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I love it when advertisers take the gloves off: Southwest and Delta are “duking it out” in Atlanta. This ought to be interesting…
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For the UK premiere of this season of Mad Men, American Airlines ran a classic ad from 1968 from DDB’s “Fly the American Way” campaign. It was a fun idea. Too bad not many people saw it.
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Delta Air Lines has switched its Facebook page to the new Timeline view, and added images and films from its history. It’s tastefully done.
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The pitch for the Southwest Airlines fall campaign may have wide-ranging implications for its relationship with GSD&M, according to a story published in Adweek. According to the RFP, Southwest is looking for “thought leadership in refining its brand positioning and to develop an associated campaign for a national fall 2012 campaign.” Although GSD&M won’t lose the Southwest business, it does seem as though whichever agency wins the review will be taking the strategic lead.
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Well, that was fast. Air Australia, the new discount carrier featured in this post from November, has shut down after only four months, stranding 4,000 passengers. Unfortunately a well-designed identity doesn’t count for much when you can’t pay for gas for your planes.
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What if baggage handling were an Olympic event? That’s what British Airways asks in this follow-up to last year’s Aviators commercial. Apparently, in this Olympic year, BA promises to ensure that British bags always hit the carousel first. Update (Feb. 9, 2012): It didn’t hit me until half an hour later, but isn’t it bizarre that this spot features no Olympic branding even though British Airways paid £40 million to sponsor the games?
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As expected, there were no national airline commercials in the Super Bowl this year, but there were some local buys. Based on Twitter traffic, it seems Southwest ran an ad in Atlanta touting its new service to Hartsfield. And jetBlue showed this ad in the Boston market:
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In a little under 4 days and 16 hours, if British Airways’ Facebook page is to be believed, the airline will launch a new television spot to follow up on last year’s “Aviators.” Will it be as spectacular as the original? We’ll see…
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From November of 1990, a fascinating account in Texas Monthly of the pitch for the Southwest Airlines account. When the straight-laced culture of The Richards Group went up against the freewheeling culture of GSD&M, is it any wonder who won?
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Draftfcb has been appointed Air New Zealand’s lead advertising agency. Saatchi will also be on the airline’s roster. Draft takes over from the Clemenger Group, whose advertising for Air NZ was often bizarre; a month ago, the agency killed off the airline’s weird, foreign, furry spokesman, Rico. Oh, and there were those conjoined sheep twins…