Air New Zealand / FCB New Zealand / True
GRAND PRIX, INDUSTRY GOLD - TRAVEL & LEISURE // CHANNEL GOLD - MOBILE MARKETING CHANNEL SILVER - DIRECT RESPONSE (ANY MEDIA)
With Jetstar making it hard to win on price, Air New Zealand needs to generate brand love. To leverage national pride, Air New Zealand sponsored world class athletes and launched its first brand TVC in eight years, making a promise to the nation that they will be there to help Kiwis on their "journey today, tomorrow and in the future". This is supported by the partnerships they've made which demonstrate 'Where to Next' for their brand ambassadors.
1. PARTNERSHIP AWARENESS
In the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games, engaging content was created featuring Air New Zealand cabin crew and its ambassadors (Valerie Adams, Mahe Drysdale, Lisa Carrington, Sophie Pascoe, Eric Murray & Hamish Bond, Peter Burling & Blair Tuke) to showcase the relationship and provide deeper insight into the athletes’ lives. The 'Where to Next' website housed this content and was also seeded in social, paid digital and owned channels. This phase generated a cookie pool of 500,000 to retarget additional content through the campaign.
2. GENERATE LEADS THROUGH ENGAGEMENT
Six mobile games were launched, one for each athlete ambassador, wherein Kiwis were challenged to take on the Great Mates at their own game. The 141,539 people who played the games were retargeted with a domestic sale.
3. CONVERSION
Engaging the nation with a never-been-done-before Great Mates domestic sale, Air New Zealand mirrored their Great Mates’ achievements where their best time became the best deal, not only driving sales but leveraging the partnership with the prices.
This campaign delivered incredible results. It was the most engagement Air New Zealand has ever achieved with any competition microsite with almost 1 million game plays and over 200,000 entries.
The judges applauded the game's engagement, strong connection to sales, social metrics and evidence of results. They said it was a relentlessly on-brand programme that delivered a great return on investment, leveraged assets from across the business to deliver an effective cut-price competitive response, and did so without devaluing the brand.
Great Mates was deservedly the clear-cut winner in the judges’ eyes, rating it as the standard that every entry should strive for.