benchmark report
airline marketing
AUG 2016 ISSUE
A monthly selection of the most innovative marketing campaigns launched by airlines around the world SimpliFlying Aug 2OI6
Issue 47
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.
AUG 2016 ISSUE
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
airline marketing
experiential
heineken on draft
boeing’s centennial
KLM Dutch flagship carrier KLM has teamed-up with famous Dutch beer-maker Heineken to steal headlines with the unveiling of the world’s first ever in-flight draught beer – poured from a specialized beverage trolley and served to business passengers. While it is not unusual for an airline to work with major beer producers (or indeed smaller craft breweries ) on joint marketing campaigns, this par tnership clearly breaks the mould when we look at the significant level of research and development that went into it. Historically, any effor ts to serve draught beer at altitude have been unsuccessful. This is because air pressure in the cabin is far lower than what we have on the ground. This pressure differential always resulted in pints of foam when pouring was attempted with a standard Co2-operated keg tap. The solution for KLM and Heineken was to redesign the pumping mechanism AUG 2016 ISSUE
ALASKA AIRLINES to use air pressure instead of Co2, and to drastically reduce the dimensions of this new mechanism so it could fit inside a standard Atlas trolley. As with the introduction of any new equipment onboard, this specialized beer trolley must pass cer tification with aviation authorities, and this process has already caused some delays in launch, which is currently scheduled for August on select routes. While publications like The Independent , Conde Nast Traveller and Europe Business Review have nice things to say about this project, the initiative has caused controversy amongst die-hard beer who worry that the taste will be lovers inferior 30,000 feet up. Time will tell if they are right once the initiative launches, but in the meantime KLM has again succeeded in rolling out an initiative that has generated media exposure worldwide.
For Boeing, 2016 is an impor tant year. The company celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 15th, and to commemorate this landmark bir thday, Boeing’s longtime par tner Alaska Airlines – whose mainline fleet is comprised entirely of Boeing aircraft and who, like Boeing, also shares a long, rich history with the city of Seattle – marked the occasion with the unveiling of a specially-painted Boeing 737900ER. Dubbed the “Celebration of Boeing,” both sides of the jet’s fuselage were emblazoned with the Boeing logo and the phrase “100 years strong.” Alaska Airlines also paid homage to Boeing’s illustrious past by focusing on future and the next generation of aviation innovators to come. It did this by inviting invited a group fourth and fifth grade students to fly on the “100 Years Strong”
jet’s first passenger flight. The students were selected from children enrolled in the Museum of Flight’s summer camp, which encourages kids to pursue college degrees and eventual careers in S.T.E.M. related fields. Alaska Airlines documented the children’s experience with a very sweet clip on the its YouTube channel , while Alaska CEO wrote a blog piece about the airline’s relationship with Boeing. Aside from generating goodwill and extensive coverage from local media outlets like The Seattle Times and the Puget the special Sound Business Journal livery also made headlines everywhere from Kansas City to China .
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benchmark report
airline marketing
interactive amenity kit
flying lab LUFTHANSA To celebrate its new service from Frankfur t to San Jose, the gateway to the Silicon Valley, Lufthansa treated passengers and select press to an immersive experience. Taking place at 10,000 metres above the ground the Lufthansa FlyingLab gave guests the chance to try out new technology, hear presentations and talks from specially invited guest speakers and network with each other. Passengers boarding the FlyingLab in Frankfur t were first of all greeted with a gate par ty that featured funky seating, vir tual reality experiences and more.Once in the air, the Flying Lab continued to surprise. With the aid of a specially set-up inflight network to stream video content to passengers’ mobile devices, the airline executed a live onboard conference with speakers at the front of the plane, delivering real-time coverage to passengers AUG 2016 ISSUE
EMIRATES throughout. The speakers included Natanael Sijanta, director of marketing communications at automotive giant Mercedes Benz, as well as Heiko Hebig, the head of par tnerships for photo social network Instagram. Samsung technology, including S2 Tablets and Gear VR vir tual reality head-sets were on board for passengers to try. Lufthansa’s aim is for the FlyingLab to be something that can be rolled out around major route launches and events. According to Torsten Wingenter, head of digital innovation at Lufthansa, the airline is already considering running a lab around New York Fashion Week as well as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As a result, the FlyingLab website includes a call for par tners, as well as technology vendors who would like to showcase their products to a plane full of social media influencers on a future flight.
