The World Cup promo of the year may well be claimed by Norwegian Airlines. Its tactical social campaign cost little and gained the eyes of the world – including rival airlines and even ESPN UK. Here’s how it unfolded:
On July 8, Norwegian Air challenged British Airways on Instagram to a wager ahead of the England-Norway quarter-final in Miami. British Airways would adopt Norwegian Air’s Instagram logo for a day if Norway won the clash. And vice versa. British Airways answered, “Scared? Nor-way, mate”.
When England defeated Norway 2-1 on Saturday, June 11, to gain a place in the semi-finals, Norwegian Air honoured its promise by replacing its profile picture with the British Airways logo…and a new game began.
The airline showed admirable sportsmanship (and clever marketing) in a series of posts shared a post featuring the British Airways emblem and messages such as “It’s coming home” and “Well played, England & British Airways.”…
…and this merit-worthy message:
The airline then capitalised on the attention it was gaining, offering discounted fares for 48 hours on routes connecting Norway and the United Kingdom as part of the friendly rivalry between the two airlines.
Uncommon Creative Studio and British Airways also made use of the “game” they were playing in, releasing a tactical version of their Windows campaign in print and social campaign.
British Airlines also added a message: “Rivals for 90 minutes, friends forever. A little competition keeps things interesting, thanks for challenging us @flynorwegian! Well done to the England team on qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals! It’s coming home!”
Not wanting to be left out were Malaysian Airlines who added their comment, “Respect to @flynorwegian! Most airlines need six months and 14 approvals to change a logo,” BLR Airport, Kenya Airways and Virgin Australia…
…Even ESPN UK joined in:
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