Swiss International Airlines: INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER [video] [alternative]

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIR LINES
Agency: PLAN.NET, SERVICEPLAN
Category: Best Low Budget Campaign
Advertising campaign: INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER
Art Director: Matthijs Mejan (Plan.net)
Chief Creative Officer: Alexander Schill (Serviceplan)
Executive Creative Director: Axel Thomsen (Plan.net)
Art Director: Felix Steingrube (Plan.net)
Account Supervisor: Florian Nettesheim (Plan.net)
Creative Director: Christoph Noe (Plan.net)
Agency Producer: Florian Panier (Serviceplan)
Client Brief Or Objective
Switzerland’s national airline, SWISS, wanted to reach new target audiences in the social media arena. It wanted to promote both its extensive route network and the large number of intercontinental direct flights to Switzerland.For this campaign we identified Instagram as the most suitable platform. Here users from around the world share their photos of, for example, city breaks, holidays and events they have visited. With its 100m users, Instagram has grown to be one of the world’s largest photographic archives. We made use of this wide-ranging potential to run the first, genuine sales campaign on Instagram.
Execution
With our ‘Instagram Takeover’ we succeeded in launching a sales campaign on a platform that, until now, has never had any official, bookable advertising space.As the search actively originated from the user, we had practically no wastage. It was possible to make offers and booking opportunities available to interested users without the need for technical modifications. SWISS was therefore able to assert its claim to be the number one carrier for flights in and out of Switzerland in the social media arena too.
Outcome
By choosing the more popular hashtags many potential customers saw the SWISS offers. The promotion was received positively by users. The offers were ‘liked’ and shared on other networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The press and numerous weblogs also reported on the campaign. Without using a media budget we accessed new target audiences for our client, SWISS, as well as creating wider awareness of the brand. Although this was a sales campaign, through creativity and the unusual nature of the promotion, we succeeded in positioning SWISS within the social networks as an innovative and modern airline.The SWISS Instagram Takeover, which was online before and during the 83rd Geneva Motor Show, was made with a budget of €7860. This included Concept, Design and Copywriting. By using the Instagram App in an innovative way, this campaign was made without any media costs. Instagram users started to like the idea and shared it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and it was mentioned on numerous marketing and travel related websites and weblogs.
Implementation
One of the best-known events in Switzerland is the International Motor Show in Geneva. Users who showed interest in the Motor Show on Instagram were directed in their search to current flight offers from SWISS. For example, if a user searched for ‘#genevacarshow’ or ‘#genevamotorshow’, we hijacked the photostream. A SWISS aircraft appeared unexpectedly between the regular photos. At the same time, individual seats in the aircraft showed the different flights to Geneva. Of course every flight could be booked immediately without the user having to leave the Instagram app.