AIRLINE MARKETING BENCHMARK REPORT April 2018 and Issue 66
ANA AVATAR XPRIZE ANA WORLD’S COOLEST SAFETY VIDEO
BY AIR NEW ZEALAND
RUNWAYS BY DELTA
DEAR SUBSCRIBER,
Welcome to the April edition of our monthly report into the most memorable campaigns in aviation marketing. Our cover story this month goes to ANA, for an initiative some of you may have heard talked about at the recent Aviation Festival in Singapore. Namely, the airline’s commitment to develop actual Avatar technology, where you could be physically in one place, but you feel and see yourself in another location entirely via an avatar. This technology has significant disruptive potential for the airline industry, with one futurologist saying it will be mainstream in the 2030s. It also of course has the potential for a lot of social good, as doctors will be able to treat patients thousands of miles away. Our featured campaigns include the Delta, ‘Runways’ ad, which is something that gets better the more you watch it, as well the latest Air New Zealand safety video. The video, ‘the world’s coolest safety video’, was shot in Antarctica and includes an environmental message. However, as we explain in the article, the video launch wasn’t uncontroversial. Finally, as well as this monthly magazine, don’t forget that you can get a daily dose of commentary and analysis of aviation issues via the SimpliFlying Live Show. SimpliFlying CEO and founder Shashank Nigam has now produced over 250 of these, which includes over 50 interviews with aviation executives on the future of the industry. Check them out here. As always, please do send me any feedback or indeed any tips about campaigns that your own airline is running. Dirk Singer.. dirk@simpliflying.com
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INSIDE This issue features: 1. ANA - CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH - Avatar XPRIZE 2. Air New Zealand FEATURED CAMPAIGN - World’s coolest safety video 3. Delta - FEATURED CAMPAIGN - Runways 4. Air France - Take a chance or fly Air France 5. Firnas Airways - The launch of Firnas Airways 6. Japan Airlines - The Tree of Senbazuru’ 7. JetBlue - Flip the Forecast 8. JetSmarter - JetSmarter 9. Qatar Airways - Oryx Kids Club 10. Singapore Airlines Making every journey personal
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CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH
ANA - AVATAR XPRIZE 4
Here is the Collins Dictionary definition other airlines. But instead of using aircraft, of ‘airline’: it has been considering teleportation. “An airline is a company which provides Or to be more precise, ANA is promoting regular services carrying people or goods the development of avatar technology in aeroplanes.” where you can remotely see, feel and hear in any part of the world, even though ‘Aeroplanes.’ Seems obvious. Except you might physically be thousands of that Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) miles away. The ‘teleportation’ involved has another idea. is a transfer of your resources and skills, rather than your physical body. It wants to get people from A to B like
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Launched at this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, the $10 million ANA Avatar XPRIZE allows teams around the world to enter and “accelerate the development of a multi-purpose avatar system that will enable us to...interact with physical environments and other people through an integrated robotic device.”
operator to complete a diverse series of tasks” and “avatars must demonstrate the ability to execute tasks across a variety of real-world scenarios.” HOW DID ANA HIT ON THE IDEA OF CREATING AVATARS?
The driving force behind the initiative are ANA employees Akira Fukabori, Market To get a share of the $10 million, the Communication Intrapreneur, and Kevin winning team needs to “demonstrate a Kajitani, Digital Design Lab Intrapreneur. robotic avatar that allows an untrained In 2015 they won an XPRIZE themselves,
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where they reimagined transportation. This took them on a journey where they eventually persuaded their bosses at ANA to put $10 million behind the development of avatar technology via the XPRIZE partnership.
Akira Fukabori disagree.
and
Kevin
Kaijitana
In an interview with SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam on the sidelines of the recent Aviation Festival (Singapore), they point out that an airline’s mission is in fact to connect people physically, with This represents a considerable leap of air travel only covering 6% of the world’s faith in a technology that is still in its population every year. infancy and that some would say that has little to do with an airline. As they explained in the interview, “We (ANA) started with two helicopters, and
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became the launch customer of the creating Avatars and persuading ANA to 787 Dreamliner. So we don’t care if it’s back the project. the aircraft itself, our mission is really to connect 7.5 billion people. In essence the solution that Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kaijitana have in mind is for you “We have to rethink how we connect to be able to ‘teleport’ your abilities into a people. So that’s how we came up with robotic skeleton. the Avatar.” In a talk which they gave at the Aviation YOU CAN OFFER YOUR SKILLS TO 7.5 Festival, they explained one way in which BILLION PEOPLE. ANA could use the Avatar in its day to day business. Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kaijitana actually did start by thinking about Star-Trek style As an official airline partner of the 2020 teleportation but realised that though Tokyo Olympics, ANA will of course play the technology was in theory possible, a major role in getting athletes, as well as in practice it was centuries away, even to visitors to and from the games. get to an atomic or molecular level. Fukabori and Kaijitana gave a hypothetical That then led them onto thinking about example of a French employee of ANA
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having their Avatar at Tokyo Narita or Haneda. That employee would be on hand to assist French speaking passengers and feel physically present at the airport, despite still being in France.
know-how with anyone, anywhere in the world and be able to actually interact with people physically in that location (which has the Avatar Robot).
