AIRLINE MARKETING BENCHMARK REPORT April 2017 and Issue 55
TRAY TABLE ART BY DELTA
#TURKISHAIRLINESHELPSOMALIA
ELECTRONICS BAN
WELCOME Published by aviation marketing strategy consulting firm SimpliFlying, the Airline Marketing Benchmark Report 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 next stage of engagement, while also understanding how your airline marketing initiatives compare to campaigns from competitors in general, these reports are indispensable for airline professionals working in the field of marketing and corporate communications. The monthly reports also help agencies that work with airlines stay on top of the latest innovative airline marketing initiatives. For any questions about the report, please contact Dirk Singer at dirk@simpliflying.com.
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INSIDE This issue features: 1. Alaska Airlines - West Coast Vibe 2. British Airways - Glam Paper Clothing 3. Brussels Airlines - 15th Birthday Commercial 4. Delta Airlines - Tray Table Art 5. Emirates and Etihad International Day of Happiness 6. KLM - Intern on a Mission 7. Lufthansa - More Indian Than You Think 8. Transavia - UberEscape 9. Turkish Airlines #TurkishAirlinesHelpSomalia 10. Various - Electronics Ban
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ALASKA AIRLINES WEST COAST VIBE
In our January report we talked about “Different Works”, an advertising campaign by Alaska Airlines that celebrated the merger with Virgin America by trying to show that pairings that don’t seem immediately obvious can work.
playlist”, sitting in a “mood lit cabin” and watching “all the free movies you have time to watch.”
This was then supplemented by a YouTube video titled ‘West Coast Vibe’, which sees a young woman sitting in the new Alaska Fast forward several months and Alaska Airlines cabin, with the video finishing with Airlines has now taken the decision to the strapline, “We’re saving you a seat.” retire the Virgin America brand within the next two years. With Virgin America being the highest ranked US carrier by far in Skytrax’s list of Alaska Airlines chose to do by announcing the world’s top airlines, Alaska Airlines’ a revamp that would see the airline take on decision has attracted a fair amount some of the best attributes of the Virgin of comment, with Sir Richard Branson America brand. A corporate blog post, himself penning a “Dear Virgin America” asked passengers to imagine themselves farewell letter. “shazaming every song on an upbeat
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Many industry commentators have pointed out that keeping two airline brands running side by side was never realistic, both from a financial and an efficiency point of view. That hasn’t however stopped negative coverage from appearing. For example, tech publication TechCrunch published an article which said that “it’s usually not a good sign when companies think they can slap some mood lights on something and recreate a culture that’s unique from any other company in their industry.” The theme of authenticity is one that SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam picked up upon in a SimpliFlying Live show pointing out that Alaska Airlines has a loyal fan base and a strong brand in its own right. In the video, Shashank Nigam advises Alaska Airlines, and other brands who might face a similar situation in future to “fight on your own turf”, rather than try and duplicate someone else’s list of features, as this could lead to expectations that can’t be met: “Just be Alaska.”
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KEY TAKE-AWAY An airline brand is more than a list of features, it also includes the emotional connection a consumer makes with you. Adopting certain products from someone else doesn’t make you them. As a result, in any take-over or merger it makes sense to play up the things that make your own brand great. Use that as a starting point and show how you will be building on those attributes and features post any merger.
BRITISH AIRWAYS GLAM PAPER CLOTHING
When most people hear the words “paper clothing� they think of hospital gowns, scrubs, workplace aprons and maybe even quaint challenges for young design students. So it was somewhat surprising that an airline as posh as British Airways would chose the paper clothing route when promoting their new, year-round flights to Milan, Italy.
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Of course, when the carrier announced that the woman wearing the paper dress in question would be none other than 5’9” fashion model/designer/up-andcoming actress, Suki Waterhouse, things suddenly made a lot more sense.
stunning red feather hat crafted from actual airline passenger tickets.
