The New BA Advert: To Fly. To Serve
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The New BA Advert: To Fly. To Serve
Really impressed by this:
I think it’s beautifully shot, a respectful nod to the past while embracing the future, a clear focus on BA’s much maligned staff and a clear “line in the sand” from which to build the future.
It would be good to see more of the contemporary BA, and the actual services offered (such as the inside of the aircraft, lounges), and more on BA’s global footprint, which is a real selling point.
But it’s a good start, and compared to the p*sspoor “Sydney” ad and the OrangeTastic CloudyDolphin Low Cost campaign, I think BA have finally found a media partner which “gets” the brand.
Let's hope they build on this.
I think it’s beautifully shot, a respectful nod to the past while embracing the future, a clear focus on BA’s much maligned staff and a clear “line in the sand” from which to build the future.
It would be good to see more of the contemporary BA, and the actual services offered (such as the inside of the aircraft, lounges), and more on BA’s global footprint, which is a real selling point.
But it’s a good start, and compared to the p*sspoor “Sydney” ad and the OrangeTastic CloudyDolphin Low Cost campaign, I think BA have finally found a media partner which “gets” the brand.
Let's hope they build on this.
Paxing All Over The World
Mostly lovely pictures but a truly TERRIBLE script and OILY, unctous voice which, to me, is utterly meretricious. My first thought was that it was all a spoof. By half way through, I was still waiting for the punch line.
If the script had been plain speaking - not that awful heavy handed Public Relations tosh - then I might have liked it. But the voice would also have to have been plain speaking. Just honest 'British' and straight forward, that's what pax associate with BA. The kind of oil that was ladled onto this is the way the Americans make their airline TV adverts.
But the public relations people can't resist trying to make it 'dream like' and 'aspirational'. They had all the genuine components of their history there and threw them away. There was nothing innovative about this, just the usual self satisfied corporate splurge. It reeked of fat cats and board rooms, not the staff who actually deliver the service. If I worked for BA, or was a shareholder, I'd be well cheesed off at the waste of money.
It's also a terrible waste of an opportunity. When you think about the magnificent winking island advert? This will win no awards at all. it's just complacent dwang (as we say in South Africa!).
I would insist that it is a pi$$ take but it's too horrible for that. You know the big men sitting around the big table in their big chairs have smiled on this fictional image of their company and believe it to be so.
The single most amusing thing is the abscence of Airbus machines! They over play Concorde and the 744 is still shown centre stage. Now that is reasonable, given that they are one of the world's largest operators of the type, but having shown so many other types?
They show BEA (perhaps because the merger was govt forced) but none of the other airlines they bought up and the good names they used.
The computer work on the scenery is good, although heavy handed. For example, in the VC10 sequence, they over egg it by pasting too many of them into the shot, I would say. I'm glad that the Shuttleworth Collection appear to have made money out of this. No one comes out of this well, in my not humble opinion.
If the script had been plain speaking - not that awful heavy handed Public Relations tosh - then I might have liked it. But the voice would also have to have been plain speaking. Just honest 'British' and straight forward, that's what pax associate with BA. The kind of oil that was ladled onto this is the way the Americans make their airline TV adverts.
But the public relations people can't resist trying to make it 'dream like' and 'aspirational'. They had all the genuine components of their history there and threw them away. There was nothing innovative about this, just the usual self satisfied corporate splurge. It reeked of fat cats and board rooms, not the staff who actually deliver the service. If I worked for BA, or was a shareholder, I'd be well cheesed off at the waste of money.
It's also a terrible waste of an opportunity. When you think about the magnificent winking island advert? This will win no awards at all. it's just complacent dwang (as we say in South Africa!).
I would insist that it is a pi$$ take but it's too horrible for that. You know the big men sitting around the big table in their big chairs have smiled on this fictional image of their company and believe it to be so.
The single most amusing thing is the abscence of Airbus machines! They over play Concorde and the 744 is still shown centre stage. Now that is reasonable, given that they are one of the world's largest operators of the type, but having shown so many other types?