Or, as Dr Peter Diamandis founder However, Fukabori and Kaijitana have also and executive chairman of the XPRIZE emphasised the wider societal impact. Foundation put it:. “It’s a way to bridge the gap between distance, time and This technology is a way to share 7.5 billion cultures.” people’s skills. Any doctor, technologist, educator, would have a way to share their Diamandis claimed that “the industry has
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great disruptive power.”
is real and not a PR stunt, this includes a mock space facility, as well as tests “Over the next 20 years, it will grow into at agricultural, fishing, education and a multibillion-dollar market as more and healthcare sites. more consumers use them. And they will entirely change the travel equation.” The Travel Unlimited site also links to a separate project, the ‘Blue Wing’ According to Diamandis, by 2032 these initiative. avatar robots will become mainstream technology. Here frequent flyers can donate flights, or a % of their ticket price to “ChangeANA TRAVEL UNLIMITED makers” such as Elizabeth Hausler who is training local residents and engineers The Avatar prize is a wider part of ANA’s to build safer houses and schools in the ‘Travel Unlimited’ initiative. developing world, and Jack Sim, who is working to combat disease by providing In the past we’ve commended ANA for proper toilets for everyone in the the high production values of their online developing world. content and this is no exception. Finally, how does all this link back to airline The Travel Unlimited website opens, as marketing? First of all, the Avatar prize with other ANA microsites, with a full has the potential to do a lot to enhance screen video. ANA as a brand. This then links to the pages about the Avatar project. In addition to the $10 prize fund launched at SXSW, these detail how Avatar tests are taking place in the Oita Prefecture, Japan.
It positions ANA as being at the forefront of some fairly cutting-edge technology, and as an innovator.
There are significant philanthropic uses for this technology, as we’ve mentioned. Proving again that the Avatar project And Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kaijitana
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are excellent brand ambassadors, who are currently promoting the Avatar concept at conferences and talks worldwide. When we heard them speak we were really enthused and excited by their vision. Then, we can foresee lots of content opportunities as the prize winners are announced in 2020 and 2021, and as we’ve discussed in previous issues, ANA’s online content programme is excellent (see our March 2018 and September 2017 for examples).
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You’ll just be able to virtually transport yourself into your Avatar and feel physically there. It could in time become quite disruptive for the industry and it makes sense to plan for this now. Of course, ANA is also to be commended for supporting something that has the potential for significant societal good. Examples we’ve seen of how this technology could be used, include firefighters using avatars to fight fires in remote locations, to people being able to check in on their elderly relatives, to life threatening diseases being treated remotely in the developing world.
KEY TAKE-AWAY How many organisations, let alone airlines, would support and fund a piece of technology that on the face of it seems so far removed from its core business? ANA has had the foresight to do so, as the reality is, this isn’t so far removed from airlines. If Dr Peter Diamandis is right and this technology will be mainstream in 2032, there won’t be a need to (for example) take a flight to a conference to give a presentation.
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We’ve chosen it as our campaign of the month, not only because it is a true make a difference initiative, but also because it is a textbook example of how an airline (or indeed any brand) should get involved in emerging technology. It’s not just a badging exercise it has something we emphasise in every report - authenticity and realness. ANA has supported the Avatar project with a significant amount of money, but it also has actual staff members acting as evangelists, and trying to bring the technology to life.
WORLD’S COOLEST SAFETY VIDEO FEATURED CAMPAIGN - AIR NEW ZEALAND
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When you think of safety videos, you think of Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand was the first to realise that an airline’s safety videos could become a piece of content viewed and shared by millions of people outside their aircraft. This tactic has now been copied by airlines worldwide, so much so that last year’s SimpliFlying Awards for the first time had a category for ‘Best Safety Video’ (won by British Airways).
Bear Grylls) and ‘Safety in Hollywood.’ The latest Air New Zealand video is what they’ve call ‘The World’s Coolest Safety Video.” Set in Antarctica and with environmentalist and actor Adrian Grenier providing the voice over, the video is a little different to previous efforts.
In particular this one highlights the In Air New Zealand’s case, noteworthy airline’s support of the New Zealand safety video examples have included ‘The Antarctic Research Institute and it’s Hobbit’, ‘The Bear Essentials’ (featuring commitment to a sustainable environment
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- not an easy message for an airline to crew of just six travelled to Antarctica, with pull off. Scott Base scientists and staff doubling as supporting talent in the safety video.� The video imparts the usual safety The Drum says that Air New Zealand is also information, but with the backdrop of planning supplementary content around Grenier travelling around the icy continent. the initiative and its support for research At the same time, the film features kids and conservation in the Antarctic. in a Christchurch, New Zealand, museum, who have come to learn about Antarctica. CONTROVERSY AROUND FLIGHT 901 According to The Drum, “To minimise the It is a beautifully shot and highly environmental impact of filming, a total informative video - we loved watching
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it. But this was without us initially being peacetime air disaster in 1979 with the aware of the broader context, as most crash of Air New Zealand flight 901. non New Zealanders won’t be. As a result, some family members of the In fact, unlike Air New Zealand’s other victims have reacted badly to it. safety videos, this one has attracted a certain amount of controversy. This has resulted in a number of local New Zealand media pieces including The reason is that Antarctica (or more phrases such as “Isn’t it about time Air specifically Mt Erebus, Antarctica), New Zealand simply got on with the job was the scene of New Zealand’s worst of flying planes rather than producing
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high-gloss cultural cringe safety videos?”, did contact families of the victims before “Tone deaf Antarctica safety video from the video was released. Air New Zealand facing backlash” and “withdraw this safety video immediately.” In a letter, chief operations integrity and standards officer David Morgan said that In a thoughtful article, Eric Houghton, “while we’re proud of the work we’re doing whose father died in the disaster together to contribute to this research, recognises that the Air New Zealand of we are very aware of the sensitivities of today is not the airline it was in 1979: choosing Antarctica as a location.” “Gone are the grey men in grey suits. Gone is former CEO Morrie Davis and his giant TV screen glasses. Gone is the… ’she’ll be right mate’ concept of flying. A striking sculpture called “Momentum” was installed at the company’s headquarters to honour those who died on Erebus.”
