British Airways' upgrade note via OOH

Airline companies always prefer to communicate to their specific target audience through a definite podium.  However, British Airways, altered this practice and took off a new journey with the OOH medium. The airline brand has developed an OOH campaign to showcase the clear differentiation on the value that the World Traveler Plus cabin delivered over an equally strong World Traveler product, to their M/F, 25-54, SEC A target audience. The campaign was ideated, executed and maintained by ZenithOptimedia, a media agency and Milestone Brandcom, an outdoor agency in metro cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai & Hyderabad, considering their operating cities.  

The campaign was deployed on miscellaneous outdoor formats at different locations like business hubs and residential areas across all metro cities, with an aim to spread awareness about the offers. Airports were opted as the nerve centers which generated the maximum footfalls and popular shopping places to target the most crucial regular traveler's audience. 

In addition to regular branding, an innovation was also developed to build connect with the audience. The suitcase was fabricated with a size of 10 ft (length) x 6.5 ft (height) x 4.0 ft (width) and placed outside Terminal 1B Departure of Mumbai Airport and also outside domestic airport in Delhi for a fortnight each. The sturdy design and the buckles denoted the security and a certain style, glamour in travel as to say. The stickers showed a clear pride and love for travel and an adventurous spirit to visit new places. The tag on the suitcase highlighted the other key benefits of the product. The innovation was proposed to bring the campaign to life and highlighted the USP of the World Traveler plus - Extra Legroom, Baggage & Business Class Meals. 

"In a very busy market, we are always looking at how we convey our message simply and succinctly so that busy customers can digest the message quickly and easily.  The installation showcasing the World Traveler Plus suitcase is an innovative approach, which quickly builds up awareness of all the fantastic benefits that our premium economy product has to offer.  It immediately connects with flyers that need to carry additional luggage as part of their overall journey experience. A remarkable initiative by ZenithOptimedia, India”, said Niall O'Gorman, Marketing Lead - Asia Pacific & Africa, British Airways.

The aim of utilizing OOH medium was to fulfill the requirement of the localized media, which could give both reach and frequency with economy of cost. "As a Live ROI agency our motto is to have a deep consumer understanding and create a dynamic engagement. We believe that when our team came up with this innovation and then executed this with such finesse, we were able to bring in an'aha!' moment and were able to engage and create exhilaration amongst our relevant target audience. We are really thankful to BA to encourage us on implementation of this out of box idea,” comments Satyajit Sen, CEO ZenithOptimedia. 

The challenge was to manifest physically an exact replica of the suitcase as seen in print and on the OOH mediums. The exacting standards of fabrication needed to be met in a larger then real size. The innovation was being able to achieve this with a great amount of collaboration and cooperation between their team and all the partners. 

"Every communication of British Airways is classy, well-articulated and simple. We were very selective in selection of OOH media vehicle; placement was catering to British Airways customer profile around commercial places and route to airport. Medium selected was large to deliver scale and brand imagery. In one word we were delighted to work for such a prestigious brand and thoroughly enjoyed during planning and execution process”, Nabendu Bhattacharyya, Founder & Managing Director, Milestone Brandcom.