reasons to fly - content marketing airlines top 20

Reasons to

Fly Content Marketing Airlines Top 20

“Lipstick doesn’t make a pig fly” — Joel Peterson, Chairman of JetBlue Airlines

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/jetblue-content-marketing-better/68348/

As an airliner’s CMO, you might choose to spend your budget on SEA and/or "behaviorally targeted ads...

... Or/and you might aim at something more memorable

than that...

http://www.born05.com/news/ifly-magazine-klm-born05/; http://sco.lt/7arPe5

Here are 20 cases suggesting the latter option might prove at least equally worthwhile...

Awareness Consideration

Lead conversion

Digital service

Activation

Advocacy

Upselling

(This traveler’s journey should keep us on course)

Search

Lead generation Booking convenience Loyalty

Search

Consideration

Lead generation

Lead conversion Booking convenience

Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Awareness

“As the official airline of Middle-earth, Air New Zealand has gone all out to celebrate the third and final film in The Hobbit Trilogy - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Starring Elijah Wood and Sir Peter Jackson; we're thrilled to unveil The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made.”

AIR NEW ZEALAND - ‘The Most Epic Safety "Video Ever Made’

http://youtu.be/qOw44VFNk8Y (published on Oct 22, 2014); http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/branding/viral-content-videos/

20 "

http://youtu.be/Ty-XH6ZwlzA; http://www.8ms.com/2014/09/09/study-content-marketing-performance-top-airlines/

QATAR AIRWAYS "& FC BARCELONA "– The Arrival “Qatar Airways welcomes you to the Land of FC Barcelona. An island that unites the fans, players and legends of FC Barcelona from all across the world. Join our Qatar Airways cabin attendant as she travels through the island, meeting FC Barcelona players past and present, before reaching her final destination: Camp Nou. And discover why Qatar Airways & FC Barcelona are a team that unites the world.”

2,3m "views, 6k likes, "

... 19

Awareness Consideration

Lead generation


Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Search

DELTA – Taking Off (blog) “Delta’s blog clearly targets the business traveler, and its most-read posts are a reflection of their preferences: posts on everything from Japanese food (and the sushi served onboard) to Delta’s free wifi initiative, as well as photos of the fleet in action flying over Mt. Ranier. The biggest takeaway in terms of innovation? Know your audience and cater to them. Delta does it well, catering to those traveling alone and looking to learn more about their travel options. That being said, and given the chatty, popular social media channels the brand runs, there is definite room for more substantial text content on the blog.” http://takingoff.delta.com; http://blog.newscred.com/article/in-the-content-marketing-clouds-a-delta-and-american-airlines-smackdown/b21a0539d172e83841247ed7d1d2c4aa

18

VIRGIN ATLANTIC - blog http://blog.virgin-atlantic.com/t5/Blog-Home-Page/ct-p/Cat1#.VFpJpVb5w9V; http://www.slideshare.net/shanxz/top-10-airline-blogs?ref=http://simpliflying.com/2013/top-10-airline-blogs/

17

Awareness Search

Consideration Lead conversion

Booking convenience

Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling Lead generation

SINGAPORE AIRLINES – ‘The Storytellers’ "Native travel series / °competition / voting on junkee.com

http://mumbrella.com.au/singapore-airlines-junkee-collaborate-native-advertising-push-251160; http://junkee.com/we-sent-four-storytellers-across-the-world-heres-how-you-can-stalk-them-on-social-media/44411#FtdZeamDxR0cMxxm.99

"We're sending 4 people "to the world's most exciting destinations to find the world's most interesting stories."

16

AMERICAN AIRLINES - United States of Adventure “United States Of Adventure. 50 States. 30 Days. 1 Airline. The United States of America. A huge country full of dreams. And so many things to see and do. "WE RECENTLY PARTNERED UP WITH "A JOURNALIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER "for the unique challenge of conquering all 50 states in 30 days. The aim? To try something new in each state and to tell us all about it.”

http://www.aa.com/i18n/promo/united-states-of-adventure.jsp?locale=en_GB&anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=unitedstatesofadventure; http://www.pinterest.com/americanair/50-states-in-30-days-the-united-states-of-adventur/; http://blog.newscred.com/article/in-the-content-marketing-clouds-a-delta-and-american-airlines-smackdown/b21a0539d172e83841247ed7d1d2c4aa

