers in the Nordics and Asia, and also to define its brand as both lifestyle and design conscious-and just a healthy amount of quirky. This is the second Match Made in HEL event that Finnair and Finavia have coordinated. In 2014, the two par tners invited top skateboarders from around the world to HEL’s runway for a wheely showdown (video) . While the first Match made in HEL called attention to Finland as a happening and hip place to visit, this new campaign adds the elements of lifestyle appeal and sophistication, while calling attention to the connection between Finland and Asia through the runway at Helsinki.
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social
KLM night light
#IHateTheWait
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines came up with a bright solution to a common predicament for frequent flyers: the need to be wherever business takes them and the desire to always be there for their children. The new KLM Night Light was designed to let the children of business travellers count down the days until their mother or father returns home. The mini KLM aircraft lamp has a light burning behind each aircraft window, marking each night the parent will be away. As the travel days pass, one less light turns on, until all the lights have dimmed marking the return of the beloved parent. The Night Light was launched via an ad produced by DDB Amsterdam . The Night Light ad (video) shows a child’s imagination set free as he turns his bedroom
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AIRLINES FOR AMERICA into a mini-airpor t, making preparations for the return of his mother’s plane. KLM ran a special promotion for its BlueBiz passengers for a chance to win a Night Light for their children with the purchase of tickets before 1 May. The airline also put the KLM Night Lights up for sale online for €39,99. They quickly sold out. No surprise as the product generated quite a lot of positive commentary on Twitter: “Sweet idea,” said one commenter. “I want one!” another wrote. “How cool is that for kids?” wrote a third. Besides demonstrating an understanding of the day-to-day challenges many frequent flyers face, KLM also tied in this promotion to repeat its on-time service commitment to customers.
A combination of fewer security screeners, more rigorous checks and increased airline passenger loads has recently resulted in very long TSA wait times (sometimes topping 90 minutes and causing missed flights) across the United States.
This campaign, seen by many as a hard jab at the TSA, has undoubtedly kicked up a storm of debate about the topic – while eliciting an overwhelming response from the travelling public (who love using social media to lodge complaints) and media.
As the summer travel season kicks into gear these wait times are not projected to get better – and airlines operating in the US have had enough. For years, airline members of Airlines for America (A4A), an advocacy group acting to shape policies for a healthy US airline industry, have lobbied on a regulatory level for change in this area.
Popular publications such as The Consumerist and The BBC have since repor ted on the woes of TSA screening waits, and Conde Nast Traveller has even published an ar ticle featuring some of the most nightmarish images posted under the hashtag.
Now in a digital call to action, A4A has taken its TSA battle to the masses by encouraging travellers to share their security wait line stories with the world via Twitter , Instagram and other social media, using the hashtag #ihatethewait.
For its par t, the TSA has been using Twitter to respond to the outcry, regularly posting explanatory tweets linking followers to information on the situation and encouraging TSA Pre-Check enrolment.
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benchmark report
airline marketing
snap travelers
one day
WOW AIR
VIRGIN ATLANTIC Virgin Atlantic wants to inspire people to remember, and go after, dreams they may have forgotten or put aside with a social campaign entitled “One Day” . Though par t of a larger branding effor t that uses the strapline “Let it Fly” the One Day campaign is simple in both scope and execution. Limited to residents of the UK and Twitter, it’s a retrospective journey in which Virgin Atlantic and adver tising agency Adam&Eve/DDB London mined Twitter’s colourful history (going back as far as five years) and found old tweets tagged with #oneday, describing the future wishes of Twitter users. Selected tweets will be broadcast by the airline/agency duo across social media and on digital outdoor displays across the UK for… you guessed it… One Day. If someone spots their tweet, they need JUNE 2016 ISSUE
simply contact the airline to claim their prize of plane tickets to go wherever necessary to do that #oneday thing. A shor t online video was published in advance of the activation, so people had some heads up about it. Overall though, the campaign maintains a fairly clandestine edge. In a feature about the effort , Campaign Magazine asked Virgin Atlantic’s Vice President of Marketing, Hamish Rickman, a great question about whether or not it’s acceptable to re-broadcast tweets (without express permission) as par t of a marketing effor t. “When you’re talking about live engagement, there are inherently risks,” he replied. “We will have people monitoring conversations every day over the [duration] of this campaign. We’re ensuring we’re on top of any issues that might arise.”
WOW Air, the airline that once used dating/hookup app Tinder in a social media campaign , is at it again. This time, Spapchat is the social medium of choice for a campaign geared at highlighting summer destinations by showing them through the eyes and the stories of four creative, fun and adventurous “Snapchatters” hired specifically for this purpose.
given a unique itinerary comprising threeto eight-day trips to four of the airline’s destinations. As of the end of May, social media output and follower reaction to the content generated by the winners was looking robust and positive. The #SnapTraveler hashtag has proliferated across Snapchat, Twitter , Youtube , Facebook and Instagram .
To apply for this “job” (we use this term loosely, as financial compensation was not par t of the deal), interested par ties were asked to create a Snapchat story about why they should be selected. They were then asked to go to the official Snaptraveller application page , upload the story and other details, and wait for the winners to be announced via WOW Air’s various social media platforms on May 17th.
