Battle of the Christmas Ads, Pt. II
TL;DWatch: Passengers getting on a WestJet flight were casually asked what they wanted for Christmas. By the time they land, they are surprised with the gifts they as for. People cry, children scream, everyone is happy.
This is an example of great PR and content marketing. Why?
1. It plays on the shareability of happiness
People really like sharing content that makes them happy – especially if it shoes that there is good in the world. It’s essentially the business model of websites like Upworthy, which in its third full month of operation had 2.5 million unique visits.
Anyone who watches and shares this video will now associate positive feelings with WestJet.
Titles like this are being associated with WestJet:
What Began Like A Normal Flight Gave 100 Unsuspecting People the Christmas Miracle of a Lifetime
(note: totally gutted for the guy who got pants and socks…)
What This Airline Did For It’s Passengers Will Make You Tear Up – So Heartwarming
On top of that, by simply watching the video and getting your friends to watch it too, you will be involved in giving a family in need a free flight to see their family! WestJet is contributing, you’re contributing…
Simply put, consumers humans are so tired of brands that just sell them things and exploit consumerism – we all want to see them as doing good for other people.
2. They’ve made it social
I wish I was on that flight – don’t you wish you were on that flight?! Well you could be on another flight, just share the video on Twitter with the hashtag #WestJetChristmas and you could win one.
And people are excited about the whole campaign:
WestJet created a piece of video content that was highly shareable and gave people an incentive to share it, essentially having viewers do all of the promotional work for them. That is a sign of great content marketing – getting everyone else to do the heavy lifting.
