Qantas-Feels Like Home

QANTAS - FEELS LIKE HOME

Two and a half years ago, Qantas launched a brand campaign called “Feels Like Home.” The idea was to ‘reconnect and reengage’ with Australians following what marketing publication Mumbrella called “a torrid few years for the airline.”

The videos featured Australians being reunited with loved ones from around the world, with the soundtrack being the Randy Newman song ‘Feels like Home’ as performed by young Australian artist Martha Marlow.

The initial campaign was a huge success, with each video gaining well in excess of a million views on YouTube.

‘Feels like Home’ has so far had three executions. The second series of films was released in Autumn 2015, while the third was released in late April of this year.

This coincided with non-stop flights from Perth to London, the so-called “Kangaroo Route” going on sale for March 2018 onwards.

The third series of films follows the same general theme as the first two.

In it, a family in Perth is shown communicating with a grandmother in Bristol UK on Skype until at a birthday celebration, the daughter receives tickets for the whole family to go and visit her on Qantas. The film then follows the family as they get on board the Qantas Dreamliner to London before meeting the grandmother.

Meanwhile a second film features young couple Michael and Imogen. Michael has had to move to London for work, while Imogen has stayed in Brisbane to continue her studies. The Michael and Imogen film shows Michael surprising Imogen with a trip back home to Australia.

Each story is in fact based on real people. For example, Imogen has moved to London to be with Michael since the filming took place.

Meanwhile, Qantas has been calling out for suggestions for suitably Australian names for its new Dreamliner fleet. On 31 May, 20 names were short-listed from nominations sent in by members of the public, including The Great Barrier Reef, Great Ocean Road and Great Southern Land. Another of the 20 suggestions which made it through to the short-list was “Vegemite”, the iconic Australian sandwich paste and food spread.

Wisely, Qantas seems to be keeping control of the contest rather than display the votes in real time. Organisations which did this and subsequently fell victim to Internet users’ particular sense of humour include the UK”s Environment Research Council which last year held a boat naming competition where “Boaty McBoatFace” came out on top.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

Much as Qantas has done with its safety videos, the Feels Like Home campaign focuses on real people and real stories, and not celebrities. Meanwhile the song and Martha Marlow’s voice is a powerful aural accompaniment to each clip, that ends up giving it an extra emotional pull.

What’s noteworthy is how the Qantas campaign gets across in the space of two minutes.

In each film you see human interest stories, you see destination imagery (for example of Western Australia), you see the new Qantas’ Dreamliner fleet, and of course you are given a prompt that next year the airline will be flying for 17 hours direct between Australia and the UK.