Turkish Airlines - Morgan Freeman Commercial

Turkish Airlines - Morgan Freeman Commercial

This past month Turkish Airlines reached for the stratosphere, quite literally, by recruiting the Oscar-winning one-time voice of God himself, Morgan Freeman for their latest marketing campaign and TV ad.

Upping the ante even further, Turkish Airlines unleashed the show-stopping promotional spot during the Super Bowl, which is one of the biggest television viewing nights of the year and also one of the priciest ad buys on the planet, with some 30 second spots going for upwards of $5 million USD.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the airline peopled the clever, beautifully-shot spot with not just one Morgan Freeman, but an entire airplane full of Morgan Freemans. The ad itself features Freeman extolling the benefits of travel and discovery, finally encouraging viewers to “widen your world.”

The commercial was part of an overall marketing package which included sponsorship of Fox’s pre-game show, with the Turkish Airlines logo visible on screen on the presenters’ desk.

The Super Bowl game itself was additionally screened on Turkish Airlines flights with Internet access.

While some users on social media attacked the campaign as being too liberal and suggested that Turkish’s sponsorship of the Super Bowl pre-game show was somehow un-American, the fact that the spot has already been viewed more than 15.5 million times on YouTube and has been favorited 8.3K times and retweeted another 2.25K times on Twitter in less than a month, suggests that it’s clearly having an impact on potential passengers across the spectrum.

The clip was directed by award-winning cinematographer Matthias Zentner and though Freeman is clearly the star of the show, the gorgeous exteriors towards the end of the spot – which highlight the hundreds of breathtakingly-beautiful locales to which the airlines flies – are hallmarks of Zentner’s work for previous clients like LG, Audi and Nikon.

Though some US social media fans expressed surprise at the airline’s involvement in the Super Bowl, Turkish Airlines does have a track record of US sports sponsorship, having a previous association with basketball legend Kobe Bryant.

Key Take-Away

Turkish Airlines’ Super Bowl spot was by no means the most controversial or talked about, that accolade was arguably taken by 84 Lumber or Budweiser.

However the airline’s overall marketing push was a winner for three reasons. The use of Morgan Freeman as the voice lent authenticity, trust and gravitas to the spot.

It also had a magical quality to it, and positioned the Turkish Airlines brand as being aspirational.

And finally, though the ad wasn’t overtly political it did arguably push a progressive value - that going out to see the world is a good thing. That message in turn resonates well with many über-connected millennials, 75% of whom (according to a recent report from HospitalityNet) wish to travel aboard as much as possible.