The 0.02 mile high British Airways experience

Joss Davidge, business director of brand experience agency BEcause, continues his weekly search for great marketing ideas.

This week he looks at the British Airways #BAbeachside experience.
 
Creating a branded experience that transports people from their normal day-to-day and deposits them in a world of your choosing is a fantastic way to develop relationships, encourage advocacy and build trust.  
 
This week I was alerted to this great brand experience from British Airways. In order to promote six holiday destinations across six days, the airline created a beachside experience on Brighton’s seafront.

Every day, BA brand ambassadors walked along the beach, handing out sticks of traditional seaside rock. The pieces revealed one of two prizes, a chance to enter the BA beachside lounge where they could experience a taste of one of the six destinations or to be hoisted above the beach to dine high in the sky with British Airways.

 
The competition mechanism works well; it added an air of exclusivity to the event and generated a great buzz along the beach and across the town. Those who made it into the lounge, were given a complementary drink and there was entertainment including a DJ to get them in ‘the holiday mood’. Alongside this the sky-high stunt offered people a unique experience that has surely cemented the brand in their hearts and minds.
 
A quick online search also reveals that people took to blogs, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and a host of other social sites to shout about the experience. This genuinely positive consumer feedback pushed the campaign experience far beyond the realms of Brighton beach.

Read more from Joss Davidge in our Clubhouse.