“The Erebus tragedy weighs heavily on Air New Zealand and our country, and we would like to assure you we have approached filming in a very respectful way.” That environmental / research angle has been used by the video’s defenders.
Nevertheless, he then continues with “to say I was astounded that Air New Zealand Sir Rob Fenwick of the New Zealand had filmed a safety video on Ross Island, Antarctic Research Institute, wrote that Antarctica would be an understatement.” the airline “sets a much needed example to the international aviation sector where Meanwhile, Winston Aldworth, the travel airlines are major contributors to global editor of the New Zealand Herald, wrote warming. Many feel airlines should take an article claiming that this “is a rare and more responsibility for the impacts of very distasteful mis-step on the marketing their emissions.” front for an airline that usually manages its messages very well.” It is obviously a difficult question, where there is not necessarily a right answer. As you would expect, Air New Zealand
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As Shashank Nigam said in a SimpliFlying Live show, though the relatives’ reaction is understandable, you would also have to be well over 40 to remember the incident - this isn’t recent history for most people. In fact, the same New Zealand Herald issue which ran the story from their travel editor criticising Air New Zealand also had an online poll of 10,000+ participants where 55% said the airline was right to make it (with 37% saying they were wrong).
KEY TAKE-AWAY
And outside New Zealand itself, the video has been a big success, notching up over 20 million views online.
We suspect though that they didn’t expect the full extent of the backlash, wanting simply to do something fun and informative to highlight Air New Zealand’s role as a good corporate citizen.
When doing a marketing campaign, it is of course important to do your homework. Is there anything about the creative, the location, the actors, or about any other element that could attract controversy? That doesn’t apply here, as Air New Zealand was very aware of the broader context, taking care to contact family members of victims before releasing the video.
Now that the video has been released, it would arguably make things worse to withdraw it. Also, few passengers outside New Zealand will know anything about the Erebus disaster and will view the video on its own merits - just like we did before reading the coverage. Indeed, the airline has been reasonably silent on the issue since the video was released, with one social media comment saying “Air NZ is a fabulous airline and a superb company but I am puzzled why they have stayed silent during this public relations debacle.”
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FEATURED CAMPAIGN RUNWAYS - DELTA
Over the past few years, actor Donald Sutherland has been the voice of Delta ads. We’ve featured some of these Sutherland-voiced ad campaigns in past editions, including ‘Take off why we go’ and ‘Tell the world.’ That changed last year, when Sutherland was replaced by Oscar winning actress Viola Davis.
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Davis’ voice now appears in Delta’s latest ad called ‘Runways.’ The voice is new, but there’s a clear link back to the style of the earlier ads. That is because it is the latest in Delta’s series of ‘Keep Climbing’ campaigns where the emphasis is on the opportunities and experiences you can have when you fly with Delta.
As AdWeek says, “unlike some ads, it gets richer on repeat viewings”, something we found to be the case as well.
In the ad, Davis then explains that it is not so much about ‘good things come to those who wait’, instead it is a case of ‘good things come to those who go.’
“We hope those who see it are inspired to listen to their inner curiosity and connect to the passions, people and places that feed their soul. “
It would be easy for a spot featuring destinations to fall into the trap of looking like a run of the mill travel ad, but as marketing publication AdWeek explains, ‘Runways’ has some “clever camerawork” that results in a “stunning’ piece of visual content.
DELTA MOON SHOT
That clever camera-work comes thanks to French directors Megaforce, who won critical acclaim earlier this year for a film for Nike called ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner.’ They were also behind a Much like in ‘Tell the world’, the spot Canon spot with a similar style called mimics the feeling you get when you ‘Live for the story.’ take off in an aircraft. A variety of Delta destinations are featured in the ad. Each “As we aim to connect the world better simulates a runway, with visuals from a than anyone else, ‘Runways’ and Viola whole host of travel experiences, from a Davis inspire us all to ‘go’ in every aspect spice market to a jetty to a shaft of light of our life,” said Julieta McCurry, Delta’s falling through the curtains of a hotel Managing Director – U.S. Marketing room. Communications and Sponsorships.
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Delta had its most popular Instagram post ever on January 31st - a video with . The subject? The “Super Blue Blood Moon’ Eclipse. On the day, Delta posted a short 10 sec film clip of an A350 in front of a
giant moon. The result was a post which amount of investment into the project, gathered almost 150k views. with an A350 making a number of test flights from the Mojave Desert before On March 6th, Delta posted a news getting the shot that they wanted. article on its website about how the post was made, saying that it was the result of KEY TAKE-AWAY “months of cross-divisional planning.” The idea came from Pouya Dianat of the Atlanta production company BEAM, which works with Delta, and produced a film called ‘take-off’, which shows a Porsche racing along the runway to be as close as possible to an A330. Dianat suggested that Delta use the moon to produce the “backdrop to end all backdrops.” Once Delta bought into the idea, the airline put an impressive
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Delta has made a very watchable ad, that as the marketing trade press has said, really does get better the more you watch it. There’s a continuum from the previous Donald Sutherland work, while also appearing fresh and new. Meanwhile the Moon Eclipse project was impressive not only because of the end result but also because once Delta had agreed to do it, they put the necessary resources behind it to make it work.