Emirates has debuted what it describes as “the world’s first interactive amenity kit in economy class” . Using the Blippar augmented reality app, passengers can scan on their kits with their smar tphones and unlock immersive content including a customized music playlist, a digital doodling book (coloring books for adults are all the rage these days!), health and well-being travel tips, and access to the Emirates app where they can post comments to the airline (video ). Each kit has a unique mix of content and is designed to be useful long after the journey. The six different designs of the kits are inspired by the six regions in Emirates’ global network: Australasia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Far East. The designs incorporate the colours and patterns of each of these regions. The Middle East design features Arabic calligraphy by UAEbased ar tist, Tagelsir Hassan. Emirates is
offering the kits to passengers on long-haul flights to Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane. The timing of an Augmented Reality kit couldn’t have been more timely, with Pokémon GO calling everyone’s attention to the possibilities of augmented and vir tual reality. Emirates has also found a way to keep customers engaged after the journey by offering new content that customers can unlock after their trip by scanning the kit again. Amenity kits build an airline’s brand , and amenity kits in the economy cabin are a rare and prized passenger treat. Emirates already offers premium cabin customers amenity kits with luxury cosmetics, and offers children kits which prove popular with parents too. But by introducing a digital and interactive element to an economy kit, the airline has tapped into something special.
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benchmark report
airline marketing social
sir richard branson’s innovation challenge
books on board CONDOR Not sure what books to take with you on holiday? If you are flying with German leisure airline Condor , you can take a mini library! This is all thanks to a campaign that Condor has launched with the German book-sellers’ association called “Buch an Bord” (Books on Board) giving passengers an extra 1kg of luggage to take with them in the form of books . “Buch an Bord” in turn suppor ts a national initiative by German booksellers called “Vorsicht Buch” (Careful - Book) where the message is that a holiday simply isn’t a holiday without books. To get their free kilo of checked in luggage, passengers need to buy books from par ticipating retailers, who will then issue them with a special sticker to place on their suitcases and bags. German bookstores have been given window decals and point of sale material to promote the initiative. Social media fans who go to a dedicated “Vorsicht Buch” AUG 2016 ISSUE
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA Facebook page are also given the chance to win flights to Ibiza. Travel these days is commonly associated with people loading up their tablets or smar tphones with games, videos and e-books. This is a campaign that turns that on its head by asking travellers to rediscover the pleasure of reading via a physical book. By working with the German booksellers’ industry Condor both positions itself as an airline that fosters a social good and gets literally thousands of oppor tunities to see via individual retailers on the German High Street. According to Alexander Skipis, Managing Director of the German Booksellers and Publishers Association, “Each year more than seven million people travel with Condor to Asia, Africa, America and beautiful holiday destinations all over Europe. Your bookseller knows which books are the right fit for you and your holiday destination. It’s wor th it to take an extra kilo of books in your luggage.”
This month we observed Air Canada’s use of crowdfunding (see page seven) to help people buy more plane tickets. With his Innovation Challenge (on behalf of Virgin Australia) Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson is also “crowdfunding” in a sense – only he’s appealing to the masses for ideas to shape the future of air travel. On July 19th Virgin Australia posted to YouTube a 42-second video of Branson speaking directly to the camera. In the clip, he asks the public to share their thoughts on how air travel might change ten years from now, by simply writing them in the comments “below”. Sharp-eyed viewers hopefully read the description under the YouTube video stating that a proper contest entry (a $500 travel voucher was offered for the best comment) actually required comments to be made below the video embedded in the airline’s LinkedIn page . A Facebook
post by Virgin Australia similarly guided contestants to LinkedIn for par ticipation. By using several social networks to promote this contest, but guiding people to a single network for submission, Virgin Australia was able to reduce some of the complexity that can accompany broader social media effor ts. It’s interesting to note that although Virgin Australia has significant Twitter and Instagram followings, it didn’t use these platforms to promote the Innovation Challenge. This could be another simplicity tactic, or could indicate that the true aim of this campaign was to directly cover t Facebook followers to followers on LinkedIn, which is expected to gain traction after news of its acquisition by Microsoft .
