Name: Karan Rathod

Roll No.: 2014A29

British Airways

Introduction:

British Airways (BA) is the flagship carrier airline of the United Kingdom and its largest

airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. It is the

second largest airline of UK when measured by number of passengers.

Headquarters: Waterside, Harmondsworth, England

Hubs: London Heathrow Airport

Gatwick Airport

History

British Airways was officially founded on March 31st 1974 following the merger of BEA

(British European Airlines) and BOAC (British Overseas Airline Corporation). However

the British Airways Board had been established in 1971 under the Civil Aviation Act

(1971) to control BEA and BOAC plus Cardiff based Cambrian Airlines and Northeast

Airlines from Newcastle upon Tyne. All four companies were dissolved on March 31st

1974 and BA was formed.

Building the brand

Brand Name:

Since British Airways was a merger of four airline corporations namely British Overseas

Airways Corporation, British European Airways, and two regional airlines Cambrian

Airlines and Northeast Airlines, there was a need to name the airlines that represented

this merger as a whole on the world map. The name “British Airways” is an apt name

that resonated with the attributes of British: class, sophistication, royal, innovative and

revolutionary. Therefore, British Airways has been established as an airline which

serves its customers with one of the finest quality of products.

Tagline:

BA was positioned as ‘The world’s favorite airline’ for many years. But over the years,

the company faced crew problems in the form of strikes and the fallout due to terror

attacks, people started losing faith in the brand and there was a decline in the number

of passengers. British Airways realized it, changed its structure and is now associated

with the tagline “To fly, to serve”

Logo/Design:

British Airways has been successful in keeping the logo same with minute changes over

the time. The logo has used the red and blue band in its logo over the years. Earlier it

also used a crown in the logo to show depict royalty. The colours red and blue has

always been there in the logo/design throughout either in the way “British Airways “is

written or the band. Red and blue colours are used in the national flag of UK which

relates BA as UK’s national airline. The band has been in its logo for so long, that

people now recognize it just by seeing the band. They have also not much changed the

font.

Brand ambassadors

Like other airlines, British Airways too has been reluctant in appointing brand

ambassadors. Since British Airways was always associated with luxury travel, not many

celebrities could have matched the brand identity. Most often British Airways would dis

its PR activities by publishing photographs of royal family either attending British

Airways meeting or flying in it.

A twist in the tale……..

In a move to promote its global activities, BA appointed golfer Justin Rose as their new

brand ambassasdor. The three-year deal will involve personal appearance from Rose,

supporting the brand's global marketing activities, as well as supporting the airline's

charity partnership with Comic Relief, Flying Start. After being appointed as the brand

ambassador, Justin made the following statement:"I'm delighted to be working with

British Airways. Golf takes me all over the world and as an athlete it's really important to

arrive feeling refreshed and ready to compete."

Something unique in INDIA…..

British Airways has completed 81 years in India but has never appointed any celebrity

brand ambassador.

Better late than never…..

British Airways identified that the number of students travelling abroad to pursue higher

studies is inceasing year on year. So rather than appointing any celebrity to endorse,

they carried out campus ambassador programmes and have appointed student brand

ambassadors. These selected students behave as advocates of British Airways in India

and promote the fact that British Airways is the most economical airline to travel for

students going to Europe and North America. Eg. Aditya Zutshi of IIT Kharagpur was

appointed the student brand ambassador.

Putting the Customer first

British Airway believes in putting the customer at the heart of their business. Their

commitment to their customers is integral to their promise, To Fly. To Serve.

For any customer about to embark on a journey, what happens on the ground prior to

departure almost invariably sets the tone for the flight. This can be the first personal touch

point whether it’s a smooth check-in, directions to the right gate, assistance for disabled

customers, it all makes the difference in creating a lasting impression of their journey with

BA.

BA Introduced new aircraft to the fleet, including the superjumbo A380, and 787

Dreamliner– the most technological advanced aircraft in the world

Different people…different preferences

Apart from ontime performance, Inflight services invariably decides the success of any

airlines.Inflight services include meals, entertainment and other facilities like wifi. BA has

3 different passenger classes First, Business, Economy and premium economy serving

each class of people.

BA introduced iPads to their senior cabin crew allowing them to tap into customer

preference, extending in-flight entertainment until landing, and trialling digital bag tags.

Frequent Flyer Program – Loyalty Program

To loyalize your customers is the most important thing for any brand. British Airways,

too does this by providing excellent inflight service and offering its loyalty program. BA

associates its loyalty program with the line - More privileges. More recognition.

The loyalty program has four tiers – Blue, Bronze Ruby, Silver Sapphire and Gold

Emerald in increasing order. Each tier has its added benefits. These benefits include

extra baggage allowance, access to lounges, priority boarding, priority check-in,etc.

Integration with mobile app

The British Airways mobile email campaign promoting the airline’s mobile application

garnered a 50 percent open rate and 70,000 click-throughs, which resulted in

approximately 250,000 downloads of the app.

BA wanted to promote its Executive Club mobile application to its loyalty club. The new

application allows club members to manage their account and reservations, check-in,

and access real-time flight information via their mobile device, with versions developed

for BlackBerry, iPhone and Android devices.

