Jordan D

If you think the TV ad is bad, wait until you come across the billboard version of the ad - where T5 seems to lose a few gates as BA's ad company photoshopped them off.

Unsurprisingly BA haven't got back to me when I pointed this out to them on Twitter ...

SpeedbirdLHR

The point of the iPads is not that staff are being given them, but the fact that BA is looking at how it can use technology to improve and the investment the company is making. Many on here have focused on one word in the ad yet failing to recognise that to innovate can also be about how you use what is available.

haznocrumbs

The advert seems slightly jumbled up - the shot of the 787 flying through the clouds, before cutting to a Jumbo taking off and an altimeter at 100ft and climbing....and then an A380 jumps in, then back to the 787.

I guess what they're trying to show with all the cut scenes to the designing of the cabin/seat and flight crew training is that they have thought about your needs before you even step on board; but to me it just comes across a bit...jumpy.

If you watch the video highlighting the introduction of their new cabins just before 2000 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt_dTFwNbRE), the word 'innovation' comes up again and again, just without any of the technical friff present in this new advert; the 'human' side being its main focus.

Whilst typing, I've re-watched the ad about 36 times....the lack of classical music in the background - (the Flower Duet, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, etc, and Dvorak's infamous Serenade for Strings during boarding) - takes away the reserved class of British Airways, turning it into just another corporation (that's just my 2�).

Another element I found somewhat disturbing was the frying brain which popped up just after he scanned his boarding pass....are they innovating anti-lounge theft cyborgs or something?

Littlegirl

As far as I can see, in this advert, the 787 is the aircraft that is pictured.
I can't see any shots of the 380 in the advert. BJB is a 787. The interior is a 787 and the shots through the clouds are of a 787.
The advert is following a customers journey and he is, in this advert, taking a flight on a 787.

KARFA

Sorry, not picking on you in particular, but a few people have made comments on the thread along the vein of "where is the flower duet music..". There are loads of similar posts on facebook as well. Isn't the point that BA is moving forward so some more modern cooler music is more appropriate for that kind of message than the flower duet? Surely the flower duet has served its purpose and BA want to move on from it?

dnajockey

It's a good ad for non-ft people.

exilencfc

I don't think it would be appropriate for BA's current advertising style. Which is a bit of a shame because people clearly do associate it strongly with BA and that recognition must have some value. Maybe BA need to start sponsoring some classical music radio stations.

PITBULL1K

Agreed! And a bit confused...How do either of the examples promote either good service or good use of innovation?


If its a local Indian, surely they should be focusing on getting to know their customers like the one down the road from me? All this suggests is they want as little interaction as possible, and somehow having an ipad means the food is going to taste so much better.


Neither do i have an ego that needs massaging every time I ask for a drink or a bread roll. Mind you, i have to admit, i do find I sleep far better when someone I'm hardly going to meet again knows my name. It makes it so much more personal and meaningful, hardly learning by rote at all when asking mr Pitbull if the bed can be made up yet.


i still smile at the memory of one BA flight, when one of the crew said to me 'why don't I be mother and get you a hot chocolate and make your bed whilst you get changed'. Others may prefer the more staid, robotic touch.


What's impressive, is returning to a hotel in Delhi with 320 rooms 5 years on and some of the staff still recognise you, remember your drink and the food you like. It's about proportion I guess and I'm not big headed enough to forget that my photo is somewhere in the back office along with details of all my stays.


But then, what do I know? Personally, I find Singapore personal touch a bit fake and too reliant on the seat. CX is great, nice seat but cannot remember if there is consistency with the seating - last time I flew them I only got the new ones on the way back.


Still. Lets not got reality in the way of our beating BA to death.


Clearly, irrespective of views, the ad is working. People are discussing it and making their views known. A good ad works on many levels. I find BA inconsistent but I still choose to fly them.

I dislike Virgin and I'm not keen on Emirates even though I only ever fly them in F. It's down to my own experience and taste but it doesn't mean I think BA is the best in the world.

As a campaign it will be looking to work on many levels, improving perception of customers and employees alike.

choosethedrew

The flower duet is part of BA's heritage, just like 'to fly, to serve', and it's a shame that it's not recognised as such as there's huge collateral in it. It might have perhaps helped elevate this advert from anodyne, corporate slickness to give an emotional connection.

I get the impression BA is still a little paranoid in being seen as old fashioned and backwards-looking and I'd love them to develop the confidence to reference the best bits of their rich past in their vision for the future.

haznocrumbs

I stand corrected: thought the tail shot was of the whale - I clearly need to get back on a longhaul aircraft soon! If nothing else it's made me watch it again and I have warmed to it as an advert.

I see your point! I think what confuses me is BA's whole 'heritage' drive, of which the flower duet is surely a part (then again, the music was different for the 'aviators' ad). BA is an old company, and the flower duet is not only an old piece but and old part of BA's identity, so I think if they had put a new slant on it it would have built more on this idea of updating, innovating and modernising something which already exists.

colmc

When I saw it the other day, my first thought was that it was an evolved version of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_i3iX6ozvI

dpscrest

I would imagine that this TV ad was paid for by Boeing as some form of compensation.

BA or bust

Not sure why I have missed this one over the years... but it is very British isn't it!

xenole

Even worse!

Reminded me of something out of Moonraker combined with what Virgin are doing now rather than BA.

Poxball

Like using the space that is available between door 1 and door 2 to put in an industry leading J cabin for instance? How to use what's available as you mention!