Air New Zealand - This Is How We Fly

Air New Zealand - This Is How We Fly

‘Pop up’ installations ranging from popup shops to restaurants to cinemas have become increasingly popular over the past few years. At the end of April Air New Zealand tapped into this trend by creating a two day immersive pop-up event in London called “This is How We Fly.”

Housed within the Unit One Gallery in London’s Soho district, ‘This is How We Fly’ took place on 25 and 26 April and provided anyone who came into the gallery with a taste of what it is like to travel with Air New Zealand.

Upon arrival, guests were checked in before being given a chance to “fly” from London to Auckland. As part of that, guests were able to sample Air New Zealand’s in-flight food and wine with the on-board menus designed by Peter Gordon and fellow Kiwi chef Michael Meredith.

Visitors could relax on Air New Zealand seats, but crucially the airline didn’t just showcase its Business Premier seats. Guests were also shown the Air New Zealand economy ‘skycouches’ designed for couples or families with young children.

Guests were encouraged to hang around thanks to the provision of free WiFi and to explore the two destinations Air New Zealand flies to from London - Los Angeles and Auckland.

Part of the pop-up event included a cinema featuring the screening of the LAthemed film Dogtown and the Z-Boys. Hosted in association with Visit California, this film looks at the Southern California skateboarding scene. Air New Zealand used its Facebook page to give tickets away for the screening.

Air New Zealand said that the aim of the London event was to break down some of the perceived negatives that exist around long-haul flights. According to spokesperson Chris Allison, “We’ve done a lot of research in the past year around the misperceptions of travelling long haul, and some people have a few trepidations about longer flights. We’re here to showcase everything about the Air New Zealand long haul experience, and it’s based around our on-board features.”

A number of airlines have staged experiential activity in London over the past year. In the January report we showcased Swiss, which staged a giant snowball fight in Spitalfields Market, as well as creating the world’s longest ski lift queue. Meanwhile Norwegian regularly stages events in London shopping centres. For example to launch its Oakland route, the airline created an “Alcatraz Escape Room” in the Westfield Mall.

Key Take-Away

Air New Zealand’s thinking was simple - show confidence in your product and give passengers the chance to “buy before they fly.” However experiential events are of course not cheap and it is always an idea to widen its reach beyond the people who are physically there. That involves inviting press down (and the trade press did cover ‘This is How We Fly’), producing short promotional films and also looking to see how you can get coverage on social media, for example by staging competitions around the event.