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benchmark report
airline marketing
twitter check-in
pokémon go A IRBALTIC, VIRGIN AMERICA, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA
GOL Brazilian Airline GOL is now allowing passengers to check-in on Twitter via a direct message (video ). By following the @VoeGOLoficial account and tweeting the hashtag #GOLcheckin, customers receive a direct message which takes them through the check-in process, including ID validation. Customers then receive a QR code which lets them download an electronic mobile pass to their phones. The service is available for both domestic and international flights. “We have more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, and a wide interaction with customers through this channel, which has encouraged us to create the service on the platform. The company is always looking to innovate and bring intelligent solutions to customers. This new feature is another option for the customer to check-in how and where he wants,” explained Lilian Santos Faria, Digital Marketing Manager and E-commerce GOL. AUG 2016 ISSUE
Twitter has become a popular social media platform in Brazil, with 40.7 million users as of the last quar ter of 2015. While initial use of the #GOLcheckin hashtag has been moderate, it has been steady and the airline is actively promoting its use with customers, as well as engaging social media influencers to pass on the message about the service to their fans. As social media’s utility grows beyond news sharing to customer service, airlines are finding ways to use these simpler, more familiar platforms to improve the travel process for their customers. Outside the Americas, Jet Airways was first to launch a Twitter check-in for its customers, while earlier this year KLM turned to Facebook Messenger to simplify its check-in process.
The augmented reality (AR) Pokémon GO game has been the fastest mobile game download in history, with more daily interaction than either Tinder or Twitter. As the world-wide Pokémon fever spread some airlines were swift to jump on the new oppor tunity to engage with fans. airBaltic par tnered with its homebase Riga Airpor t for a special hunt, and encouraged customers to share their finds on social media with the hashtag #airBalticPokeHunt . Virgin America similarly par tnered with its hub, San Francisco International Airpor t, to coordinate a special Pokémon Hunt. The airline published a guide on its blog of all the Pokémon to be found at the airpor t, with tips on best way to catch them.
Virgin America also announced the presence of a Pokémon at one of its gates by publishing it on the gate display screen . The airline has posted funny messages on its gate screens before so this was very much in character. Virgin Australia got its service desk into the game as well, offering passengers gamebased ‘tools’ to catch the Pokémon they were hunting for. Even smar t airport concessionaires are finding ways to profit from the Pokémon craze. Predicting when a game or meme will take off like this is tricky, but by keeping a close eye on social media conversations airlines can better assure they catch ‘em all.
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benchmark report
airline marketing
digital
embarq
mon voyage
AIR CANADA Hot on the heels of “Test Drive Canada” effor t in June, Air Canada marketers have come up with another social/digital ‘first.’ The airline has created a program called Embarq, which targets the millennial traveller and plays into the increasing popularity of crowdfunding as a means to raise money for projects. Embarq aims to help “cash-strapped” Canadians go on a honeymoon, business trip or adventure by collecting small donations from friends, family, and even total strangers – which the par ticipant receives as an Air Canada e-gift card. The campaign centers around a branded that emulates popular microsite crowdfunding websites like Kickstar ter or Go Fund Me. It launched with the help of a promotional video , which has netted AUG 2016 ISSUE
AIR FRANCE more than 600,000 views on YouTube. To star t, par ticipants create an Embarq account or sign in using an existing Air Canada account. Next, the hopefuls write about the Air Canada destination they want to visit and upload images and videos to help create a compelling story. Then, it’s up to them to share via social media or appeal to loved ones to donate. Unlike many crowdfunding websites that only fund a project if 100% of the target is reached, Air Canada’s Embarq program sees e-gift cards issued to par ticipants no matter what. This effor t has been covered by popular travel sites like Tnooz and Conde Nast Traveler . As of July 19, more than 800 Canadians had launched travel-funding campaigns with Embarq.
