Social and Influencer > Social
GSD&M , Austin / SOUTHWEST AIRLINES / 2016
Overview
Credits
CampaignDescription
These days when people complain about something, they take to social media. And there are plenty of people complaining about airline fees online. So we thought to ourselves, “What if for one day we solved their problems and made sure that for at least one day #FeesDontFly?”
Execution
On December 15, we unleashed a surprise on an unsuspecting Twittersphere and responded to upset tweets that we found with custom responses and GIFs. We offered to give them their money back (in the form a VISA gift card) and also a free ticket to give us a try next time.
At the end of the day, we brightened the spirits of 26 disgruntled Twitter users by giving them their money back and a free ticket to give us and Transfarency a try next time, and showed the world that fees don’t fly with us.
Outcome
• Over 110 news outlets shared the story including consumer heavyweights like USA Today and key industry publications like Digiday and Campaign, just to name a few. (Based on a Cision report pulled for “Hidden #FeesDontFly Day”)
• The 24-hour activation garnered more than 137 million impressions across the social media and news landscapes. (Based on the Cision Report pulled for “Hidden #FeesDontFly Day” and excluding articles that only picked up the press release. Social media impressions were calculated based on the results for Southwest posts on their owned channels regarding this event.)
• We had a 100%-response rate with those handpicked frustrated travelers that we reached out to. Equally good to note is that 100% of the responses were also positive! (Based on report provided by Southwest Airlines)
Strategy
We scoured the internet looking for flyers who were currently getting screwed by hidden fees.
To hedge against Twitter users out-trolling us, we didn’t promote the “Hidden #FeesDontFly Day” in advance. We wanted to talk to real people in their real moment of anger and see if we couldn’t change their day for the better.
The logistics behind the day was to make the initial contact with a custom tweet and GIF, and then gather their information and instantly make amends for other airlines astronomical fees.
Synopsis
In the fall of 2015, Southwest Airlines launched Transfarency, a philosophy that stands out in the airline industry because it values customers over their wallets. It means Southwest treats people the way they’d want to be treated, with low fares and no hidden fees.
But it wasn’t enough to have this policy, we had to act on it. We had to stand up to the other airlines feeing people to death. We had to show people that flying doesn’t have to involve one fee after the other, that some fares are actually fair.
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