They show BEA (perhaps because the merger was govt forced) but none of the other airlines they bought up and the good names they used.
The computer work on the scenery is good, although heavy handed. For example, in the VC10 sequence, they over egg it by pasting too many of them into the shot, I would say. I'm glad that the Shuttleworth Collection appear to have made money out of this. No one comes out of this well, in my not humble opinion.
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I've always been impressed by how much you can achieve simply by having a near national monopoly and several billions of taxpayers money in days gone by...
Opps! Sorry... Did I say that out loud?
Opps! Sorry... Did I say that out loud?
That will take one of the prizes for being one of the WORST adverts in advertising history.
As ever with Aviation, it is obsessed by the bl**dy planes and the pilots.
Not a mention of Customers, who pay for it all. Not a care about service, about quality, and not even a nod to listenning to what customers want.
Terrible. Awful. Complete waste of money.
As ever with Aviation, it is obsessed by the bl**dy planes and the pilots.
Not a mention of Customers, who pay for it all. Not a care about service, about quality, and not even a nod to listenning to what customers want.
Terrible. Awful. Complete waste of money.
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While the advert may be grating on British sensibilities, as an American, I think it does quite well. There is a limit on how much factual information the typical punter can absorb over a minute, so the goal is to leave him/her with a feeling that s/he will remember every time s/he thinks of the airline. Here, the intended feeling is that BA has been trusted and reliable for the last century -- and isn't that what you are looking for when you choose to fly?
I can see the punchline "to fly, to serve" as being the basis for a huge amount of follow-up advertising over the coming years. It could become as iconic as "Singapore Girl" or United's (Gershwin's, actually) Rhapsody in Blue as being the public's symbol for the airline. I guess we'll see ...
I can see the punchline "to fly, to serve" as being the basis for a huge amount of follow-up advertising over the coming years. It could become as iconic as "Singapore Girl" or United's (Gershwin's, actually) Rhapsody in Blue as being the public's symbol for the airline. I guess we'll see ...
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Ancient Observer
....Not a care about service......
....Not a care about service......
I thought it was a clear attempt to rekindle the history of the company, the one everybody used to consider their favourite.
As a piece of corporate media it seemed great. Not sure it did the clearest job of presenting some selling points but overall I really enjoyed it.
People always refer to the old Flower Duet adverts, particularly the 82 one; as great as they were they are a bit old hat to be honest.
Last edited by Matt101; 23rd Sep 2011 at 09:37.
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Got to say that this has to be one of the best BA adverts there's been (except for one's that had Concorde in all to themselves!)
The irony though of promoting BA in the voice-overs, and using Concorde though, is slap bang in your face though!
The irony though of promoting BA in the voice-overs, and using Concorde though, is slap bang in your face though!
Paxing All Over The World
Matt101
I disagree, to this day, some people refer to the Flower Duet as 'the British Airways music'. I have heard this at first hand more than once. Now, this might have been better for Delibes but he went out of business in 1891 and is also out of copyright. Thus fa, BA is still in business and some folks associate that music with them.
Not sure there is anything in this corporate belch that wll be remembered (however minimally) in 2040. (1992 ~ 2011 = 19. So + 19 = 2040)
People always refer to the old Flower Duet adverts ...
As a piece of corporate media it seemed great. Not sure it did the clearest job of presenting some selling points but overall I really enjoyed it.
As a piece of corporate media it seemed great. Not sure it did the clearest job of presenting some selling points but overall I really enjoyed it.
Not sure there is anything in this corporate belch that wll be remembered (however minimally) in 2040. (1992 ~ 2011 = 19. So + 19 = 2040)
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Sorry I should have sorted out my paragraphing better, when I talked of a a decent bit of coporate media with no real message I was referring to the latest advert.
I still think the flower duet ads were good but are outdated these days. The last advert I saw with the flower duet was for a chocolate biscuit.
I still think the flower duet ads were good but are outdated these days. The last advert I saw with the flower duet was for a chocolate biscuit.
