The Situation:

The travel industry is under pressure. After years of losses, airlines are suddenly dealing with a massive surge in demand, amongst staffing challenges at every turn. As the country’s largest airline, Air Canada takes much of the criticism. But during the holidays, their role is more emotionally charged. As the ones flying families and loved ones to celebrate together, Air Canada has more opportunity to build goodwill with Canadians.

The Brief:

Remind Canadians of the magical power of air travel to bring us together.

Objectives:

Create an emotionally impactful spot to connect with Canadians, particularly Air Canada non-customers, and get them to feel good about a brand they love to hate. Specifically:

Above norm tracking of emotional responses (Warm, Stirred my emotions)

-Increase Consideration

-Increase Closeness scores

-Cement our position as an iconic Canadian brand

-Positive uplift in a key customer care metric: Air Canada brings people together.

"Once Upon a Tree" is the story of two button-cute nutcracker bears who, after a year of being tucked away together, find themselves on separate sides of the tree. Distraught at the thought of spending the holidays apart, a series of heroic efforts to reconnect include zip-lining along a string of lights and collapsing a gingerbread house. With a little help from Air Canada, in a dramatic and final leap of faith, the tiny wooden bears reunite with a heartwarming embrace.

A great Air Canada holiday story has become something people expect from the brand, so the bar gets raised every year; and we’re proud to say this spot has exceeded expectations on every level. It’s funny, pulls at the heartstrings, and truly speaks to the magic of connection during the holiday season. The organic reaction on social media changed the conversation about Air Canada from complaints of delayed flights to admissions of getting tears in their eyes.

Overall tracking from Ipsos showed:

• +39% above norm scores for “Warm”

• +36% above norm scores for “Stirred my emotions”

Tracking from non-users who had seen “Once Upon a Tree” was particularly strong:

• +69% increase in consideration

• +18% increase in “Closeness” scores

•.10% increase in “Performance” scores

• +20.1% increase of “Air Canada is iconic Canadian brand”

• +30% increase of “Air Canada brings people together.”