15

Awareness Search

Lead generation


Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Consideration

KLM – iFly magazine “The award-winning iFly KLM Magazine; a digital travel magazine that gives KLM customers reasons to travel, providing a source of constant inspiration in between flights. All these years of producing iFly resulted in 35 editions, 525 sections, 400 spreads, and thousands of articles for more than 500 destinations. By introducing our new iFly Magazine menu, readers can travel vertically through all the magazines made over the years and dream away with countless stories. To make it work, the plan was simple: unlock 35 editions of iFly Magazine so readers can see content from all issues, instead of one magazine at the time...” http://www.born05.com/news/ifly-magazine-klm-born05/; http://sco.lt/7arPe5

14

AIR NEW ZEALAND – The It List (‘Your Insider’s Travel Guide’) “Need some inspiration for your trip? "If you're after a great place to wine, dine, shop or an attraction out the ordinary, watch the It List guides for the best spots in Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch.”

http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/the-it-list

13

15 places to experience in Asia with Finnair

FINNAIR – 15 places to experience in Asia (episode in a YouTube Playlist) http://youtu.be/Rg-NSXzuEtM?list=PLxCenwGBVdegOPGookKMRuZYqSGBa35K2

12

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation Booking convenience

Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Lead conversion

EMIRATES – ‘Inspire me’ button

http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/plan_book/inspire-me/inspire-me.aspx

11

KLM – ‘Destinations’ (‘Bookable Videos’ in a YouTube Playlist)

10

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation

Lead conversion

Digital service

Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Booking convenience

VIRGIN AMERICA – m.virginamerica.com

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65065-30-little-things-i-love-about-the-new-virgin-america-website#i.1okx80e12j3fig

“Virgin America's new website manages to turn booking a flight into a joyous process. (...) Take a look at the site yourself and marvel at a responsive, playful beast that redefines airline websites.”

9

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation


Activation

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling

Digital service

http://www.airlinetrends.com/2014/03/19/vueling-smart-watch-boarding-pass/

VUELING (& SONY) "– Smart Watch"Boarding Pass “allowing passengers to carry both their boarding pass and flight information on their wrist”

8

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation


Digital service

Loyalty

Advocacy

Upselling Activation

EASYJET – targeted emails "Can you believe we used to send out the same email to every customer in Europe once a week on a Friday?” Peter Duffy, Marketing Director at easyJet, revealed to AdAge last year. Not anymore. The airline has since starting using its time, money, and effort much more effectively. In 2013, for example, easyJet devised an email campaign that targeted travelers who had journeyed around the same time the previous year, offering similar tickets with even lower fares than before. easyJet’s emails are well designed and laid-out, offering clear information and lots of enticing trip ideas – not to mention very quick and easy directions to book. Last year the Direct Marketing Association even awarded the airline with its Gold Best Use of Email title, as a result of the campaign’s doubled customer engagement and quadrupled conversion. http://blog.newscred.com/article/on-the-rise-easyjet-soars-with-a-marketing-makeover/10985bfeb33454f49eeefa400b301afd 7

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation


Digital service

Activation

Advocacy

Upselling

Loyalty

SPIRIT AIRLINES – $9 Fare Club (loyalty program)

“The $9 Fare Club is a unique membership that lets you experience the ultimate in cost savings. Sign up below or search for a flight to find out just how much you can save.” http://www.businessinsider.com/best-frequent-flyer-programs-2014-9?IR=T; https://www.spirit.com/StaticFareClubEnrollment.aspx 6"

RYANAIR – posted a particularly "unfriendly parody "to its website"Michael O'Leary's 'nicer' airline "- The Mario Rosenstock Show "| RTÉ TWO “In September 2013 Ryanair announced it would take a friendlier approach to customers (followed soon after by a profit warning which may have prompted the U-turn on customer service). So far the signs are good. When impersonator Mario Rosenstock parodied the ‘nicer’ airline on TV, instead of taking legal action Ryanair posted the video to its website.”

http://www.256media.ie/2014/01/ryanair_content-marketing/; http://youtu.be/UNUJ_td7eJc

