Easyjet-Flybrary

EASYJET - FLYBRARY

Entertaining kids on flights is a constant parental challenge. Especially on flights where there’s no seat back TV, the iPad is often called upon as a substitute babysitter.

Over the past few years a number of travel companies however have been trying to encourage a more traditional alternative - reading books.

The most recent industry player to get involved in promoting reading is British LCC easyJet, which has launched a “Flybrary” campaign aimed at parents with children going on holiday.

The initiative was developed by London public relations agency Taylor Herring.

Like many PR-led campaigns it kicked off with a ‘survey said’ style news story, claiming that 83% of British parents said that children are reading less than when they were younger.

At the same time, 90% of parents said that the widespread availability of entertainment devices had led to this decline in reading. With a fleet of A319s and A320s and with no flights over five hours, easyJet of course has no IFE system.

As a result, the airline was perfectly placed to launch the idea of the on-board library, or “Flybrary.” As part of this 7,000 children’s books have been brought on board 147 flights for kids to read.

The titles on offer are generally children’s classics such as ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’ The whole initiative was launched by bestselling childrens’ book author Dame Jaqueline Wilson.

According to easyJet CEO Carolyn McCall, “Our in-flight lending library means young passengers can pick up a brilliant book during their flight and then return it to the seat pocket at the end of the flight for the next customer to enjoy onboard.We think it will be popular with parents and children alike.”

Crucially easyJet has been treating this initiative as more than a PR stunt. 750,000 UK families were targeted via a pre-flight email, and the campaign was launched at London’s Gatwick Airport with Jacqueline Wilson in attendance.

easyJet isn’t the first company in this sector to pioneer reading. Several years ago, London Gatwick Airport itself ran a campaign where unpublished kids’ authors could have their work made available for download at the airport as an audiobook.

Meanwhile last Summer, German holiday airline Condor teamed up with German booksellers to offer passengers who bought books on holiday an extra 1kg luggage allowance.

Based on the success of last year’ campaign airline is repeating its “Buch an Bord” initiative this year.

Finally, UK holiday airline and company Thomson launched a range of adult colouring books last year.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

This is an idea perfectly suited to the easyJet brand. In particular over the school holidays, easyJet’s main focus is leisure travellers, with families making up a large proportion of passengers.

The airline has no IFE system, allowing it to position books as in-flight entertainment. And at the same time as being a PR-led idea, it also works as a form of CSR initiative, allowing easyJet to promote a social good - the idea of getting kids reading more.