Not to be outdone, Waterhouse unveiled the paper masterpiece in high style in front of Milan’s world-famous Cathedral in Duomo Square flanked by real-life Designed by white hot UK designer, Zoe British Airways pilots and crew. Bradley, who has worked with fashion icons like Christian Louboutin and the Later in the day, Waterhouse and late Alexander McQueen, the dress was company were joined by legendary male modelled after the British Airways logo model David Gandy, who arrived in a and took Bradley and her team more than sleek, vintage Jaguar with a fetching 100 hours to create. female British Airways pilot in tow. Featuring beautifully stitched paper in Speaking to the many similarities bright red, white and blue, Waterhouse’s between European fashion world capitals eye-catching dress also came with a like London and Milan, Gandy streaked
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through the streets in his sports car before stopping to pose for photographs with BA crew members in front of such touristfriendly locales as the Porta Semoione’s breathtaking Arco della Pace. Highlighting the best that London and Milan have to offer and the fact that British Airways is now uniquely situated to fly passengers back and forth between the two cities, the glitzy photo shoot made headlines worldwide, including glowing write-ups on the DailyMail.com and dishy celebrity gossip sites like YouTube’s Hollywood Everywhere vlog and JustJared.com
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KEY TAKE-AWAY As always, glamour sells. And that goes double when it comes to fashion when beautiful people are paired with beautiful products. So, expect British Airways star-studded photo shoot/marketing campaign to be the gift that keeps on giving on the internet as photos of Waterhouse in that dress and Gandy in that car are shared and liked across social media for weeks and months to come. Simply put, this one looks to be a fashion-friendly home run for all involved.
BRUSSELS AIRLINES 15TH BIRTHDAY COMMERCIAL
While many airlines go out of their way to celebrate landmark anniversaries with splashy ad campaigns, contests and even discounts on airfares, Brussels Airlines took their 15th anniversary celebration to heartwarming new heights with their recent spot entitled: “Happy Birthday.”
Airlines crew members go out of their way to alert a passenger as his plane departs that his wife has given birth to a baby boy by “writing” the words “It’s a boy” on the tarmac with their bodies. Now, fifteen years later, the carrier has recruited almost all of the original actors from the earlier spot for a sequel where the crew wishes the now-fifteen-year-old boy happy birthday from the tarmac as he and his father depart on a Brussels Airlines flight.
An offshoot of their long-running “Going the Extra Smile for You” campaign, the carrier took the unusual approach of creating a sequel of sorts to one of their most popular spots from fifteen years ago, the much buzzed-about “It’s a Boy” clip – where a team of real life Brussels The spot has made a nod to the changing 10
face of cockpits this time around with the addition of a female pilot. And though some might say it’s hard, if not impossible, to capture lightening in a bottle twice, the carrier has done exactly that with the new spot which has already been viewed more than 2 Million times on the carrier’s Facebook page and almost 197K times on YouTube since it debuted just over a month ago. Already the subject of glowing writeups on such popular travel blogs as Prior2Boarding.com, PayloadAsia.com, and ASunnySquare.com, the spot looks to be another marketing slam dunk for Brussels Airlines which has spent the past fifteen years making a name for itself on the international front while staying true to their Belgian heritage by flying liveries emblazoned with images of such celebrated Belgian icons as surrealist painter René Magritte, comic book hero Tin Tin and the Belgian football team, the Belgian Red Devils.
KEY TAKE-AWAY If something works once, it might well work again. Latching onto the current pop culture zeitgeist where everything old is new again and TV show reboots of classic shows like The Gilmore Girls, Full House and Twin Peaks are all the rage, Brussels Airlines has struck marketing gold by returning to what is arguably their best spot ever.
