Air Canada Marketing Campaign

Zixuan Liang

This is my content marketing campaign idea for Air Canada

I would start a marketing campaign for Air Canada on Twitter and Instagram by using the hashtag #ImSoCanadian. It is a campaign where encourage people to share photos or their past experience that reflect Canadian culture or Canadian spirit.

(Google, 2016)

My target audience would be all Canadian citizens that use social media. The reason why I chose Twitter and Instagram is because it would be easy for people to post photos and sentences, and people can also click into the hashtag #ImSoCanadian to see what other people are posting about this campaign. People that want to join this contest will first need to follow our official Air Canada Twitter or Instagram account and like the post we posted for this contest.

This campaign would be launched in Christmas because this is the time where friends and family get together and share all the things happen to them this year, and there might be one or two interesting moments for each person to share with other people. The prize for Instagram is a free trip to Cuba for two people and the prize for Twitter followers would be a free $1225 Air Canada gift card. The winner for Instagram would be the one with most likes and the Twitter winner would be the one with most retweet.

Because it is Christmas time which mean it would be cold in Canada, so by offering a trip to Cuba would definitely encourage people to join this contest and the $1225 gift card represents the date of Christmas which is December 25^th. 

Air Canada vs. Delta Airlines on Twitter

Zixuan Liang

How often does each brand post?

Air Canada is highly active on Twitter and posts most of its content on weekdays. On a daily basis, the company can tweet 3 – 5 times. Since February 9, 2017, the company has increased its content on Twitter due to its 80^th anniversary. Delta Airlines has a higher activity on Twitter than Air Canada. The company is active both on weekdays and weekends. Besides, the company can post up to 6 tweets each day.

What content does each brand post?

Air Canada posts much content on Twitter in the form of pictures and videos. The information posted focuses mainly on the services provided by the company. For example, new services, travel routes and latest activities ("Air Canada (@AirCanada) | Twitter," 2017).

Delta Airlines posts its latest activities using pictures and videos. For example, the most recent post shows how the company supports Kelsea Ballerin for the GRAMMY Awards ("Delta (@Delta) | Twitter", 2017). Then, some of the content shows the best travel destinations for the airline.

Does each brand use 50/50 rule?

Air Canada does not apply 50/50 rule. Most of the content posted describes the company and services provided.

Delta Airlines uses the 50/50 rule. Half of the content posted describes the airline and its operations. The remaining posts focus on other issues such as nature, celebrities, and the general society.

Keywords used by either brand

Keywords employed by Air Canada are “diversity”, “fly the flag” and “landscape”. Delta Airline uses “proud”, “support” and “system” as keywords in the posts.

Which are the most successful recent posts?

Air Canada posted s successful video on February 9, 2017. The two-minute video shows the company celebrating its 80^th anniversary where it honors diversity and heritage. The video has 204 tweets and 341 likes.

Delta Airlines posted a successful video on February 8, 2017. The video demonstrates Delta’s support for Lucas Graham, a first-time GRAMMY Awards nominee. The video has 171 tweets and 735 likes. 

Why are these posts successful?

The post by Air Canada informs customers about the success the company has achieved for the past 80 years. Thus, it is marketing and promotion strategy the company uses to attract many customers. According to Grégoire et al. (2015), posts on social media such as Twitter provides customers with adequate information on the company’s operations, hence attracting many of them.

Delta Airlines uses the video to promote its brand. Increasing awareness of its brand makes it easy to attract customers from all parts of the world (Gunarathne et al., 2015). According to Wan and Gao (2015), Delta Airlines engages its consumers through Twitter to promote its brand.

Air Canada vs. Delta Airlines on Facebook

Zixuan Liang

How often does each brand post?

Air Canada actively uses Facebook to post most of its information. The company posts content on weekdays (Monday to Friday). Each day, the company makes 2 – 4 posts. However, on weekends, Air Canada is less actively because it does not give any updates on Facebook. For example, the company did not post any information on Saturday, February 11, 2017.

Delta Airlines is more active than Air Canada on Facebook. The company posts content both on weekdays and weekend. On a daily basis, the company makes 3 – 6 posts. However, the company has had fewer activities on Facebook from Tuesday, February 7, 2017 – Thursday, February 9, 2017. According to Minazzi (2014), Delta Airlines is among the companies in the tourism industry that market their services on social media.

Which content does each brand post?

Air Canada focuses mainly on advertising and promoting the airline (Hanke, 2016). 90% of its content consists of the nature of its services, newly identified destination and new changes in its aircraft or flight schedules. Ideally, the content markets the airline as the most secure ("Security Check Required", 2017). The company uses both pictures and videos in its posts.

Likewise, Delta Airline posts content that advertises the efficiency of its services. The content shows how the airline has enabled many young people to achieve their dreams. Some of the posts also show how crew members are highly ambitious to deliver quality and timely services to customers. The company uses mostly videos to market itself.