Advertising campaigns by British Airways

“Magic of Flying”

#lookup

The campaign helped British Airways highlight the breadth of its destinations. Digital

billboards in key London locations featured creative that encouraged passers by to look

up and spot the aircraft flying overhead. A message on the board pointed out the flight's

city of origination. The message they wanted to send acroos was : ‘They really do know

when it’s a British Airways plane and that really is its actual flight number and the

destination it's arriving from’.

The charming execution, which featured adorable children on the digital boards pointing

at overhead planes, masked a technologically complex backend. It involved mounting

an antennae on the roof of a building near each board. The antennae picked up data

from the transponders of British Airways aircrafts within 200 kilometers and fed that

information into to an application that identified the flights. The application then sent the

information to a server that served the messages about the plane's destination or

origination. A "trigger zone" acted as a trip wire to determine when a plane should

instigate a message and cloud altitude data determined if the plane could actually be

seen.

“Visit Mum”

#visitmum

British Airways created this campaign for Indians living abroad. The motive was

reconnect with your mom and this gap will be bridged by British Airways - Home is

where your mum is, go for a visit.

The ad…..

The story of an Indian mom sharing how she cooked for her son when he was a kid,

before he left for the US at the age of seventeen is heartwarming. To see her cook his

favourite dish to be sent on a BA flight to the US simply swelled up emotions. And

finally, seeing the surprise on her face when her son appears is magical.

Success…

The campaign garnered over 75,000 views on YouTube in the first couple of days after

being posted. And the immediate reaction from Indians around the world on Twitter and

Facebook seemed to indicate that the message got home.

On Facebook

On twitter

Thanks @British_Airways, You’ve made me all teary eyed! Amazing advertising & yes

I’d love to #VisitMum soon!

- Sundara Pandian (@n1ranjan)

Oye @British_Airways, your #VisitMum ad made my mom & dad swell up too. This has

to be one of your all time classic campaigns.

- Vishal Mehra (@vishal1mehra)

Don’t watch this ad if you’re wearing mascara or don’t have a box of

tissues. http://t.co/d54GmD6mJT #BAs brilliant copy of #VisitMum

A Yusuf (@aboutabeer)

The Welcome of Home

This ad campaign was targeted for expatriates away from home since a long time. BA

ran this campaign in Australia. In the video they showed how much two children, who

had migrated to Australia missed their grandparents. The tagline of the video was -

‘Australia has everything … except you’. The same campaign with a different video was

ran in India as well. A girl living in the US wants to connect with her grandmother.

“British Airways doesn’t just fly people, we connect them with the people that matter

most. We understand the value and importance of a warm welcome, it’s a wonderful

part of the Indian culture and we strive to give our customers a little taste of that warm

welcome of home from the moment they step on board.”, said Victoria Long, Americas

marketing manager, British Airways.

Parallel to the viral video, BA promoted the feeling of going back home. Quote from the

official campaign website:

The Welcome of Home is a powerful thing. Whether you live across the street or 10,000

miles away, it’s comforting to know that when you go home, you’ll be greeted with open

arms and a smile. At British Airways we know how important this is, which is why we

work hard to make sure you feel welcomed and at home, before you’ve even arrived.

Picture your Holiday

'Picture Your Holiday' is an innovative visual mood board which allows people to

imagine their perfect holiday and then lets British Airways find it for them. Visitors to the

site are presented with an animated concertina of hundreds of holiday ideas and

inspiration, such as photos of idyllic beaches, cityscapes, and sporting activities.

Users are then invited to drag and drop their favourite images to create a bespoke

mood board representing what their ideal holiday would contain. Based on this data, the

platform then generates suggested destinations and allows the user to share them with

friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and email.

This campaign on digital platform was promoted as the best way to plan your trip. A

special website was created which is still active. Users had to select 5 images from a

set of pictures and the site then suggested the places the user should visit.

Don’t Fly

Framestore worked with BBH to deliver an integrated Olympics campaign for BA,

comprising an iconic TV ad, a timely viral teaser and a customizable application that

creates personalized edits of the TV spot. Centering on a Boeing 777-200 being piloted

through the streets of London, the campaign followed the plane on a road trip from

Heathrow for the Olympic stadium, taking in the best of London’s sites on its way.

The campaign used the strapline, 'Don’t Fly. Support Team GB and Paralympics GB'.

BA increased its flight frequency to bring home ex-pat Brits for the Games. Outbound

passengers were offered booklets with details on athletes and a guide to the best

sporting bars abroad.

Print ads of British Airways

British Airways used print media to convey the message that travelling in British Airways

is one of the most comfortable experiences. This commonality is seen in all their print

ads.

Inferences/Suggestions

1. British Airways has been successful in implementing commonality in the form

of inflight interiors in all its flight variants.

2. The ad campaigns although different for different geographies have same

message at the core.

3. Though British Airways constantly gathers attention through its ad campaigns,

but it doesn’t come up with discounts/promotions regularly in all the countries.

4. Appoint a brand ambassador in every country so that people can identify the

airline with the celebrity.

5. Internal employee strikes project a bad impression about the organization as

employees are the face of the organization.

6. Regular contests in different countries to increase visibility and customer

engagement, which currently is missing.

References:

www.adage.com

http://www.campaignbrief.com/asia/2013/07/british-airways-launches-pictu.html

www.afaqs.com

www.youtube.com

www.britishairways.com