Delta - Earning Our Wings

Delta - Earning Our Wings

In September we talked about easyJet linking its “For the Love of Flying” recruitment campaign into a programme by UK broadcaster ITV called ‘Inside the Cockpit.’ The programme followed a group of trainee pilots as they took to the air for the very first time.

In our September report we talked about how the campaign was effective, not only because of the wide exposure it received via ITV, but also because it gave an actual insight of what it is to work for easyJet. The trainee pilots were people other potential cadets could relate to on a human level.

Not every airline has the good fortune to have a major broadcaster make a show about it, so Delta made it own.

The series, entitled “Earning Our Wings,” chronicles the journeys of some of Delta’s flight-attendants-in-training as they complete a “grueling eight-week training program that tests their limits.”

The series is meant to show what it really takes to become a flight attendant, where demand for jobs far outstrips the supply of available vacancies.

Delta claims it received 150,000 applications during 2016 for about 1,200 attendant positions. The airline said it conducted 35,000 video interviews and 6,000 in-person interviews to fill those spots. So far for 2018, Delta has received more than 125,000 applications.

According to Delta, this means it is easier to get into Harvard than become a flight attendant for the airline.

The ten episode series sees a group of trainees get to grips with everything from performing CPR to preparing in-flight cabin meals.

The danger for what is essentially a corporate piece of content (albeit one that has been packaged up by the PR department as a reality TV show) is that it can appear too promotional.

In fact Delta has managed to steer away from that and give the programme an authentic feel about it. For example, in the second episode we encounter a trainee who has time-keeping issues and who neglected to wear a watch (a must for all employees) to his style consultation where staff assessed his look.

The different episodes also manage to get across information about what it is like to work for Delta without being overly long. At 3-4 minutes, each of the videos is short enough to hold web viewers’ attention.

Key Take-Away

Delta didn’t need to make this web video series, it has more than enough applicants every year to fill available positions. Nevertheless, it allows Delta to showcase the people behind the brand - the staff - and get across a series of key messages in each video (e.g the importance of being on time for an ‘on time airline’).

The statistic that it’s easier to get into Harvard than work for Delta additionally gave Earning our Wings much more exposure than would otherwise have been the case, with media coverage appearing in Australia, Europe as well as North America.