AIR FRANCE - TAKE A CHANCE OR FLY AIR FRANCE
Air France would like to remind passengers that economy class travel “can be a joy.” This is the basis of their newly launched campaign called ‘Take a chance or fly Air France.’
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According to the airline: “The campaign reminds travelers that these amenities are critical to an enjoyable flight, and takes aim at the budget carriers that do not include them in their deceptively low fares. While the cost of a ticket on a discount carrier may seem lower, unanticipated fees for basic services add up.”
is in the Air’ campaign two years ago (for example the safety demonstration video).
So far the campaign has been brought to life via an ad, which features two female passengers, separately sitting in a row of office chairs that have been lined up to look like airline seats - a similar backdrop was in fact used for parts of the ‘France
The ad then switches between the two to show the difference in the experience.
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One passenger, dressed in a grey raincoat is flying no frills, while the other passenger, in a more colourful dress, is flying Air France.
The non Air France passenger is presented with a variety of props to make up for the lack of amenities. For example, a
by Philippine Airlines, which we covered in the November report, called #FlyTheWayYouDeserve. In the Philippine Airlines campaign, one passenger takes two flights. One on an unnamed low cost carrier and the other on Philippine Airlines. On the low cost carrier, he has to endure sitting in the middle seat while passengers climb over him to reach the WC, has no in-flight entertainment to keep him entertained and is charged for a blanket. Meanwhile on Philippine Airlines he has the opposite experience.
giant Sudoku puzzle in place of in-flight entertainment, an “instant meal patch” instead of a meal, and “champagne gummies” instead of actual champagne.
But Philippine Airlines is not Air France. The PAL ad works given the fact that no so long ago, it led on price and no frills. As a result, a basic education job still needs to be done to tell passengers about the PAL experience and enhancements such as new aircraft entering the fleet.
The ad then pans back to the passenger in the colourful dress, who is being given the real thing. By contrast, Air France has always positioned itself as offering a quality FLY THE WAY YOU DESERVE service. Which leads to the fact that this ad does little to differentiate Air France The execution (if not the backdrop) is from other major European (or indeed in fact almost identical to a campaign Middle Eastern / Asian) carriers.
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As SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam pointed out in an edition of the SimpliFlying Live show, “almost every airline has those movie channels across the Atlantic.” Indeed, the only difference between an LCC and a full service carrier is, “some charge for it, most don’t.” Same
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with the in-flight meal. And where you do have to pay, many passengers will have factored this in, and considered it a worthwhile tradeoff in exchange for a cheap seat. Other airlines which have taken the
‘our economy class is better’ approach include KLM and Emirates. KLM produced VR headsets called ‘Flight Upgrader’, showing the inside of a KLM economy cabin, which were shown to LCC passengers (or as Fast Company put it “KLM just launched a VR marketing ploy to make budget flyers feel bad.”) Emirates however approach.
took
a
different
In a campaign called ‘Upgrade Your Airline’ (which we covered in February), passengers of an unnamed airline are shown at a check-in desk trying everything from tying birthday balloons to themselves to hypnosis to try and get an upgrade. The ad then ends with a passenger walking to the Emirates desk with the strap-line ‘Upgrade your Airline.’ Nowhere are the individual features of an Emirates economy class cabin (or indeed even the inside of an aircraft) shown. Rather than a list of ‘we offer X, Y and Z’ the overall message is that Emirates is simply better.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY What makes you stand out? In the case of Air France and the ‘France is in the Air’ campaigns the answer was clear - the campaign associated Air France with some of the best things commonly associated with its home country such as sophistication and style. At the time, France is in the Air was called ‘the most beautiful airline ad ever.’ Arguably by focusing on ‘we offer movies and the LCC doesn’t’ (partially not true anyway), Air France moves away from a powerful emotional brand message which resonates to one where it simply lists all the in-flight amenities. As Shashank Nigam says in the SimpliLive show, these won’t be memorable because many passengers will expect them anyway.
FIRNAS AIRWAYS - THE LAUNCH OF FIRNAS AIRWAYS
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Earlier we talked about ANA starting with two helicopters in the early 1950s and growing to the point where it became Boeing’s launch customer for the Dreamliner.
