Our brief was to increase awareness of Delta’s commitment to DEI and usage of the Faces of Travel visual collection launch in the summer of 2022. Our target audience for the campaign were those who work in the travel industry (travel media, airlines, hotels, tour companies, etc.) responsible for developing travel-related visuals and communications. Hispanic, Black, and Asian communities and consumers were our secondary audience. We expanded the collection of visuals and added further diversity, spotlighting the untold stories of those the travel industry forgot to include over the years in our campaign “History Corrected.” The campaign featured powerful films for TV, OOH and social, including the first branded Tik Tok CapCut template to allow others to tell their travel stories. Our objective was to help Delta embody its DEI commitment and inspire the broader travel industry to follow suit.

Faces of Travel is a long-term commitment from Delta Air Lines to increase diverse representation within travel culture—from social media, to tourism ads, and everything in between. Originally launched in August of 2022 as a visual collection and integrated campaign, in July 2023 we expanded our collection of free-to-use visuals to include more diverse travelers, locations, and activities. We also developed a powerful new campaign to grow awareness of the initiative and increase usage of assets in our visual library, in partnership with Adobe Stock

The overall project was born out of hearing consumers express the need to see themselves in the travel industry and content creators expressing the lack of resources available to generate inclusive content.

Two in three Black Americans don’t feel properly represented in media (NRG 2020)

Two-thirds of LGBTQ+ Americans believe representation in media is “greatly lacking,” (Ipsos 2021)

89% of content creators show interest in diverse and inclusive stock collection (Adobe)

74% of content creators say finding stock assets that resonate with diverse audiences is a challenge (Adobe)

Through a process of discovery and quantitative research, we worked with Adobe Stock to discover what the gaps in travel stock photography were and how our collection could help to fill those holes. We also relied on qualitative information on our secondary audience for how they viewed travel marketing and how they wanted to see themselves.

The campaign and collection were both shot on location in Cape Town, SA to allow for a diverse cast and diversity in landscapes and vistas to support the collection. The timeline for both shoots happened over the course of 2 weeks once on location. The campaign History Corrected focused on acknowledging that these travels have always been out seeing the world and its beyond time that we see and acknowledge them. The media leveraged to support the campaign relied on Adobe Stock channels to reach their creators with the new stock photography and minority target platforms such as MyCode Black, LA Times De Los, Asian Media Group, Mitu, etc.

Faces of Travel Collection Results

The collection is performing exceptionally well, with significant upticks since April. As of 12/4/23, there were 32,000 customers (up from 2,983 in April ’23) who downloaded the visual assets 39,582 times (up from 5,457 in April ’23), with a Downloads Per Impressions (DPI) of 2.75 (up from 2.7 in April).

Overall findings by race, self-identified

- Hispanic/Latino - +6pp “makes a contribution in the community”

- Black/African American - “is a brand for me” +8pp and +5pp directional lift KPI “broadcasts inclusive advertising content”

- Asian - +7pp lift “recognizes and supports diverse communities

- White/Caucasian - +6pp lift “makes a contribution in the community” and +6pp in “recognizes and supports diverse communities”

Overall findings

+5pp Brand Love

+4pp “socially responsible brand”

+4pp “shares my values”

+2pp “recognizes and supports diverse communities”

+4pp “makes a contribution in the community”