Paxing All Over The World
Ah, I may have jumped the gun Matt101, as I soooo dislike the new trash, I was happy to pick up any cudgel that came to hand! Certainly the island and winking face were good then but, I would suggest, what they needed now was plain speaking. In the middle of the worst recession in decades, they needed to talk about value and service (funny old word that 
).
Yes, the history is good but probably only for those that remember part of it. For the 20 somethings, the history will be irrelevant. They may very well see this advert as a bunch of old fogies only suitable for carrying their grandparents.
BA (and other legacy carriers) face the same problem that the Whiskey business found itself in some 20 years ago. Their brand was associated with parents, grandparents and old mens clubs - a clientele that was dying. So they had to remarket the brand. In the UK the newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Times had the same problem and reinvented themselves. Thus far, BA has not. I agree that there IS a case to be made for promoting yourself as your history and solid approach - but you still have to sell something new - and this does not.
The advert might be nice for memory lane but what is new?
).Yes, the history is good but probably only for those that remember part of it. For the 20 somethings, the history will be irrelevant. They may very well see this advert as a bunch of old fogies only suitable for carrying their grandparents.
BA (and other legacy carriers) face the same problem that the Whiskey business found itself in some 20 years ago. Their brand was associated with parents, grandparents and old mens clubs - a clientele that was dying. So they had to remarket the brand. In the UK the newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Times had the same problem and reinvented themselves. Thus far, BA has not. I agree that there IS a case to be made for promoting yourself as your history and solid approach - but you still have to sell something new - and this does not.
The advert might be nice for memory lane but what is new?
I've shown it to a range of non-aviation types (but regular travellers) in the office. They're all struck by it.
"Ah, there's Concorde .....".
"That was the old VC10 we met my grandfather from once, on .... BAOC".
To me the ad exemplifies a long history of development in what is the most technically challenging area the public are ever likely to personally experience. Makes you think as you contemplate your next trip what is the background and history (or lack of it) of Virgin or Emirates.
Ah, but they show how the DH9 started it all off in 1919. And then move on to the Rapide. Both De Havilland. Now remind me just whose design team and factory at Broughton got turned over to producing the wings for every Airbus ever built. Yes, De Hav........
"Ah, there's Concorde .....".
"That was the old VC10 we met my grandfather from once, on .... BAOC".
To me the ad exemplifies a long history of development in what is the most technically challenging area the public are ever likely to personally experience. Makes you think as you contemplate your next trip what is the background and history (or lack of it) of Virgin or Emirates.
Ah, but they show how the DH9 started it all off in 1919. And then move on to the Rapide. Both De Havilland. Now remind me just whose design team and factory at Broughton got turned over to producing the wings for every Airbus ever built. Yes, De Hav........
Paxing All Over The World
Nice point WHBM!! I've just been amusing myself on a quiet day with reading up the subject on two other forums. One that is mainly from folks who work on board (but not up the front) love it and it makes them terribly proud to work for BA. So it's nice that they like it.
Skimming thorugh the other forum, based more around people like us but to which I am not signed up, has a similar range of views but more in favour than against.
Whilst it is certainly a corporate branding advert, as opposed to a particular route or cabin, I still think that it is TOO retrospective.
Skimming thorugh the other forum, based more around people like us but to which I am not signed up, has a similar range of views but more in favour than against.
Whilst it is certainly a corporate branding advert, as opposed to a particular route or cabin, I still think that it is TOO retrospective.
I only managed the first 40 seconds. Looked to me like one of the intrepid early shareholders was about to fly into Cb. There will be words about that higher up the board. Doesn't anybody think use of the words 'to serve' won't invariably be met with 'mine's a g&t' ?
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Well I have to say it made me laugh. All those models flying around. Would it make me want to fly BA? No, definitely not for the very simple reason they don't serve. They are almost at the bottom of the heap along with the US carriers for service and comfort levels in economy. Interesting that they have two sentences in their new ad. One is not necessarily connected to the other. But, they do fly, and safely too.