OpenSkies Builds Airline With Community Input
British Airways is planning to launch a new premium transatlantic airline, called OpenSkies, focusing on high-end travel experiences. The airline, which is scheduled to begin operations in June 2008, will initially fly daily from New York to Brussels and Paris with one Boeing 757 aircraft carrying up to 82 passengers in business, premium economy and economy sections.
A second aircraft will be added to the fleet later to fly to other European cities, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan. The plan is to operate six 757s by the end of 2009, all of which will be sourced from the current British Airways’ fleet.
As part of its digital marketing campaign in New York and Europe, Web Liquid created the OpenSkies website Flyopenskies.com, a Wordpress blog, designed to share the excitement of building a new airline from an insider’s perspective and seek community input in the process, by inviting visitors to comment on blogpostings by OpenSkies Managing director Dale Moss instead of formal press conferences. The OpenSkies blog includes, e.g. a time lapse video of the first OpenSkies’ plane, a Boeing 757-236 (G-BPEK), being painted.
MD Dale Moss wrote on April 4, 2008 the following text about the plane painting time lapse video:
“I’m always surprised at the intensity of work that goes into the painting of a plane. It’s not a quick Sunday afternoon chore, like painting a small bedroom. To dress our plane, it took 24 people - working three shifts around the clock - a full seven days complete! So what exactly did it entail? First off, we stripped the plane of its old paint, taking it down to its metallic skin, before we primed and painted it with our look and logo. And in case you’re curious (because I definitely was), it took 282 liters of paint!”
The campaign is targeting the business travel and premium leisure markets, and utilize social media, behavioural targeting alongside standard search and display formats. To promote the airline’s first route connecting New York with Paris, display ads will run on New York-based sites such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.com, while search keywords will include terms such as “business travel to Paris” and “premium flights to New York.”
In addition, ads will target consumers interested in fashion and food, with creatives placed on Vogue and French news site LeParisien. The campaign, which is well into six figures, will go forward once the airline obtains final regulatory approval to launch transatlantic flights.
Also checkout these airline campaigns on ViralBlog.com: Delta, Finnair, Iceland Express, KLM: Stop The Hassle, KLM Fly For Fortune, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways
Source: ClickZ, NMA, Brand Republic, Web Liquid, Flightstory, Neville Hobson
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Igor Beuker May 21st, 2008 at 08:53
Really like this item. And this BA approach!
That’s so smart: open-up to customers, listen to them. Make them important. And loyal.
It’s like real life: building mutual beneficial relationships is about listening. Shouting only, will break-up each and any relationship: also the one between brand and consumers.
Smart move by BA!
Cheers
BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Fly Silverjet, please May 23rd, 2008 at 22:34
[…] By the way, OpenSkies is trying to market itself virally with a blog, even, which I learned about in a comment here from someone who wondered whether they […]