Additionally, a slew of major news publications have written about the effor t, thus helping draw in better applicants and up the hype-factor. These include Business Insider UK , Lonely Planet and Travel & Leisure .
Upon selection, the four contest winners were flown to Iceland to meet with WOW Air’s marketing team where they were
Especially with recent statistics showing Snapchat now has more daily users than Twitter , Snapchat is emerging as a social platform of choice with under-30s. This campaign reinforces WOW Air’s market position as a young, fun airline for this group to fly.
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digital
#CatsOnAPlane
meet europe’s best
THOMAS COOK
TURKISH AIRLINES
In recent years Thomas Cook Airlines has been refurbishing its cabin interiors to improve passenger comfor t and reduce aircraft weight (thus increasing fuel efficiency) through the installation of newer and lighter equipment.
cats from different breeds. Here the cuddly cats are seen exploring newly refurbished aircraft cabins and being attended to by cabin crew. Caption boxes are used to describe what the cats are thinking as they try out the amenities onboard.
To promote these new cabins, the airline has teamed up with Catch (the same digital marketing agency they par tnered with on the 360-degree VR experience “Fantasy Flight” ) to harness the formidable power of cats and the internet in a new online campaign.
Other videos in the group run about 30 seconds each, and focus on a specific cat or group of cats, and specific area of service. Quoted in a feature by the marketingblog.co.uk , Catch’s Creative Director said “Cats are the undisputed champions of the internet. They’re fussy, demanding and know exactly what they want. What better way to put the airline’s service to the test.”
Working under the strapline “You Deserve Better”, this campaign features a series of videos uploaded to the Thomas Cook Airlines YouTube channel and promoted through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag #CatsOnAPlane. The longest video is about 95 seconds and features an ensemble cast of “test team” JUNE 2016 ISSUE
On YouTube, the four videos collected 87,300 views over seven days. Direct upload to Facebook , however, yielded even better results – with just three of the clips getting over 460,000 views over the same time-span.
Continuing to create buzz around being the Official Airline Par tner of EURO 2016, Europe’s most prestigious football tournament, Turkish Airlines is now encouraging fans to upload user-generated content to a microsite created in celebration of the spor ting event. The “Meet Europe’s Best” campaign is designed to highlight European culture and the different ways fans across the continent exhibit and share their passion for the beautiful spor t. Entry is limited to those 18 and over. To par ticipate and qualify to win one of 11 pairs of first category UEFA EURO 2016 group stage tickets, fans need simply visit the microsite, enter their details and upload a picture, video, GIF, or comment that illustrates unwavering suppor t for their home country in the tournament.
In addition to serving as a por tal for this competition (hashtag #europesbest), the meeteuropesbest.com microsite features a social media aggregation platform, displaying a live stream of all social media posts tagged as #europesbest . The site also contains a guide to EURO 2016 host cities in France, TV commercial spots bearing the ‘Meet Europe’s Best’ tagline, and is peppered with links to Turkish Airlines’ various social media pages. In April, Turkish Airlines unveiled an A330300 painted in the EURO 2016 livery. The plane retains the signature Turkish Airlines red and white airline logo on the tail, but the rear of the fuselage is now bright blue with a football pitch and the EURO 2016 logo. A video of this livery being painted is also found on the microsite.
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cinema to go
brexit special
AIR FRANCE
RYANAIR
Air France celebrated the 36th anniversary of its partnership with the Cannes film festival with a clever ‘Cinema to Go’ campaign that also introduced an in-flight enter tainment concept which could really take off.
It’s a clever spin on a common passenger frustration but also quite a good idea if airlines could work similar par tnerships with local film studios on limited “to-go” licensing. It could perhaps offer a nice revenue builder as well.
The UK is currently in the grip of its referendum campaign to decide if it will stay or leave (“Brexit”) the European Union. One prominent suppor ter of Britain remaining in the European Union is Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.
For the festival, the airline featured previous Cannes Festival films on its inflight enter tainment channel which passengers could download with a gift code to their personal smar tphones, tablets, or PCs to watch even after the flight had landed.
The airline’s #cinematogo hashtag enjoyed much positive conversation around the service, with some social media users saying the idea should continue even after the festival has concluded. The Facebook post of the promotion had over 2.5 thousand likes.
Ryanair has allowed ‘Remain’ campaigners including UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne to use the airline’s planes as a backdrop during a press event at London’s Stansted Airpor t. However the airline also used the referendum campaign to its advantage by running a seat sale and capitalising around the controversy it generated.
To promote the service the airline prepared a humorous video showing various popular film scenes--romantic and action sequences--inappropriately interrupted by a flight attendant making an announcement who leaves the actors perplexed. The video proved popular with over 1.6 million views.
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Air France used the campaign effectively to fur ther build its “France is in the air” positioning, get media attention , and join in the global buzz surrounding the stars at Cannes.