an airline on a similar trajectory. Starting with one Jetstream 31, his vision is to turn his airline into Britain’s third long-haul full service airline alongside British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
In the UK, one entrepreneur wants to take The airline is Firnas Airways and the
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explained his vision: In one article, Rahman claims there is a lack of innovation in the aviation market and that there hasn’t been a new UK airline since easyJet launched in 1995. Rahman also explains that his background in retail as opposed to commercial aviation is an advantage: ”The bottom line is, it’s about what customer wants or being able to identify for the customer what he/she needs or wants.:” When it comes to the $500k crowdfunding, Rahman explains that: “Our strategy of starting really small with a single J31 aircraft will allow us to build a solid and sustainable foundation and grow in a very controlled and disciplined manner.” entrepreneur is Kazi Shafiqur Rahman, who previously launched a fragrance It is worth pointing out that Rahman has retail brand with only £600 ($850). been talking about this idea since at least 2015, and so it has taken him a while to Not only is he only starting with one 19 get it off the ground. seat aircraft, he is getting the airline off the ground by raising $500,000 on a Also, when you read through his articles crowdfunding platform. and posts, it’s clear that Rahman isn’t your run of the mill airline executive. His articles In a series of articles on LinkedIn, he’s for example are littered with exclamation
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marks and enthusiastic statements:
money he had been looking for from 161 individuals, so some appetite from small E.g. - “You will have no choice but say investors is there. He also does now have we are being more than fair!” “We want his one aircraft to get going. you to also win with us!” “We will hire the right talent at the right time when the And arguably the fact that Rahman isn’t time is right. I am very good at spotting your standard suit should work to his talent.” “I am fortunate to possess such advantage. skills!” After all the airline industry is full of However, at the time of writing, he had larger than life and sometimes eccentric indeed raised almost all ($444k) of the characters - Tony Fernandes, Sir Stelios
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Haji-Ioannou, Michael O’Leary and Sir Richard Branson are just a few examples. In part, their airlines have succeeded due to the force of their personalities, their ability to look beyond the obvious and crucially - due to their ability to generate their own PR.
know what they are capable of.”
He clearly has persistence and has assembled a team and a brand from nothing. And if whoever is doing his PR and marketing are playing their cards right, he should be getting acres of free coverage in media keen to write “local In addition, Rahman has an engaging boy done good. From cleaning airplane back-story. He’s a local East London boy, toilets to owning his own airline” type where before he became he a self-made features. entrepreneur, he caught the aviation bug by doing jobs at London City Airport, including cleaning airplane toilets. In fact, the first step in building ‘the boss as the brand’ will come in a Channel4 (UK) documentary being aired this year called “How to Start an Airline.”, where a crew spent several weeks following him around. The chances of Rahman building an airline that will rival British Airways or Virgin Atlantic are of course slim. Indeed, the odds are against him that Firnas Airways will even survive the first year. But then again, as Rahman writes in a social media post, “Never ever belittle someone’s idea! Because you do not
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KEY TAKE-AWAY What do you have that will make people sit up and take notice of your brand, and hopefully spend money with you? In launching an airline, Kazi Shafiqur Rahman doesn’t have the money of his competitors and as it hasn’t yet launched, he doesn’t even have a product that consumers can see for themselves. But what Firnas Airways has is him. He is a walking news story. As the saying goes “people buy people first, the product second.” And people make news. His marketing team should be maximising this and the different news opportunities as the airline gears up to launch.
JAPAN AIRLINES - THE TREE OF SENBAZURU
To launch its new flights from TokyoNarita to Melbourne, Japan Airlines (JAL) teamed up with the Japanese Tourist Board to run a promotion in Australia called ‘The Tree of Senbazuru.’
Japan Airlines took this concept and developed a two part promotion. There was direct to consumer activity in a Melbourne shopping centre and an online promotion for Australians in general.
According to Japan Airlines, “Senbazuru is the ancient art of folding and stringing together a thousand origami paper cranes. The Tree of Senbazuru is a special cherry blossom tree of a thousand paper cranes with the power to make one lucky person’s travel wish come true!”
The shopping centre activity happened over two days when JAL and the Japan Tourist Board set up their own Tree of Senbazuru. Local shoppers were able to come and visit and to pick one of the hanging cranes. Each one was an entry into a competition to win return flights to Japan.
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The shopping centre installation also included two business class seats, which shoppers could try out for themselves. Other giveaways up for grabs from Japan Airlines included travel pouches, happi coats, uchiwa fans, pens and clear files. The agency which created the tactic, Australian digital agency, Circul8 claims that almost 6,000 people visited over the two days and that the “atmosphere was electric, with Japan Airline flight attendants and ambassadors educating
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participants on the in-flight experience, the airline flight paths and why Japan is the next ideal holiday destination.� The second part of the Senbazuru promotion has been to run an online competition. The mechanic is simple, you click on a paper crane on a landing page, it fills in a code, you enter your email address and you are in the draw to win flights.
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As we’ve mentioned in past issues, our biggest watch out when it comes to on street / shopping centre activations is that you can only reach a limited number of people. Unless you are doing something really stand-out and different (The Delta Tinder Wall is a good example), you need to think about whether the investment is really justified when you are reaching several thousand people. Or, at the very least you need to make sure a wider audience hears about it and has the chance to take part. As a result, it’s positive that Japan Airlines’ agency added an online competition to complement the shopping centre installation. We do wonder whether there was even more potential to get value out of the ‘Senbazuru’ theme. Some ideas for how this could have been taken further: As it is Origami based, why not challenge Instagram users to send in pictures of their own Origami? Why not have short videos, showing how you can make the paper cranes yourself? Or, why not have a competition in the shopping centre, where you challenge shoppers to make the cranes in a race against the clock.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY When doing on street or shopping centre (or in airport) stunts or installations there are three things to look out for. 1 - Can you reach a wider audience other than the limited number of people who see the installation. And can you develop some kind of mechanic that allows a much wider audience to take part? 2 - How can you take the core creative and really get the most out of it, in terms of marketing tactics? 3 - And finally, how can you give the theme a bit of longevity, so it’s not just a “one hit wonder.” In the case of the Origamithemed campaign, how can you stretch something like that over weeks or even months?