This summer, Air France launched a digital campaign to promote France as a destination. ‘Mon Voyage’ encouraged travelers to share, via the airline’s Facebook and Twitter channels, what they love most about visiting France. France is a country that captivates the hear ts and minds of visitors, with a wide variety of activities for romantics, shoppers, dreamers, nature lovers, adventurers and gourmands everywhere. But recent events have negatively impacted travel to France, and Air France wanted to do its par t to bring visitors back. The campaign was intended to run from July 7 through July 28, with free tickets on offer to Paris, Nice and Bordeaux. As par t of the promotion, the airline featured 20 unique experiences which travellers could enjoy at the destinations, and animated these with colorful illustrations.
Tragically, the promotion was paused after the attack in Nice during the Bastille day celebrations on July 14. As the airline explained in the dedicated microsite the serious nature of the event prompted the airline to pause the promotion out of respect of those who were killed on that night and their families and loved ones. The airline also said it would give out the awards that par ticipants had already won up to that point. Air France restar ted its social media activities on July 22nd with an Olympicthemed promotion featuring a 360º view of Rio de Janeiro (video) and a Rio destination guide on a dedicated microsite .
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benchmark report
airline marketing
tv, print, ooh
safety in hollywood
our people make us
AIR NEW ZEALAND Air New Zealand has a track record of making quirky and innovative safety videos. Its latest one is the funny and engaging ‘Safety in Hollywood’ which plays on popular Hollywood genres and stars American actress Anna Faris and Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby. Shot at Warner Bros. Studios, ‘Safety in Hollywood’ switches from cop movie to romance to horror (a nod to Anna Faris’ starring roles in the Scary Movie franchise) and ends with a good old fashioned Western showdown. Each setting fits a safety instruction - for example the cop movie theme stresses the impor tance of storing personal items in overhead lockers or under the seat in front. Airlines are coming up with ever more creative ways to get passengers’ attention to these critical briefings, and Air New Zealand has set a high bar from the beginning. For example, Air New Zealand’s AUG 2016 ISSUE
MONARCH most popular safety video ‘The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made’ also called on Hollywood stars via Lord of the Rings Actors and earned close to 16 million views online. Not only is Air New Zealand enter taining passengers on board while impar ting impor tant information though these videos, they also serve as ad campaigns for the airline itself via millions of video views and press write-ups. An ar ticle in the New Zealand Herald questions whether this latest offering from Air New Zealand is their best one yet . According to Anna Faris, “I really wanted to be par t of this project because Air New Zealand has really redefined safety videos with its fun and creative approach. And working with Kiwi actor Rhys Darby was an absolute treat. It’s so easy to tune out when watching a traditional safety video, so it comes as such a delightful surprise when you get something that’s really fun and funny.”
UK leisure carrier Monarch Airlines recently held a promotional campaign which spotlights their own employees and flight crew as opposed to celebrities. Taking a cue from similar campaigns like Southwest Airlines’ fun “Faces” ’ now classic “Mr. Smith” spot , Monarch decided to highlight some of their best and brightest everyman (and everywoman!) employees in a delightful new TV ad campaign entitled “Our People Make Us.” . The TV commercial first aired on Channel 4 in the UK on July 11th and will run for four weeks, appearing during the popular food show ‘Superfoods’. It features Monarch employees being kind, cour teous and generally making the world a better place in their street clothes during off hours. The ad then finishes up
with the crew in uniform doing the same thing inflight. The message is that in or out of uniform, Monarch employees, and by extension, Monarch airlines will go above and beyond the call of duty to make your flight a good one. The sweet, hear tfelt TV spot launched on Monarch’s popular Facebook page , where it has been viewed 18.6K times. The “Our People Make Us” ad has also been viewed more than 250,000 times on YouTube . And, as expected, the Monarch crew highlighted in the ads have become something of a sensation online with splashy write-ups about the TV spots in media such as Travel Weekly , Commercial-Song. net and the popular travel insider site TravelMole.com .