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DELTA - TRAY TABLE ART
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Airline tray tables are something of a dead space, they are beige, unimaginative and the only purpose they serve is to hold your in-flight meal (or laptop if you are still allowed to carry it on board). Delta Airlines has found another use for the humble tray table-turn it into an art canvass. The airline has partnered with soft drinks giant Coca Cola, which like
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Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, to produce the first tray table art. Delta and Coca Cola invited artists to draw inspiration from different Delta destinations. The art is appearing on a Delta 767 turning it into an “art gallery in the sky�, while an exhibition of the original art work is on display at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
With the idea created by ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, the destinations on display via tray table artwork include London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City, Paris, Sao Paolo, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo.
across social media channels. Every artist and the inspiration for their story is a PR opportunity for the news media.
The plane itself makes for a great photo, while the exhibition in Atlanta allows everyone, whether they are flying on According to the agency, the artwork the Delta 767 or not, to see the art for reflects the themes of “optimism, travel, themselves. refreshment and happiness.” Artists include London based Noma Bar, who produced a weather themed tray table, while Ping Zhu’s Shanghai table drew inspiration from Chinese street markets. In addition to being shared across Delta’s social media channels, the campaign was covered in a range of style, art and design blogs as well as mainstream media outlets such as the Guardian and the LA Times. With many marketing campaigns being essentially variations of something that has been done before, Delta has come up with something new. This is a campaign that works across a number of different levels, every canvass is a piece of content that can be shared
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KEY TAKE-AWAY Several airlines have now developed marketing campaigns around painting the outside of an aircraft, but what about the inside? Delta has come up with something innovative around traytables but what about other areas of the aircraft? Seat covers, menus, even safety cards could provide opportunities for airlines to do something fun and interesting.
EMIRATES AND ETIHAD INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HAPPINESS
March 20th was International Happiness Day. Few people in Western countries will have been aware of it, but with the United Arab Emirates having an actual ‘Minister of State for Happiness’, it is taken seriously as an occasion in the UAE.
Etihad’s Happiness Day celebrations involved a piano performance at Abu Dhabi International Airport by the first UAE national female music composer, Eman Al Hashimi. Meanwhile two guests were the lucky winners of an Etihad Airways upgrade to business class.
This year that extended to both of the country’s major airlines, Emirates and On check-in more passengers were also Etihad. treated to a series of “mini upgrades” ranging from WiFi vouchers to spa Emirates and Etihad both surprised treatments, while Etihad cabin crew and passengers with free upgrades on the passengers held up ‘smile’ placards. day.
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Dubai-based airline Emirates went one stage further. Not only were unsuspecting passengers at its terminal three base given free upgrades, staff were given a return ticket on the airline’s network. Employees also participated in a 360 degree ‘photo’ and were encouraged to share it on Instagram using the hashtag #happyemirates. Emirates and Etihad are of course not the first airlines to use a ‘random acts of kindness’ approach. WestJet has made it the theme of its annual Christmas celebrations, while it’s been a feature of KLM’s marketing strategy for several years. As far back as 2011, a SimpliFlying blog post encouraged airlines to use surprises to show how they can go above and beyond what’s expected, and also to think about whether these surprises are scaleable as opposed to being a one-off.
KEY TAKE-AWAY Acts of kindness is a tried and tested tactic, but it works. It humanises you as a brand and it disrupts (in a positive way) a passenger’s interaction with you. As we’ve said, it’s worth thinking about whether these surprises are scaleable and also how they can be done differently. As a result, Emirates’ Happiness Day tactic deserves special mention for not only rewarding passengers, but also for saying thank you to staff via free flights. Not only is this an important internal message, passengers appreciate it as well, recognising that happier airline staff results in a better experience for them.
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KLM - INTERN ON A MISSION
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has set social media intern Joery Mooijman the task of learning everything there is to know about the airline and documenting it across their official media channels.
Although Moojiman is taking on some complex topics – you could go quite deeply into how deicing works, for example – none of his videos are much longer than four minutes.
Moojiman has already created video content focusing on topics from aircraft towing to in-flight catering, which he’s exploring first-hand, but so far the intern’s most popular post sees him experiencing KLM’s World Business class in a video which has garnered 1.2 million views, nearly 8000 likes and 533 shares on Facebook.