JETBLUE - FLIP THE FORECAST
In March, the average temperature in Boston ranges from zero to eight celsius (celsius). San Diego is somewhat different though with average highs of 20. This temperature difference formed the basis of a campaign by JetBlue called ‘Flip the Forecast.’
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Two airstream trailers branded to promote the JetBlue card were parked in San Diego and Boston, with video links to each other. People were then invited to get inside and sit down. Once they did so, they were presented with members of the public who had done the same in the other city.
US could ask for a chance to “Flip the forecast.” 260+ Instagram videos were uploaded with the #fliptheforecast hashtag where people told JetBlue why they needed to go somewhere sunny and warm. Many entries were genuinely funny and original, such as a rap and drop the mic spot, a video post of someone trying to play golf in the snow and a spoof game-show video with questions such as “which airline has the best food?” Participants on both ends had the “JetBlue!” chance to win a pair of round-trip tickets to the opposite location if they were The idea of Flip the Forecast is able to convince the person / people on fundamentally very good. It does an the other side of the video link to swap excellent job of highlighting the range locations (or ‘flip the forecast.’) of destinations JetBlue flies to (e.g. as far apart as Boston and San Diego), the The edits of these conversations then creative of Bostonians having to plead formed the basis of a series of online with Californians to let them come is videos, where Bostonians can be seen funny, as is some of the user-generated to plead with San Diego residents to content on Instagram around the swap with them. competition. However, you didn’t just have to be in San Diego and Boston to take part. JetBlue also launched an Instagram competition where people across the
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As a result, what we did find curious is that the promotion wasn’t given that much of a push on the airline’s social media channels. It doesn’t appear to have
been promoted on JetBlue’s Facebook part on the performance of Jet Blue’s page at all, but seems instead mainly to premium class ‘Mint’ product, which have been restricted to Instagram. has been praised for ‘disrupting’ US transcontinental business class travel. PRIMERA AIR £99 TO THE USA One airline which is about to launch Separately, JetBlue is continuing to transatlantic routes with the A321LR is assess the possibility of launching Low Cost Carrier Primera Air. transatlantic routes for the first time. Founded in Iceland, with a Danish According to the industry trade press, operating license and headquartered in the decision to convert A321 orders into Latvia, Primera Air intends to go head the longer range variant depends in to head with Norwegian from April by
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flying from the UK to North America (initially NY-Newark, Boston and Toronto, followed by Washington DC in August). Unlike Norwegian, which uses London Gatwick, Primera Air is using London’s third airport - Stansted - as its base. So far marketing activity has involved running a £99 ($140) offer to launch the fact that its Washington DC flights are now on sale. Though only 396 seats were available at this price, it still got extensive UK press coverage including in Britain’s biggest tabloid, The Sun. Primera Air also appears to be using social media influencers to promote its service, having recruited model and fashion / cosmetics entrepreneur Megan McKenna, who has 2.1 million Instagram followers, as a “brand ambassador.” With flights due to launch next month, we’ll report on the Primera Air transatlantic launch in a future issue.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY ‘Flip the Forecast’ worked because it really resonated. Anyone living in the NE of the US can identify with the fact that it gets cold in Winter, and many if not most would love to swap for a sunnier climate. The creative JetBlue used to bring this idea to life was fun and engaging, and the Instagram competition gave a wider audience the chance to take part with some great entries being sent in, in response. The only other comment we would make is that the idea was if anything undersold and under-exploited. Much more could have been done around it.
JETSMARTER - JETSMARTER
At the recent SXSW Interactive Festival Another aviation-related session was in Austin, Texas there were a number of fronted by a company that though not aviation related talks and presentations. an airline, has been called an ‘industry disruptor’ in aviation - JetSmarter. ANA announced its $10 million investment This involved JetSmarter CEO Sergey in the Avatar project (see our cover Petrossov talking about ‘social aviation.’ story), Lufthansa held a Flying Lab, that kicked off with a flight from Frankfurt Backed by investors including Jay Z and to Houston, and Qantas CMO Stephanie the Saudi Royal family, JetSmarter is Tully spoke about the Qantas Money app trying to ‘democratize’ private aviation, and Qantas Credit Card. which doesn’t off course mean that they will be going for customers who normally
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fly Spirit, Frontier or Ryanair.
Access to JetSmarter works first of all via a mobile app, which lists which flights are But they are setting their sights on the available and when (or which gives you higher end of the airline market by trying the option to book your own). to pull premium class passengers onto private Booking those flights has until now jets. meant taking out an annual membership,, where $15,000 a year gave you access to The core idea behind the business is that the whole network. But just as we were most private and corporate jets sit idle finishing this edition, we got an email for most of the time and you can lower from the JetSmarter membership team prices for everyone by selling off spare telling us that the company would soon seats for these flights, as well as creating be moving to a pay per fly model. new ones. Anyone joining JetSmarter before 1 April According to Petrossov, JetSmarter is 2018, will have the paid $15,000, which trying to target two sets of customers. gives access to private jets on 30 routes First of all people who fly private jets in the US, ten in Europe and four in the right now, and would welcome the Middle East. Shorter flights are free opportunity to lower the cost, but who within the membership and longer ones might be worried that sharing means have a surcharge. “they are going to be on some plane with some hooligans and it might not be a Currently, in Europe flights include Geneva good service.” to London, Moscow and Nice, Malaga to London and Milan to Moscow, Paris and And secondly, “business or first-class London. Under the membership plan, you flyers, who think private jets are out of can also fly London to Moscow ($300their league. They think it’s going to cost $715), or New York ($1,500-$3,500). them $100,000 a year just to be able to fly 10 times.” Finally, you can also create your own flight to any destination where you choose the
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route and schedule. You then bring the The email from senior membership cost down by seeking to share the cost executive Daniel Darroch said that “we’re with other passengers. discontinuing the “complimentary” model and moving over to a simplified model for FROM MEMBERSHIP TO PAY PER new members. Seat prices will be in line FLIGHTS with business/first-class pricing.” The communication we received from We reached out to JetSmarter to get an JetSmarter told us that the membership idea of what “in line with business/firstmodel would be discontinued from 2 class pricing” actually means. April.