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benchmark report
airline marketing
real time seat availability
david ortiz vs piñatas
TRANSAVIA Dutch low-cost-carrier Transavia took cheap fares to the streets with an innovative Digital Out of Home (DOOH) campaign. The goal? Bringing real-time, last-minute deals and seat sales to the consumer, instead of waiting for the consumer to come to them. Transavia’s Real Time Seat Availability initiative takes a cue from live theatre and concer t venues around the world who often release last minute, reduced-price, “rush tickets” to the general public just a few minutes before showtime. Here in the airline version, Transavia captured the attention of last-minute travellers by using digital billboards around the Netherland’s three main airpor ts: Schiphol, Rotterdam/The Hague and Eindhoven. With constant live updates, the billboards counted down the empty,
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JETBLUE discounted seats available on Transavia flights to European destinations.
select travel
Working with OOH ad companies like Kinetic , Kokoro Amsterdam and DQ&A , Transavia’s latest promotion also appeared at major railway stations in The Hague and Eindhoven, as well as in sixteen metro stations in and around Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Finally, the billboards appeared online in an effor t to reach tech-savvy Transavia passengers on all fronts. This is an innovative way to sell last minute seats by encouraging impulse buying among commuters. It’s an idea that rather than being a “one-hit wonder” also has longevity, and one which lends itself to a number of different campaign extensions.
JetBlue’s latest campaign, ‘David Or tiz vs Piñatas’ is a light hear ted and comical take on the upcoming retirement of a much loved US baseball star. After 13 years playing for the Boston Red Sox, David Or tiz will retire at the end of the 2016 baseball season. JetBlue, which sponsors the team, considers what he might get up to during his retirement in a TV ad. The premise of the campaign is that the Red Sox designated hitter and nine-time All Star finds work as an enter tainment at different children’s bir thday par ties where he ends up knocking the stuffing out of their piñatas. The children are naturally disappointed, and parents seem horrified, but the campaign really hits one out of the park.
JetBlue also produced a Spanish version aimed at Spanish speaking baseball fans. It’s a sweet tribute to a spor ting legend at the end of his career and really shows what a good spor t JetBlue can be too. Or tiz really got into the role, Tweeting “I am: the Piñata Slayer” to his fans . The ad was well received by the media in the Red Sox’s hometown of Boston, and welcomed by Major League Baseball as well as by national newspapers such as U.S.A Today .
MullenLowe created the 45-second commercial (video) , which embodies the characteristic humour of JetBlue’s brand.
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benchmark report
airline marketing
find your asia AIRASIA AirAsia challenged Hong Kong residents to show off their destination knowledge with a combined Out-of-Home and social involving a fill-in-themedia campaign blanks quiz. Residents of Hong Kong have a reputation for being well travelled, so the airline gave customers a chance to prove it by featuring images of various iconic locations in Asia. The print displays posted quiz questions like Johor Bahru is home to the first _______ in Asia”, and an invitation to post the answer (Legoland) on Social Media. The objective of the campaign, created by agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT), is to raise awareness of the many exciting destinations accessible from Hong Kong, as well as inspiring travellers to see more of Asia while minding the budget.
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It’s also a good oppor tunity for the airline to call attention to its services and destinations in what is a very competitive market. According to Euromonitor, there are 18 low-cost carriers currently serving Hong Kong, with forecasts of growth in the low-cost sector from HK$40 million in 2014 to HK$50 million by 2018. “We’re thrilled to be working with this exciting, iconic Asian brand in this highly competitive market,” said Dennis Lam, general manager of JWT Hong Kong. As we repor ted last year, AirAsia has previously launched another clever nearhome destination campaign promoting weekday tours to Thailand. By framing pictures of iconic destinations on a , the airline illustrated that calendar travellers could avoid in the crowds during the week.
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benchmark report
airline marketing
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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.
AUG 2016 ISSUE
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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