KLM’s video content clearly builds on the success of the ‘Cockpit Tales’ series on KLM’s YouTube channel, which was produced in ten parts over eighteen months covering what happens behind closed cockpit doors.
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The first episode, uploaded in February 2015, has reached 1.2 million views.
Sharing insider information to debunk many of the myths surrounding air travel has long been a technique used by aviation brands to help engage customers. For example, our January 2016 report included a write-up of ‘Big Metal Bird’, a YouTube series from United that takes a behind the scenes look at everything from different kinds of airfield vehicles to an explanation about turbulence. Similarly, London’s Heathrow Airport has in the past turned over its Instagram account to LHR employee “Airside Joe” used his camera phone to show what’s going on at one of the world’s busiest airports.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY Insider guides like KLM’s intern on a mission or Heathrow’s Airside Joe work for two reasons. First of all, social media fans feel they are being given a look at exclusive, behind the scenes content most passengers never see. They get to look behind the curtain as it were. Secondly, using a member of staff as social media fans’ eyes and ears means there is a protagonist who people can empathise with. It gives each video or photo a realness you wouldn’t get if you simply shot a straight-forward corporate video.
LUFTHANSA - MORE INDIAN THAN YOU THINK
Three years ago Lufthansa launched an India-focused ad campaign under the strap-line ‘More Indian than you think.’ The ad, which was viewed almost two million times on YouTube, featured an Indian grandfather telling his grandson about the serious Germans and strange German food. They then both get on a Lufthansa plane where they are served Indian food, which prompts the grandson to exclaim that they must be on the wrong plane.
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Lufthansa has kept the ‘More Indian than you think’ theme going over the past few years, which has included a microsite in English, as well as Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu, promoting the airline to Indian long-haul travellers.
and even trying Indian-style dancing.
The team then gets on board a Lufthansa flight to India where one of the players asks, ‘Coach, shouldn’t we also fly like Indians?’ after which they are greeted by Indian cabin crew, served Indian food and The latest incarnation of the campaign is watch Bollywood movies on their seata new ad, which draws on Indians’ love of back TVs. cricket. According to Lufthansa it’s also a “light-hearted celebration of India’s Launched on March 24th, Lufthansa growing influence in the world.” rolled out a series of teaser films on its India Facebook page, which included a The video shows an English cricket team ‘behind the scenes’ look at the filming, being told by their coach that to beat the with short clips asking (e.g) why a cricket Indians they have to think like the Indians, team was doing yoga. before eating Indian food, doing yoga,
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In only a few days, Lufthansa’s cricket video notched up almost 300,000 views on Facebook and 27,000 likes or reactions - which were overwhelmingly positive. Lufthansa isn’t the only European airline producing campaigns specifically for the Indian marketplace, British Airways has taken a similar approach, for example the ‘A ticket to visit mum’ campaign received worldwide acclaim when it was released several years ago.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY India is both a growing market and one where consumers have plenty of choice when wanting to fly longhaul. That includes their own carriers, the Gulf airlines and European brands such as Lufthansa. As a result, Lufthansa’s strategy of creating something bespoke for the Indian marketplace makes sense. The use of humour gives the ads an extra edge, while ultimately the approach is paying off commercially. According to Lufthansa, previous ‘More Indian than you think’ campaigns caused bookings to increase by 13%
TRANSAVIA - UBERESCAPE
While global smartphone adoption is no doubt driving the new phenomenon of last-minute living, there’s still plenty of evidence suggesting that people get bogged down in researching flights. Statistics from Expedia claim people visit 38 websites on average before they finally make a purchase, which no doubt discourages people from getting away as often as they’d like.
