AA: Be Nice / Great Flyer advertising campaign 2016
Aug 30, 2016, 10:52 am
#1
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AA: Be Nice
Today's NYT contained an AA advertising insert encouraging pax to be nice to one another. Reviewed in the advertising column: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/bu...=business&_r=0
I get an email from AA:
"We believe there’s a great flyer in all of us.
The travelers who know the best way to rack up miles without setting foot on the plane. We call them the World’s Greatest Flyers, and American Airlines AAdvantage® members are just that.
As a great flyer, you know the importance of flying kind. That’s why we’re asking you to share a travel tip to help make flying just a little greater for everyone else. "
And Consumer Reports arrives with the cover article:
"Secrets to Stress-Free Flying"
The AA email seems to suggest that not flying is the answer.
I get an email from AA:
"We believe there’s a great flyer in all of us.
The travelers who know the best way to rack up miles without setting foot on the plane. We call them the World’s Greatest Flyers, and American Airlines AAdvantage® members are just that.
As a great flyer, you know the importance of flying kind. That’s why we’re asking you to share a travel tip to help make flying just a little greater for everyone else. "
And Consumer Reports arrives with the cover article:
"Secrets to Stress-Free Flying"
The AA email seems to suggest that not flying is the answer.
Aug 30, 2016, 1:03 pm
#2
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Aug 30, 2016, 2:47 pm
#3
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No, AA, why don't you tell your surly FAs to be nice to me.
You, AA, are a big reason air travel is such a thoroughly miserable experience these days.
Take your sanctimonious advertising campaign and shove it, AA. And bring me my damn PDB while you're at it.
I've certainly found that not flying AA tends to make my flying just a little greater!
Here's a travel tip that this "Great Flyer" is willing to share:
Want first? Buy first - on Delta!
There you go, AA. Now aren't you glad you paid your ad agency so much for this brilliant campaign?
While we're at it... Do you still know why I fly (your competitors)?
You, AA, are a big reason air travel is such a thoroughly miserable experience these days.
Take your sanctimonious advertising campaign and shove it, AA. And bring me my damn PDB while you're at it.
I've certainly found that not flying AA tends to make my flying just a little greater!
Here's a travel tip that this "Great Flyer" is willing to share:
Want first? Buy first - on Delta!
There you go, AA. Now aren't you glad you paid your ad agency so much for this brilliant campaign?
While we're at it... Do you still know why I fly (your competitors)?
Last edited by JDiver; Aug 30, 2016 at 3:47 pm Reason: Merge
Aug 30, 2016, 2:49 pm
#4
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You are clearly the target market of the campaign.
Aug 30, 2016, 3:27 pm
#5
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Hah! I tried that back in April. For several months through OLCI we were in First in the same seats. At the airport we were bumped down to coach. The agents were very apologetic and did manage to put us in the front of coach+. It wasn't too bad back there and we did get F on the return. I am using the compensation voucher to give them a second chance but I had not flown any of the airlines that are now Delta for 25 years and they did not try very hard to win me back.
Aug 30, 2016, 3:49 pm
#6
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Jezebel posted this under the delightful title "American Airlines Thinks Maybe You Should Turn That Frown Upside Down." The best response, indeed one of the funniest responses I have ever read anywhere on the internet, is a parade of GIFs.
PS, maybe NSFW for many of you? You've been warned.
PPS, even the MTA's 'Courtesy Is Contagious' campaign is better than this drivel.
PS, maybe NSFW for many of you? You've been warned.
PPS, even the MTA's 'Courtesy Is Contagious' campaign is better than this drivel.
Last edited by turnleftbrighteyes; Aug 30, 2016 at 3:59 pm Reason: Whoops! Too many tabs opened and responded in wrong thread.
Aug 30, 2016, 4:02 pm
#8
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I don't understand it. AMR spent big on rebranding the company with a refined and sophisticated brand. And now they're pairing it with this overly cheeky stuff?
American is America's de-defacto flagship carrier. There is something called being beneath yourself! They need to have confidence without attitude. Grace and sophistication without arrogance. That's everything UAL's mid-00s award winning "it's time to fly" campaign had. The Fallon Worldwide spots were signed off by Robert Redford's voice. It positioned and illustrated (quite literally) United as a truly world-class premium carrier (even if the reality was different). Yeah, it may not appeal to milliniels 10 years later, but there has to be a middle ground. Just looking at AA's logo and livery, I see a premium entity. It would be nice if it was reflected into their branding activities.
American is America's de-defacto flagship carrier. There is something called being beneath yourself! They need to have confidence without attitude. Grace and sophistication without arrogance. That's everything UAL's mid-00s award winning "it's time to fly" campaign had. The Fallon Worldwide spots were signed off by Robert Redford's voice. It positioned and illustrated (quite literally) United as a truly world-class premium carrier (even if the reality was different). Yeah, it may not appeal to milliniels 10 years later, but there has to be a middle ground. Just looking at AA's logo and livery, I see a premium entity. It would be nice if it was reflected into their branding activities.
Aug 30, 2016, 4:07 pm
#9
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An airline telling me to be nice? That's rich. 
They are the ones who created this awful, adversarial relationship to begin with. They are the ones who treat us in a way I could and would never treat my own clients. (Granted, I'm not an oligarch with an army of lobbyists...)
They are the ones who created this awful, adversarial relationship to begin with. They are the ones who treat us in a way I could and would never treat my own clients. (Granted, I'm not an oligarch with an army of lobbyists...)
Aug 30, 2016, 4:34 pm
#13
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How would this have anything to do with Kirby? An ad campaign is not exactly an expression of boardroom politics...
Also, this whole campaign is INCREDIBLY bad. Honestly, Going for Great was a great campaign. It basically said "we're not perfect right now, but we are actively becoming the best." This says "take Amtrak" to me...
Also, this whole campaign is INCREDIBLY bad. Honestly, Going for Great was a great campaign. It basically said "we're not perfect right now, but we are actively becoming the best." This says "take Amtrak" to me...
Aug 30, 2016, 5:13 pm
#14
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It is just such a bad ad campaign - besides being strange it also comes across as pedantic. AA's flyers are no better than any other airlines in the US. Hope they didn't waste too much $$ on this as I doubt it will last.
Last edited by morrisunc; Aug 30, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Aug 30, 2016, 5:49 pm
#15
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