5

Awareness Search

Consideration

Lead generation


Digital service

Activation

Loyalty Upselling

Advocacy

FINNAIR – Video Ambassador Contest “Published on Sep 2, 2014. Are you an experienced content creator with a passion for travel and an eye for videos? If so, why not become a Finnair video ambassador? Those chosen will receive complimentary airfare to their dream destination. You could be waking up in a city like Tokyo, Xi’an, Barcelona or New York for an adventure of a lifetime.""We only ask you to produce interesting videos on your journey and let us publish them exclusively on Finnair’s official YouTube channel at youtube.com/finnair.""Apply now! http://www.finnair.com/FI/GB/video-am...” http://youtu.be/k9xsF5qV_wA 4

AIR NEW ZEALAND – FlyingSocial http://theflyingsocialnetwork.com 3

“World Of Swiss provides an immersive look into Switzerland as a country, and Swiss International Air Lines, its national airline. The user can navigate, scroll and click on any area they want to know more about, from Swiss traditions and Swiss food, through to Swiss cabins and its plane fleet. The site was also recently awarded the FWA Site Of The Day in June 2014.”

http://www.8ms.com/2014/09/09/study-content-marketing-performance-top-airlines/; http://www.world-of-swiss.com/en#swiss-cockpit

SWISS – World Of Swiss 2 "

“If you were given one flight to spread good… Where would you go? What would you do? It’s a simple question, with some potentially amazing answers. This is why "we decided to launch Fly It Forward, a social movement we see as a public manifestation of our mission to inspire humanity. Our Senior Vice President of Commercial, Marty St George said it best, “It’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics of travel and overlook the reasons why people travel. Everyone travels for their own reasons. It’s those stories (...) that inspire us all. (...)”

http://blog.jetblue.com/index.php/2014/11/03/fly-it-forward-2/; http://youtu.be/SQMmp6ZWdaY; http://www.jetblue.com/flyitforward

JETBLUE – Fly It Forward (1m views in the 1st week)

1

Extra ‘miles’?

DELTA – 80's In-Flight Safety Video 1,819,456 views and counting... “As a tribute to Delta's first safety video premiering in the 80's, our latest version is 80's themed to continue our emphasis on safety in an engaging way." The safety video was filmed over 20 hours on a Delta 777 in Detroit. More than 100 people including 20 actors, 80 extras, six flight attendants and a pilot are featured in the video dressed in 80's fashions (...)" We introduced safety videos designed to be constantly updated with fresh scenes to reward even the most frequent of frequent flyers for paying attention. Watch the full video here and be sure to let us know what you think!” http://youtu.be/eduNjwNvcH4; http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/branding/viral-content-videos/

3

VIRGIN AMERICA – Blah Airlines: a 6-hour "YouTube pre-roll ad “The six-hour advert will appear as a YouTube pre-roll. Mercifully it is skippable, but this is still one of the funniest components of the whole campaign and rightfully skewers this heinous practice.”

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65619-18-reasons-to-love-virgin-s-blah-airlines-content-marketing-campaign#i.14btsyc9uwewpr; http://sco.lt/55pP5V 2

“The friendly airline says that while they’re proud to have the most loyal customers in the business, it’s time to find out what their customers are willing to do for them.”

http://www.theonion.com/video/southwest-airlines-rolls-out-new-loyalty-goes-both,35500/; http://www.copyblogger.com/examples-of-native-ads/; http://youtu.be/8AEMl06leKY

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES "- ‘Loyalty Goes Both Ways’,"a native (‘funny’) video "on The Onion + YouTube, ...

1

Further reading? http://contently.com/strategist/2014/10/27/its-official-airline-safety-videos-are-the-new-harlem-shake/ai; http://www.8ms.com/2014/09/09/study-content-marketing-performance-top-airlines/; http://www.256media.ie/2014/01/ryanair_content-marketing/; https://econsultancy.com/blog/65065-30-little-things-i-love-about-the-new-virgin-america-website#i.1okx80e12j3fig; http://www.blueglass.co.uk/blog/travel-content-marketing-in-2014/; http://blog.newscred.com/article/in-the-content-marketing-clouds-a-delta-and-american-airlines-smackdown/b21a0539d172e83841247ed7d1d2c4aa; http://blog.newscred.com/article/on-the-rise-easyjet-soars-with-a-marketing-makeover/10985bfeb33454f49eeefa400b301afd; http://simpliflying.com/2013/top-10-airline-blogs/; http://mumbrella.com.au/singapore-airlines-junkee-collaborate-native-advertising-push-251160

@FrankDelmelle