Our mission: Grow BA’s North American business by 10%.

A tough challenge in any market condition.

But when BA looked to the route responsible for two-thirds of their revenue, the task looked tougher. Because that route, North America to London, promised very small (if any) growth. To add to the challenge, the specter of the Delta/Virgin merger guaranteed competition for that crumb would be a costly battle. They needed to think beyond existing routes and normal marketing tactics.

Working with British Airways we examined hundreds of routes, until data analysts discovered a hidden business opportunity: Indian ex-pats living in North America. Strong family ties compel this group to fly home at least once a year – creating a route worth billions, yet BA had only 7% of it and its share was shrinking.

Ethnographers noticed another opportunity: every airline wrestled over which was more “Indian." Everyone had the same argument: "We have the more culturally sensitive experience.” But our research showed the audience was unmoved by these points.

We knew British Airways could never be as authentically “Indian” as the Eastern airlines, so we decided to let the rest of the industry fight over cultural authenticity.

We decided to honor the real reason people take the journey. To showcase the human cost of the miles that separate families and remind people what they are missing if they don’t make the effort.

The simple but powerful idea? No one says “no” to their Mum.

To launch the campaign we created a moving video: a story of a Mum in Mumbai whipping up a surprise meal for her son in New York intended to lure him home for a visit. This story had a surprise ending which showed the power of coming home in a way no script could.

We followed the video’s release with a social contest and content housed on ba.com which served to increase sharing, further connect the Indian ex-pat community to each other, and of course, increase direct bookings.

We created a platform for Indian Mums to share their recipes, stories and pictures – which resulted in these Mums being the best sales agents we’ve ever had.

Ultimately, this platform, fueled mostly through earned media and social sharing, tripled BA’s sales target while stealing share from every major competing airline.