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Low cost carrier, Transavia believes that airline travellers are ‘mobile’ by definition, and in March launched a new campaign to help flying itself become more spontaneous.
flights through vouchers printed on packets of crisps and cans of drinks, under the hashtag #SnackHolidays
The company behind that campaign was Les Gaulois, the same one as Transavia is The #UberESCAPE campaign allowed using for #UberESCAPE. Uber customers in Lyon, Nantes and Paris to book last-minute Transavia flights to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, London, Porto and Vienna through the Uber app between 13th and 17th March, 2017. The cost of the flight was included in the Uber ‘fare’. The campaign was supported by a short video ad, showing an office worker waking up every day Groundhog-Day style and going through the exact same routine before making a spur of the moment decision to catch a Transavia flight via Uber. This campaign builds on the airline’s other initiatives aiming to make booking and travelling by air more accessible. For example, Transavia already connects with passengers via Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, and is now trialling an in-app payment option with Tikkie. It’s not the first time Transavia has caused a stir with its unique advertising methods. In 2015, the company offered discounted
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Transavia isn’t the only airport to have a partnership with Uber. During US Pride Week, a partnership with Alaska Airlines saw Uber users in participating cities have the chance to win two round-trip tickets to anywhere the airline flies. Furthermore, for every tweet, picture, and message tagged with #LoveMovesUs during Pride week, Alaska Airlines and Uber each donated US$1 to the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit spreading messages of hope and support to LGTBQ youth. It’s worth noting of course that Uber has traditionally struggled with airports due to a lack of clear regulations and hostility from taxi firms based at the airport
KEY TAKE-AWAY With most apps not even being retained for one full day, it’s hard for airlines to compete. That’s why many are integrating with some of the more widely-used apps such as Uber. You are not asking people to change their behaviour or download something new. Instead, you are linking into something they do already.
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TURKISH AIRLINES #TURKISHAIRLINESHELPSOMALIA
If for whatever reason you want to fly to Somalia only one major international carrier will get you there - Turkish Airlines. As a result, in the second half of March, the airline became the focus of a celebrity-led campaign to delver aid to Somalia.
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The initiative kicked off on 15 March, when former Vine and current Snapchat star Jerome Jarre recorded a short Twitter video about the dire humanitarian conditions experienced by many Somalis.
original call to Turkish Airlines, Casey Neistat went to interview Jerome Jarre in a video that’s now been viewed 3.5 million times. In it, Jarre is seen speaking to the Turkish Airlines communications team who agreed to offer a 60 ton cargo Jarre’s video started with him recounting flight, as well as 140 tonnes on regular the story of a six year old girl who died Turkish Airlines flights over the next six of dehydration, before wondering if it months. wouldn’t be possible to fly a plane load of supplies to Mogadishu. He then told Setting up a GoFundMe page under the his 1.3 million Twitter fans that there’s heading “Love Army for Somalia”, the only one airline that can help, Turkish team set an initial target of $1 million, Airlines, before finally encouraging which was met within two days of the them to start using the hashtag page going live. #TurkishAirlinesHelpSomalia. On March 28th, Jerome Jarre then That one tweet then grew into a major flew with Turkish Airlines to Somalia to social media campaign, being quickly help distribute the first consignment, with picked up by other celebrities including him documenting it on his social media NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, channels. YouTuber Casey Neistat and Hollywood actor Ben Stiller. In his March 18th video, Casey Neistat asked Jerome Jarre whether he was Turkish Airlines’ response? The next day “bullying” Turkish Airlines. Jarre’s reply? they sent out a positive reply on Twitter, “Absolutely not, we are giving them the followed by a Twitter video the day after opportunity to do something amazing”, that featuring a recording from the pilot and Turkish Airlines certainly seems to of the Mogadishu flight. have taken the campaign in that spirit. As Neistat says in the film, “they just On March 18th, three days after the stepped up.”
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So far the campaign has notched up over 1,000 pieces of media coverage worldwide including pieces in the Guardian, on BBC, on America’s National Public Radio, in the New York Times and on Buzz Feed.
