SEA to MOM Delta

SEA MOM DELTA

Over the past few years a number of airlines have tapped into ‘Mother Power’ to persuade people to fly home.

For example, in January 2017, HOP! Air France gave Parisian parents the chance to purchase a pair of Adidas sneakers and have it sent to a child who lives in another city

The catch in this ‘Run to Mum’ campaign was that HOP! Air France only sent one shoe to the child. Getting the other shoe meant flying to see your parents to collect it.

Meanwhile probably the best known campaign in the whole genre is the 2013 “Ticket to visit mum” from British Airways.

Targeting Indian expats in North America, the launch video featured a mother in India saying how much she misses her son and cooking his favourite dish. BA then flew her to the US to surprise her son, with the home cooked meal.

‘Ticket to visit mum’ was one of the most high profile airline campaigns of that year.

According to the Effectiveness in Marketing Communications (Effie) Awards for which it was a finalist, the campaign “not only reversed BAs fortunes on one of its most important routes, but set a precedent that would change the way BA approached retail marketing for years to come.” Now Delta is the latest airline to tap into the power of moms. However, rather than tug at the heart strings, Delta’s approach is using humour. As the name suggests, ‘SEA Mom’ is focused on the Seattle area. It seeks to promote Delta being the largest airline in Seattle, and ties into the fact that 60% of Seattle residents came from somewhere else. Launched on August 15, the campaign features funny messages from real moms of Seattleites that remind their children to come visit, and that seek to embarrass them into doing so. Each handwritten reminder message is paired up with a picture of the mother with child, when s/he was very young. And not only are these reminders appearing on billboards, they are appearing in the kind of places you see ‘lost cat’ or ‘car for sale’ notices - for example on shop fronts. California, were greeted by a group of look-alike moms that delivered a message from their actual mom, Momma Roldan, to come home and visit soon by flying Delta.

One image released by Delta shows a gym where a mother appears on screen with a picture of her son as a toddler. The message reads “Hey Zachy, until you visit I’m sending Mr Snuggles and your Bun Bun to keep you company.”

The campaign is accompanied by a series of short videos where an unsuspecting Seattle resident is swamped by body doubles of his her / mother, before one of the fake moms hands over a free flight ticket to go home.

For example, one of the videos features Lisa Smith from Chicago and her daughter Laura-Mae who now lives in Seattle. The video shows Laura-Mae and a friend sitting on a park bench, while lookalikes of her mother walk, cycle (and also row) past.

Seattle professional football/soccer club Seattle Sounders FC (a Delta partner) is getting involved in the campaign as well.

Siblings and Sounders FC players Cristian and Alex Roldan, who are originally from California, were greeted by a group of look-alike moms that delivered a message from their actual mom, Momma Roldan, to come home and visit soon by flying Delta.