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The email reply we received back stated: “We don’t have exact pricing yet but most business class flights in Europe are between £750-£1000 so I assume it will be within that bracket.”
to make private aviation affordable for people who normally fly first class on commercial airlines, JetSmarter markets itself in three different ways.
First of all, it gets major A-List influencers If it really is comparable to a commercial on board. airline ticket, then that would be significant as all of a sudden you open up the service For example, it gave model and actress to people who might not have wanted to Cara Delevingne a free flight in a private be tied down to an annual $15,000 cost, jet from Dublin to Prague in exchange for and instead may just want to use it once posting a 30 second video for the benefit or twice. of her 40+ million Instagram followers. The video itself received 7+ million views, The chances are that a business executive as well as coverage in the world’s biggest looking at a first/business class ticket from English speaking online newspaper, the London to New York could well decide Daily Mail. to take a private jet from somewhere like Biggin Hill or Farnborough using Secondly it sells itself on building an JetSmarter instead, in exchange for the exclusive community of movers and convenience, time saved at the airport shakers. You might have to share a and experience. private jet with someone you don’t know, but it could be your next investor or USE OF INFLUENCERS major customer. Indeed, at the SXSW presentation, a lot of members of the So far, JetSmarter has had a fair amount audience - US tech entrepreneurs - used of positive press coverage including in the Q & A session to praise the community the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, and the service. Financial Times and CityAM, And finally, it has signed deals with other As well as talking up the fact that it claims premium brands to provide products for
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JetSmarter members. For example, earlier this year they announced a collaboration with luxury Swiss watchmaker Hublot, to launch a limited edition timepiece collection that will be available exclusively to JetSmarter members. Meanwhile, a deal with Pernod Ricard´s Prestige spirits, wines and champagne brands, means that Pernod Ricard will be featured on JetSmarter in-flight menus and member lounges at their private jet airports. Finally, not all the exposure JetSmarter has received is positive. Tech industry publication The Verge for example has accused JetSmarter of trying to “extort journalists for positive coverage” by threatening to take $2000 off their credit card, if a positive piece wasn’t posted within five days of taking a flight. Meanwhile, last year a group of ex employees sued the company as they alleged it had failed to pay them overtime wages they were owed.
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KEY TAKE-AWAY JetSmarter is an innovative business, and it’s obviously gained a loyal community of fans. The change to a ‘pay per fly’ model is interesting (depending on what the actual ticket price is) as it could significantly widen its customer base. However, though JetSmarter is trying to get Premium class airline passengers to ‘trade up’, where it falls down is when it comes to schedule and scale. For example, it’s European shuttles are limited and don’t operate every day. The Nice flights will work for someone going back to Monaco at the weekend for non-domiciled tax purposes, but not for someone needing to go there for a business meeting on a given day. That seems to be a area for airlines to fight back on - flexibility, schedules, airline alliances and of course frequent flyer points and benefits.
QATAR AIRWAYS - ORYX KIDS CLUB
In February, a so-called “demonic child” went viral when a passenger on a Lufthansa flight to Newark captured footage of a small boy screaming and shouting more or less non-stop over the Atlantic.
empathy’ and though the boy was reported to have a disability, this extreme episode does illustrate a few issues when small children travel long-haul.
From the parents’ side, entertaining kids is tough, especially if they are toddlers Media outlets worldwide ended up and maybe have some kind of disability. covering the incident including the Daily Mail, Metro, Fox News, the South China From the airline’s side, stories like this Morning Post and the International resonate because “children from hell” Business Times (which questioned has become a regular talking point in whether it was the ‘worst flight ever.’). travel publications. With every passenger having a smartphone, these incidents can Though the passenger who filmed the be captured shared, can get a million episode was later criticised for ‘lacking YouTube views like this did, and receive
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global media pick-up. As a result, most airlines which fly long-haul now have some kind of kids’ programme above and beyond the cartoons and kids’ shows shown on the in-flight entertainment system. One airline which has been looking at the issue of entertaining kids, and also winning over parents, is Qatar Airways, which earlier this month launched the Oryx Kids’ Club and Loyalty Programme. The club offers much of what you’d expect including special new children’s in-flight meal boxes and plush toys on board.
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Qatar Airways has also unveiled two “fun new hero mascots”, called Orry and Orah, who will feature on the airline’s website, in marketing material and in all the literature and activity packs given to children when they fly long-haul, as well as at special appearances at Hamad International Airport (HIA). However, the loyalty programme allows children as young as two to gather QMIles and QPoints. A special section on the Privilege Club website gives children their own dashboard on which to interact with the airline, and view their Qmiles balance and
travel history.
KEY TAKE-AWAY
According to the airline, “parents will play a key role in managing their children’s Oryx Kids Club accounts, giving parents and kids travelling together the opportunity to enjoy mutual benefits offered by the Privilege Club.”