KEY TAKE-AWAY Within 24 hours a single tweet and a short video had grown into a major campaign where a group of celebrities marshalled their tens of millions of social media followers to lobby Turkish Airlines for help. Within a day the airline had given a positive response, making a concrete offer within three. Turkish Airlines understood how social media can turn a simple idea into an international movement, and reacted fast. How would your organisation react if faced with the same challenge, and in what timeframe?
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MTHE ELECTRONICS BAN - VARIOUS
On March 20th, the US announced a ban on passengers carrying electronic items larger than a phone in their hand luggage from a number of Middle Eastern countries. The US electronics ban includes Turkey, the UAE and Qatar, hitting major Gulf carriers as well as Turkish Airlines, in major East / West transit points such as Dubai and Istanbul.
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This was quickly followed by the U.K, although the UK’s ban does not cover the UAE or Qatar. In a blog post published the day after the ban was announced, SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam looked at how airlines should respond, advising them in particular to do three things - show empathy, notify passengers proactively, and be resilient by coming up with creative solutions to the problem.
The last point in particular is something the different airlines have embraced, using the ban to run witty tactical marketing campaigns showcasing all the things you can do on-board even if you don’t have a laptop or iPad. For example, Turkish Airlines boasted about ‘two billion’ minutes of entertainment on air, while Saudia talked about the ‘plug and play’ functionality of its seat back TVs whereby you can stream entertainment loaded on your phone. Etihads’ short video ‘Make Flying Great Again’ is obviously a play on Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” and looks at the different amenities in each cabin. However, Etihad is doing more than just talk about its in-flight entertainment, for its premium class passengers. In a March 28th announcement, the airline said that it would start providing iPads with free WiFi connectivity to business and first class passengers. While Etihad is offering iPads, Qatar Airways announced a laptop loan service,
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which will be available to business class passengers travelling to the USA. This allows passengers to bring their files with them via a USB drive and still carry on working during the flight. Meanwhile Emirates cut last year’s Jennifer Anniston ad into an 18-second Twitter video that opened with the text, “Who needs laptops and tablets anyway?”
tongue in cheek list of “12 things to do on a 12 hour flight with no laptop or tablet.” The suggestions, which have been retweeted over 5000x, range from “meditate” to “engage in primitive dialogue from the pre-Internet era.” On 27th March, Royal Jordanian then took that one stage further by announcing an Electronics Ban Poetry Competition with the best suggestion winning two free tickets to the USA.
At time of writing, that tweet has been retweeted 2,500x, as well as generating significant international press coverage, giving the airline extra free publicity. Royal Jordanian Airlines has appeared in our monthly marketing reports before, for poking fun at Donald Trumps’ efforts to ban travellers from select Muslim majority countries. The airline’s strategy of ‘trolling Trump’ has given it a sales boost, while seeing it receive a string of regional marketing awards. In the same spirit as it’s earlier campaigns, Royal Jordanian first of all tweeted out a poem about the ban, followed by a
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KEYTAKE-AWAY The electronics ban meant that the eyes of the international media was on the airlines concerned. The different carriers used this to their advantage, turning a negative into a potential positive. For example, thanks to the press coverage many more people will today be aware of the fact that Hollywood actress Jennifer Anniston has been the face of Emirates, and that the airline has an extensive IFE system.
ABOUT US
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 airpor ts on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space.
The firm also conducts MasterClasses to train and develop airline and airport teams to become self-sufficient in executing measurable and rewarding social campaigns. SimpliFlying’s growing list of clients includes Lufthansa, Emirates, Toronto Pearson Airport, Halifax International, KLIA, Jet Airways, LAN Airlines, airBaltic, Airbus and Bombardier. Get in touch at engage@simpliflying. com or visit simplifying.com.
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PRICING
EUR 550 per issue. One-time purchase. Just the edition you’d like. EUR 4950 per year Annual subscription 12 issues, subscription starts from month of order EUR 5950 per year Annual subscription, including 1 hour monthly call with SimpliFlying 12 issues and calls. Subscription starts from month of order contact Dirk Singer at dirk@simpliflying.com.
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