Does each brand use 50/50 rule?

Air Canada does not use 50/50 rule because most of the content focuses on its services and destinations.

Delta Airline applies the 50/50 rule by posting half of the content related to its business strategy and services. The remaining posts focus on nature and the society, for example, the airline describes how it has leads people to apply their dreams on time.

Keywords used by either brand

Air Canada uses keywords such as “diversity”, “fly the flag” and “livery”. Delta Airline uses terms such as “Delta” and “systems”.

Which are the most successful recent posts?

Air Canada made it most successful post on February 11, 2017. The video, which demonstrates achievements made by the airline on its 80^th anniversary, has more than 801,000 views and comments.

Delta Airlines made a successful post on February 9, 2017, when it posted a video showing its support for Lucas Graham, a first-time nominee for GRAMMY awards. The video attracted 1 million views, likes, and comments.

Why are these posts successful?

Air Canada gained success from its post because it attracted many customers who had an interest in learning its operations. On the other hand, Delta Airline succeeded in its post because the video promoted its brand worldwide. 

Etihad Fan Pages

Mandeep Singh

Below is the link to an official Etihad fan page. Here, Etihad fans post a huge variety of different content in relation to the Etihad Company through photos, sports, videos, news, posts, and reviews.

Twitter Fan Page: Etihad News

The Etihad News, Twitter fan page provides Etihad fans with the opportunity to share their feelings, news, posts, and important updates/information. It also allows them to express their love for the Airline Company.

Click the link to check it out: https://twitter.com/EtihadNews

Emirates vs Etihad on YouTube

Mandeep Singh

How often does each airline post a new video?

Emirates is not as active on YouTube when compared to their other social media channels; Facebook and Twitter.  The last video posted by Emirates on YouTube was one month ago which is a video of a warm welcome to the country Dubai. They welcomed with fireworks symbolizing greetings to the people in Dubai and wishing them a Happy 2017 New Year.  

Etihad in comparison to Emirates is much more active on YouTube. The last video posted by Etihad on YouTube was one week ago which is a video of spending 48 hours in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), they were advertising and promoting one of their most famous trips/flights.

What kind of video content does each airline post?

Emirates posts a variety of different content on YouTube, such as – their latest services in-flight, meals, Dubai, promotions on Fly Emirates, commercials, deals, holiday packages, inflight features, Wi-Fi services on board, Emirates E-gate guest login, safety and rules.

Etihad also posts variety of content including; commercials of deals and new flights/aircrafts, services provided to VVIP members of Etihad, games, meals, automatic guest login system and lounge food/services.

In the description area, what kind of content is included?

Inside of a usual Emirates YouTube video, the description would consist of a summary and some information on and about and of the video. It may also mention a few of its keywords and a link to its main website for addition information on the content being shared.

Inside of a usual Etihad YouTube video, the description box would include a summary and some information about the video. It may also use some of its keywords and provide a link to the Etihad website in order for its viewers to access more information or details on the topic being shared by the video.

Which are your two airlines most successful recent videos?

A recent Emirates video that became successful is a video titled “Jennifer Aniston TV commercial | A380 | Emirates Airline”.  The following video has a very famous Hollywood actress named Jennifer Aniston, who is flying the A380 with a little friend. The little boy takes her around the entire plane as all locations inside the plane are being advertised. For example; the lounge, technology, services, seating, and more. This video has 5,312,965 views, 17,032 likes and 1,942 comments. 

You can watch the video by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz_qZQbiZuA

A recent Etihad video that was successful is a video titled “Reimagine | Etihad A380 Virtual Reality experience featuring Nicole Kidman | 360 video”.  The video introduces an Etihad aircraft called the A380 with the help of a Hollywood Celebrity as well! Her name is Nicole Kidman. Very intelligently, they made the video 360 which allows its viewers to feel like they are actually inside the plane. They can scroll around look at anything inside of the plane. This video has 2,500,555 views, 1,252 likes and 289 comments.

 You can watch the video by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NxhilMIvzE

Why do you think these two videos were so successful? 

The Emirates video is successful because it is a video on how big a new aircraft is and how many features could it hold within it to not just keeping everyone in the flight satisfied but also keeping them happy, enjoyable and busy with a never ending entertainment on the longest trip also. Another reason it was very successful is that it is a TV commercial that was also shown on TV with a star (celebrity) hired for this TV commercial Jennifer.

The Etihad’s video is successful because it is a video on how anyone who didn’t ever travel on Etihad or even if they did travel on Etihad then how realistic could it feel to them and in what ways could they feel the experience of flight. 

Emirates vs Etihad on Facebook

Mandeep Singh

How often does each airline post?