On 19 May, the airline launched a “Brexit Special” on its website and online channels, suppor ted by a press campaign. Anyone wanting to fly home to the UK on 23 June (the day of the referendum) would be able to do so for just €19.99. Though ostensibly aimed at British expats coming
home to vote, anyone could of course take advantage of the offer , with the result that this promotion actually boosted the airline’s UK inbound routes. Vote Leave, the official campaign to take Britain out of the EU, duly took the bait and star ted complaining about Ryanair offering unfair inducements to British expats to come home and vote. Campaign director Dominic Cummings said Ryanair’s campaign was the equivalent to a pub next to a polling station offering voters cheap drinks , and repor ted the matter to the police. In true Ryanair style, the airline turned this to its advantage, extending the sale and running graphics on its social media channels under the headline “the fares they tried to ban!”. Needless to say, the stunt ended up getting an enormous amount of national and international press coverage, and so many more people ended up hearing about the sale than would otherwise have been the case.
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tv, print, ooh
“we’re flying with the germans”
the center of it all
LUFTHANSA Lufthansa proved that it is comfor table having a laugh at its own expense (while ribbing England football rivals a bit) with a new “We’re flying with the Germans” spot prepared around the Euro 2016 cup. The commercial plays off the existing rivalry between the German and English teams and was launched to coincide with the airline’s “Fanhansa” football campaign. Lufthansa is also encouraging fans to apply for the chance to be memorialised on the livery of the Lufthansa aircraft which will fly the German team to France. In the shor t commercial, Lufthansa shows England fans headed for a Euro 2016 match who discover--at the last minute--that they have to “fly with the Germans.” One of the fans flashes to his worst fears over the Lufthansa onboard experience, as the airline plays off tropes of German JUNE 2016 ISSUE
DELTA culture, including flight attendants dressed in severe Bavarian hunting outfits who serve large sausages with a bad attitude in an poorly decorated cabin featuring a cuckoo clock to keep the time. Behind the England fan, sits a child rooting for the German home team making faces and rude gestures. Eventually, the nightmare is over, and the England fan finds himself in a pleasant realworld Lufthansa onboard experience-though the troublemaking kid is still seated behind him. It’s all in good fun. The airline has been promoting the campaign on Twitter each week during special matches leading up to the Euro 2016 cup finals with Tweets sharing the the video before matches. The hashtag #Fanhansa is in turn being used to encourage conversation in the build up to Euro 2016.
Delta has released another in its series of evocative TV spots featuring the voice of actor Donald Sutherland, this time focused on its international hub in Seattle. ‘The Center of It All’ highlights the city’s strategic position as a bridge to Asia, “as close to Tokyo as it is to London.” Delta has had an ongoing rivalry with Alaska Airlines--which has been considered Seattle’s hometown airline for decades. The two airlines have been pitted against each other competing for routes and customers, and this commercial is Delta’s way to plant a flag and firmly declare itself an integral par t of Seattle life. To reinforce this point, Delta has also lent its suppor t to the Seattle’s Founders FC with a unique patchwork campaign to create a new display--following the team’s tradition of having unique displays on show during matches at CenturyLink Field. The airline is collaborating with Sounders FC, goalkeeper
Stefan Frei and fans to create a unique canvas “Fabric of Seattle” celebrating the players, the fans, and the City of Seattle. Built in stages, the display will measure 200 feet in length when completed. It will grow--piece by piece--before it’s stitched together and unveiled on September 28th at the team’s match against Chicago. Each of the six pieces has a theme message which embodies the Seattle spirit reinforcing the prime message “You can’t stop Seattle.” Delta has announced that the last piece “You Can’t Stop Us Anywhere” will be created by a plane full of fans at 30,000 feet in the air on a private flight destined for Por tland. The airline is running a promotion for a chance to win a seat aboard the special flight. Delta also prepared a special video marking the launch of its Sounders FC campaign.
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made of italy ALITALIA Italian flagship carrier Alitalia has revealed a fresh face to the world with the launch of a new global brand campaign ‘Made of Italy’ that highlights the best of Italian culture, lifestyle and cuisine and, at the same time, reinforces the airline’s position as a European luxury carrier, harmonised to the brand promise of the Etihad Airline Par tners group.
storytelling series which consists of ‘Made of..’ shor t films featuring the par tners which help deliver the “feel” of the revitalised Alitalia.
The commercial features the new Alitalia experience on the ground and in the air, highlights its new network and terminal services at Rome Fiumicino, its people and onboard services and destinations in Italy, as well as in different world capitals that Alitalia serves. The airline commissioned a new version of the popular song, Volare, sung by award-winning Italian singer Malika Ayane, to serve as the campaign’s theme music.
The airline is running its main television spot on networks in key markets like Italy, the USA, Brazil and Germany in 30 second and 60 second versions. It is also promoting all the video content on YouTube and Social Media channels. Alitalia used the hashtag #AlitaliaDay on Social Media during the launch. It is using #ViviAmaVola, and #MadeOfItaly as par t of ongoing promotion
Alitalia released a series of separate videos around the campaign, including a brand JUNE 2016 ISSUE
Alitalia launched its new campaign this May, during its Alitalia Day event in Rome where it also revealed new cabin and ground crew uniforms .
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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.
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