WestJet has launched a new campaign to highlight how they don't treat passengers like cattle and how this sets them apart from other airlines. The campaign features images of cattle dealing with delayed flights and frustratingly navigating an airport, all whilst rival airline staff ignore them.
What are the details?
Before we dive into the story behind the campaign, we suggest you watch the rather entertaining ad video first:
For those at work or no access to the video, it features a herd of bovine animals moving throughout the terminal and constantly encountering frustrating situations with WestJet's rival airline staff. They include being bumped from a flight, waiting for lost baggage, denied boarding and having their flights delayed or cancelled.
The advert ends with human passengers choosing WestJet to smiles and sunshine, before closing with the following statements:
- No overbookings
- Canada's most on-time airline
- The highest-ranked Canadian airline on Tripadvisor
The advert highlighting the heavy-handed message that WestJet does not see their passengers like cattle.
"We want the traveling public to know that as we become a global network carrier, we will never lose sight of the caring WestJet touch," said Richard Bartrem, WestJet Vice-President Marketing Communications in the WestJet press release. "Travel can be unpredictable and this campaign represents how we will always try to put ourselves in our guests shoes by delivering the caring guest experience that has made WestJet stand out from the herd."
The campaign will launch nationwide on the 21st of October.
"We wanted to playfully show how travel can feel when other airlines don't treat people with the same attention and care that WestJet does," said Christina Yu, managing partner at Rethink who came up with the campaign and spoke in the same press release "We have experienced first-hand what sets WestJet apart from the competition and we love how this campaign challenges the norms in the industry."
How did they make the video?
You can check out a video of the behind the scenes here:
And for those who didn't catch it, in the small text, the advert says that no animals were harmed in the making of this video. And by watching the behind the scenes you can see that WestJet spared no expense to ensure that their bovine actors were not upset in any way, including flooring for them to walk on in the terminal, filming them in two or more pairs to ensure they had a friend around, plenty of food to munch on and black barriers to hide the rest of the crew during filming.
We would think it pretty hypocritical of the airline if they claimed to treat their passengers better than cattle, then if they had an incident on set with an actual cow.
It's a great advert idea and with the news that WestJet is slowly starting to expand and offer more long-distance international routes, this type of welcoming attitude towards their main customer base is very appreciated.
What do you think of the new campaign? Let us know in the comments.