British Airways has launched its biggest brand advertising campaign in more than a decade, with adverts on peak-time TV, in newspapers and online.
BA chief executive Keith Williams said: “The campaign represents the opening of a new chapter.” The adverts will focus on BA’s heritage and emphasise the motto on BA crew uniforms: “To Fly, To Serve.”
Williams said: “The industry has been through difficult times in the last 10 years, through periods of severe disruption, record oil prices and the deepest recession since the 1930s. But BA has emerged and returned to profitability. The motto has real meaning and resonance. It sets us apart from the opposition.”
The opening 90-second advert, which features serving BA cabin crew and pilots, debuted on Facebook at 11am on September 21. It will show for the first time on TV tonight during the first commercial break in the Channel 4 programme Grand Designs at 9pm.
BA managing director of brands and customer experience Frank van der Post, who joined the airline eight months ago following a career in luxury hotels, said: “This campaign marks out territory that other airlines can’t claim.
“BA is a world-renowned airline. We do not need to reinvent ourselves, but it’s time to turn up the volume. ‘To fly, To serve’ is not a slogan. It is not the invention of an advertising copy writer. It is on the uniform of our crew. It’s what we do.”
Van der Post added: “The ad puts a stake in the ground. It will be shown many times and supported by print and online campaigns.”
There will be follow-up TV ads in a campaign that BA says will run alongside a five-year, £5 billion programme of investment in new aircraft, refurbished cabins and new customer products.
Williams declined to reveal how much the TV ad had cost, but said it was paid for out of BA’s £400-million-a-year marketing budget. “It was a small part of that, but it cost enough,” he said. Ten members of cabin crew and three pilots appear in the advert.