Skift Take
JetBlue is the middle of a brand upgrade with new uniforms and its first business class preparing to debut next year. With no plans of pursuing a merger, the carrier is free to create coy comparison that differentiate the brand from its complained-about peers.
JetBlue is launching a large multimedia ad campaign that artfully digs at competitors while highlighting its own free unlimited snacks, free in-flight entertainment, and more legroom.
The campaign sympathizes with today’s flyers by comparing them to pigeons in this documentary-style video. The pigeon’s complaints of cramped space, meager meals, and rude people echo those of many flyers today. Ad agency Mullen led the campaign creation.
The campaign will launch in Boston where JetBlue has the most daily nonstop flights of any carrier and in New York where the carrier is based. The extensive package will include TV commercials during prime-time season premieres, digital ads on Boston.com, Hulu, and CBS Interactive, and branded trains and bus stops.
The campaign also includes a playful mobile initiative in which customers can “speak pigeon” using voice activation on their smartphones. Customers can also send Facebook messages through a carrier pigeon on the branded social site, Central Perch.
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Tags: jetblue airways, marketing
Photo credit: A screen grab of JetBlue's new ad. JetBlue / YouTube