The subject of parents travelling with small kids’ provokes strong reactions among travellers. Many will get annoyed if seated near or around children especially if they are seen to ‘act up.’ Some might even be prompted, as happened to Lufthansa, to share their experience on social media.
The thinking behind the initiative is clear, peak holiday periods are key times when families travel, and by allowing kids to earn points towards a family account, they are trying to get parents to spend their money with QR. Even before the launch, Qatar Airways was on the list of the most family friendly airlines from the ‘Flying with a baby’ guide, alongside Air New Zealand, Asiana, Etihad, Emirates, Eva Air, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Other family friendly initiatives from airlines include the Sky Couch from Air New Zealand, the ‘Happy Mom’ service from Asiana and the Etihad ‘Flying Nannies.’
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However the simple reality is that families are a large part of the leisure market, so it makes good commercial sense to cater for them. And while Qatar Airways and the other airlines we’ve mentioned have rolled out good, solid services for parents and kids, there is no reason why you can’t get creative. For example, take a look a what easyJet did. They launched an on-board book club or “Flybrary” (which we featured in August) for kids. This was a good idea as it was different, reasonably low-tech and easy to introduce, and it positioned easyJet as both family friendly as well as supporting the idea of kids’ reading.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES -MAKING EVERY JOURNEY PERSONAL
Singapore Airlines has launched a new ad that according to the ‘Live and Let’s Fly’ blog “magically captures the allure of flying SIA.”
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The ad features the icon of Singapore Airlines, the “Singapore Girl”, engaging with customers in their own imaginary worlds, before showing they are actually on-board a flight.
the Singapore Girl starred in the film is not an actress, but an actual member of staff. According to Gary Steele of agency TBWA, which created the spot, “We wanted to demonstrate how the airline creates experiences that are designed entirely around the customer. The kind of experiences that allow you to feel like you’re in your own world, even 30,000 feet in the air and many thousands of miles from home.”
For example, a child is first of all in a magical forest with the Singapore Girl, before later in the clip being with her on a plane with her colouring book. A couple watches an orchestra, and the Singapore Girl dims the lights, later it is revealed that they are on board, and she is doing this for them on a flight. The ad has been well received by the travel trade, aviation and marketing press. As is the case for all Singapore Airlines’ marketing materials and brand campaigns, Marketing website Mumbrella called the
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ad “sumptuous”, and said that SIngapore Reminding readers that even a five star Airlines had delivered a “visual feast.” airline like Singapore Airlines sometimes has bad press and reviews, MSN wondered Meanwhile in one of his regular SimpliFlying whether it was “an attempt to win back the Live shows, SimpliFlying CEO Shashank loyalty and love of its customers after recent Nigam praised the new Singapore Airlines backlash like when SIA implemented (and ad for not getting into a ‘my seats are wider quickly ditched) its credit card surcharges, than your seats’ kind of competition, and or when the airline got on people’s instead concentrating on “the feeling you nerves with its automatic inclusion of get when you fly Singapore Airlines….that travel insurance, or when one unhappy you are cared for.” passenger’s post about his luggage being tampered with went viral.” One slight dissenting voice however came from MSN News.
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SINGAPORE AIRLINES TAKES DELIVERY from Toulouse were also on the Singapore OF THE FIRST 787-10 Airlines flight from Charleston, and they used the in-flight WiFi to tweet and post Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines has taken about their experience to their tens of delivery of the first 787-10 Dreamliner, in thousands of fans. a ceremony attended by 3000 people in Charleston, South Carolina, before flying to As we said when talking about the Qatar Singapore. Airways A350-1000, this is a smart move. In last month’s edition we profiled Qatar Airways, which ran a mini-campaign called #Firstin1000, to celebrate the delivery of the A350-1000 from the Airbus factory in Toulouse to Doha. What was noteworthy about that campaign was that Qatar Airways filled the delivery flight with aviation bloggers and journalists and made senior executives available for interview. Singapore Airlines has taken a similar approach, many of the same influencers who were on the Qatar Airways flight
Many aviation bloggers have a reach that actually rivals that of many mainstream media outlets and as these people live and breathe aviation, you can count on them to share countless updates of the flight.
KEY TAKE-AWAY As Shashank Nigam explained in his SimpliLive broadcast, Singapore Airlines is a truly iconic aviation brand and it has take them a long time to consistently build that reputation. The ad works on two levels. It is well put together, engaging and beautifully shot. But it’s also a clear continuation of the kind of brand ethos Singapore Airlines has been trying to build. You watch it, and it clearly has a Singapore Airlines look and feel about it.
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ABOUT US
SimpliFlying is a global consultancy that believes in thinking differently about aviation marketing. Having worked with over 50 airlines and airports around the world, it has presences in Singapore, UK, Spain, Canada and India. Today, SimpliFlying advises airlines and airpor ts on customer engagement strategy, achieving aviation business goals by harnessing the latest innovations in the social media space.
The firm also conducts MasterClasses to train and develop airline and airport teams to become self-sufficient in executing measurable and rewarding social campaigns. SimpliFlying’s growing list of clients includes Lufthansa, Emirates, Toronto Pearson Airport, Halifax International, KLIA, Jet Airways, LAN Airlines, airBaltic, Airbus and Bombardier. Get in touch at engage@simpliflying. com or visit simplifying.com.
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