Emirates is very active on Facebook, posting around twice a day.  Emirates posts much less over the weekends, they will normally post just once. Emirates post new information and on their Facebook page depending on how many people visit their page and view their posts. It has been noticed that posts a lot more during the holiday season. This is because Emirates sends out more knowledge, events, sales and promotions to their customers. Throughout holidays, Emirates also tries to post a lot more on the weekends. Recently, Emirates has not gone one day without making a daily post during a typical business/working week (i.e. Monday – Friday).

Etihad is strong at building great posts and also is very active on Facebook. Etihad on Facebook has more than 5 posts a day during a typical business/working week (i.e. Monday – Friday). Etihad has posts made every 4 – 5 hours within the weekdays. On the weekends, just like Emirates posts much less in comparison to the weekdays. They will also post once over the 2 day weekend.

What kind of content does each airline post?

Emirates posts a lot of important content on their Facebook page.  The content they post on their Facebook page includes – events, new technology, services, equipment on board, mobile apps, any improvements to inflight services, duty free guide, and more.  Almost all the posts have video clips or images attached.

Etihad posts almost the same type of content as Emirates does on their Facebook page. But, Etihad has included a bit more description to their postings. Whereas, Emirates posts a short and precise description. Etihad posts contents like promotions, laws/rules of being a member of Etihad and how to maintain membership, membership benefits, lounges, services, social work, and more.

Emirates –

                                                                                                                     

Etihad –

Does each airline use the 50/50 rule?

Emirates promotes services on their Facebook page, directing their viewers to better understand their postings.  Emirates also promotes new latest information about their upcoming events and about their current events. They also post content based on new services on board. They ask questions about their Dubai tours and visits which gives it fans the opportunity to share their feelings and experiences.

Etihad posts their promotions, their services, and specialties. They post a lot of special services for viewers to write back on what they feel about them and what they require more of.

Keyword sentences used by either airline –

Emirates uses several keyword sentences on their Facebook page. Keyword sentences include: “Emirates Skywards”, “Discover Dubai”, and “Fly”. 

Etihad uses several keyword sentences in their posts on Facebook including: “Abu Dhabi”, “Flight”, “Etihad”, and “Events”.

Which are the most successful recent posts? Why are the posts successful?

Emirates –

The most successful recent post of Emirates was on February 9^th, 2017 at 7 PM.  It has 20,016 likes, 2434 shares, 564K views and 460 comments.

This post is successful because Emirates fans were delighted to watch one their top aircraft models, which is the A380, land inside of Johannesburg, South Africa. Fans liked this post because Emirates used to fly a smaller aircraft model, called the A777 to this location. Fans were happy to see this change because it would been more space and luxury during their travelling experience.

Etihad –

The most successful recent post of Etihad was on February 3^rd, 2017.  It has 9,024 likes, 291 shares and 193 comments.

This post is was a successful post on the Etihad Facebook page out of all the other recent posts because it was advertising/promoting one of its huge aircraft models. As you can see the caption/description attached to the photo reads “Big is beautiful.” Etihad fans were amused and proud to see what type of aircraft they will get to experience. The photo really does look great!

Cathay Pacific Fan Pages

Harveen Ghumaan

Below are the links to unofficial Cathay Pacific fan pages and/or clubs. Here, fans post content through videos, photos, reviews, and blog posts regarding the Cathay Pacific Airline Company.

Facebook Fan Page: Cathay Pacific Fans Club

Cathay Pacific Fans Club is a Facebook fan page which provides Cathay Pacific fans to share their feelings, thoughts, and news related to the Airline Company.

Click the link to check it out: https://www.facebook.com/Cathay-Pacific-Fans-club-901489393313479/

Twitter Fan Page: Cathay Pacific Fans

Cathay Pacific Fans is a Twitter fan club which allows Cathay Pacific fans to share their experiences with the Airline Company and post any new or interesting news about it. It has 25 followers, and 14 tweets.

Click on the following link to check it out: https://twitter.com/yangjianhui1

Lufthansa Content Marketing Idea

Jayesh Gill

A contest would be held in which people will write about what they like best about Lufthansa using the hashtag #ilovelufthansa and share their experience along with a funny selfie of themselves. The contest would be open for everyone to participate but the participant will have to follow Lufthansa either on Twitter or Instagram.

 There will be 3 winners selected each day and the winners of the campaign would get 80% on any flight booking, which will be valid for up to one year. For the promotion of the contest Lufthansa airlines would inform it’s passengers through the media screens in their planes, on all their social media accounts and on the travel websites.

The duration of this contest would be for one week starting from July 1. This ad would be launched during the summer travel to increase the flow of audience since summer is the time of maximum volume of sales.

The audience for this campaign would include all those people who are active on social media. This promotion would be serving 2 purpose; first it would be used for acquiring new audience on their social media accounts (increasing the number of followers and likes on Twitter and Instagram) and to keep their existing users engaged.  This campaign will also make the company aware of the things people like about them the most.

This is a student- concept for a Sheridan Pilon School of Business Digital Marketing Course