benchmark report
airline marketing
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.
JUNE 2016 ISSUE
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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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TV, PRINT, OOH
