- September 8, 2015
- 0
- Email This Post
- Print This Post
Finding Humor and Marketing Success In Safety Videos
Why so serious about safety?
A number of airlines have taken what used to be a routine (read: boring) mandatory legal disclaimer and turned it into a viral marketing vehicle. These humorous safety videos are helping each of the airlines to set themselves apart from their competitors in their own way, while reaching new potential customers.
Although the safety videos don’t take themselves too seriously, they serve two important purposes: to inform and entertain passengers; and function as an integrated marketing tool.
Writing for Reel SEO, Carla Marshall reviewed recent examples of safety-video marketing created by Virgin, Delta, and Air New Zealand to find out how brands are maximizing and integrating this content into their marketing mix.
The Internetest Safety Video on the Internet
This most recent safety video by Delta offers a veritable greatest hits mashup of Internet memes. It reaches a huge worldwide audience, many of whom may like or share the video, even if they never fly on the planes.
Once the video was posted to YouTube, it drew 2 million views in 2 days (currently at 9 million as of this writing). Delta also promoted the video heavily on Twitter and Instagram (though not Facebook).
VXSafetyDance
Virgin America was among the first to use its safety message for marketing purposes outside of flights, beginning in 2007. But it wasn’t until 2013 that its “Safety Video #VXsafetydance” went viral upon upload. The amazing VXSafetyDance musical production involved over 30 dancers and came with a “making-of” video. Virgin embedded the hashtag within the video, prompting thousands of social conversations, while promoting the video offline in Times Square and on the Ellen Show.
Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made
Air New Zealand previously recruited celebrities such as Betty White and Snoop Dog to help generate awareness, but it reached a new level of stardom with “The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made.” As the official airline of Middle Earth, Air New Zealand is going all out to celebrate the third and final film in The Hobbit Trilogy, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”
Naturally, the video includes its own hashtag campaign (#airnzhobbit) and features cameo appearances from Lord of The Rings star Elijah Wood and director Sir Peter Jackson, among others. With almost 15 million views (as of this writing), the video has become the most popular branded airline safety video on all of YouTube.
