The Saint

I'm intrigued at the thinking behind the new AA TV campaign airing on British TV.

For those who have not seen it, it shows a business class cabin with the most obnoxious tw@t, playing with his headphones and eyeshades with a loud running commentary. The man in the seat next to him raises his screen and puts on his noise-cancelling headphones.

The ad finishes with AA's ubiquitous strapline.

We know why you fly.

If there were any risk of my sitting next to this specimen, to this banal slogan I should be inclined to add "... with someone else".

What were those advertising people thinking? I cannot imagine that this likely to go down well with a British audience.

BA must be delighted.

G-BOAC

I think you missed the previous ad in the series which usually runs before it in the same ad break - that guy is 'Tony Soprano' (well, James Gandolfini! ) and they're part of a series of ads with him touting the JFK route specifically with a "Oooh, New Yorkers are, like, sooo demanding and, oooh, look, we, like, totally, keep them happy...so, like, you should fly us too coz, y'know, you're like all sophisticated Brits and are not, like, so demanding so you'll be amazed" implication.

knifeandfork

I think AA would be heartbroken to hear you refer to Gandolfini as "the man in the next seat" given the immense amount of $$$$ they'd have had to cough up to secure his services.

Gandolfini actually launched a lawsuit against his employers, HBO, to get more money for season 5 of the Sopranos.

The Saint

OK, you can tell I've never seen the Sopranos.

I'll watch out for the other ad in the series then, but G-BOAC's description still leaves me a little baffled at the thinking behind it.

Pocket Aces

Only saw the ad briefly. I could have sworn they said it was a First Class cabin but I could be wrong. Will have to watch it again.

The Saint

Even worse then.

G-BOAC

If it helps, the 'We know why you fly' is their over-arching ('Masterbrand' I believe it may be called) slogan...there is a whole series of ads in the States with tinkly-dinkly piano music and high-pitched voices in the background. Far be it from me to say 'Poor man's Flower Duet' or anything though

Someone who posts here (I forget who) has an excerpt from one such ad in his sig: Big Important Dad(TM) flies all over the world and calls his cute little daughter from every trip...end of the ad is daughter handing the Gate Agent her BP and the GA asking 'Where are you off to today?' and the little girl replying 'We have a business meeting in London' or something similar...cue piano-music-and-high-voices and 'AA, we know why you fly'.

Actually, I sound like I'm being rather harsh...they're not bad ads IMHO. I've seen worse!

BTW Yes, it's the FlAAgship suite (First) they feature.

krug

It is a pretty awful ad - I think it succeeds in alienating both regular AA flyers and potential flyers simultaneously.

Could only find this AAd on youtube.

MACH81

Someone's calling me?

The Saint

If that man is leaving messages for his dog, I'm beginning to think that the AA advertising people have lost all their marbles.

This fits the description of the Ad given by G-BOAC

Swanhunter

Same here. He was just some tubby guy with a US accent to me.

G-BOAC

Aaah, that's better. It was driving me nuts. Now, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure...

http://www.whyyoufly.com/whyyoufly.jsp

Go 'Do cool stuff' > 'See the ads'.

Prospero

Despite being a massive fan of the Sopranos, AA's current ad campaign doesn't do much for me.

In my view there is nothing that remotely comes close to BA's Saatchi & Saatchi campaign of the nineties. But here's a memorable AF example that I found deeply pleasing. So beautifully understated.

krug

He looks far too old to have a daughter that young...hardly appeals to the aspirational leisure or younger business traveller.....and rather than bringing them together, that ad says to me it is American Airlines which takes the father away from the family unit, obviously inflicting some trauma on the little dear left behind to conduct some sort of weird dehumanised raltionship with her dad fdown the telephone, whch he takes advantage of in a pedagogic manner to inflict a geography lesson on the little one.

So wrong on many levels.

G-BOAC

Nonsense, Mr krug! He is clearly a Very Important(TM) and Highly Successful(TM) Business Man, sorry, Person. He worked hard in his youth and rose quickly up the corporate ladder after demonstrating superior dedication and competence which allowed him to hold many positions of great power and authority. Alas, all was not perfect...to climb that high that fast, he made sacrifices in his relationships. Now, distinguished in his manly baldness (no doubt due to the past stresses of his high-powered jobs and pre-AA travel torture), he has achieved all he ever wanted in life and has a younger wife and lovely young daughter, despite his own advancing years. Of course, he still travels extensively and regularly as a captain of industry but that is no longer a problem, AA helps him maintain the perfect balance thanks to their impressive products and route network, always bringing him home to see his family and even letting him show his daughter the world in his 'downtime'. They know why he flies. We now know why he’s an inspiration to all young business upstarts.

You just need to use your imagination...on second thoughts, it is you so it's safer not to