1 minute read
American Airlines - Stand Up To Cancer
American Airlines - Stand Up To Cancer
All major brands, airlines included, now have a range of good causes that they support. However while CSR projects are commonplace, what sets brands apart is how they support them, and how genuine that support seems.
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Last year, American Airlines launched a multi-year, multi-million-dollar collaboration with Stand Up To Cancer, an organisation dedicated to funding research to combat this often life threatening disease.
The latest phase of this collaboration involved a well publicised initiative in June, supported by advertising with the goal of raising $1 million for the charity.
The $1 million goal was in fact raised in just over a week, with the mechanic being fairly simple - the airline donated $1 for every flight booked on aa.com.
What sets the initiative apart from a run of the mill fundraising project was the advertising produced by ad agency CPB on the airline’s behalf.
In it, Stand up to Cancer ambassador, actor Bradley Cooper fronted a campaign supporting the fundraising effort.
This included digital ads and a 60-second television spot featuring nearly 60 cancer-fighting and cancer-surviving American Airlines employees. Digital ads featured the entire group of nearly 60 AA employees and Bradley Cooper arrayed in front of an AA plane.
The initiative was picked up by major media outlets in areas where American Airlines has hubs, for example in Dallas Fort-worth and Los Angeles.
Key Take-Away
In an age of public cynicism about brand motives, it’s important that any CSR project is shown to be real and not just something that ticks a corporate governance box.
American Airlines did this by first of all putting its money where its mouth is. Not only did this mean that flights booked in early June directly benefitted cancer research, the airline also funded an ad campaign to publicise it.
Finally, the involvement of AA staff who had been affected by cancer and their individual stories, gave this very worthwhile project a sense of realness and authenticity.
