Runways by Delta

Runways by 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.

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.

Much like in ‘Tell the world’, the spot mimics the feeling you get when you take off in an aircraft. A variety of Delta destinations are featured in the ad. Each simulates a runway, with visuals from a whole host of travel experiences, from a spice market to a jetty to a shaft of light falling through the curtains of a hotel room.

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.’

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.

As AdWeek says, “unlike some ads, it gets richer on repeat viewings”, something we found to be the case as well.

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 Canon spot with a similar style called ‘Live for the story.’

“As we aim to connect the world better than anyone else, ‘Runways’ and Viola Davis inspire us all to ‘go’ in every aspect of our life,” said Julieta McCurry, Delta’s Managing Director – U.S. Marketing Communications and Sponsorships.

“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.”

Delta Moon Shot

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 gathered almost 150k views.

On March 6th, Delta posted a news article on its website about how the post was made, saying that it was the result of “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 amount of investment into the project, with an A350 making a number of test flights from the Mojave Desert before getting the shot that they wanted.

Key Take-Away

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.