ABOUT

Rewind five years and the Qantas brand was a very different one we fly with today.
In financial difficulty, embroiled in union disputes, in intense competitive price wars and Qantas shares at a record low - the company had reached its lowest point since privatisation in 1993.

Specifically, we wanted a solution that would deliver against key Qantas Brand Marketing and Corporate Affairs (BM&CA) objectives:

1. Positive narrative: Change the corporate narrative and media conversation – tell positive stories via media
2. Pride amongst employees: Rekindle our employees pride for the brand – from negativity to admiration and respect
3. Public affection: Reawaken the Australian public’s affection for the brand
4. Contemporary: Present a more contemporary, progressive and cohesive face to the Qantas brand
5. Perceptions vs reality: Close the gap between the perception and reality of our product and service competitiveness
6. Partnerships: Make our partnerships actively contribute to our brand and ensure genuine ROI from partners
Revenue: Deliver profitable results

Qantas have made significant improvements to the product and service we were offering our customers, and this was showing in our best ever customer satisfaction scores. But beyond the experience, research showed customers wanted to know how we pulled it off.

How do we turn around a flight so quickly? Where does my bag go when it goes off on that belt? What causes delays? How do we ensure 400 flights take off and land each day? Where do cabin crew go to sleep!?

We had great stories to tell, it was the right time to tell them and Australia’s fascination with Qantas reassured us there was appetite to hear them.

But what format should these stories take and how should we present them? Three key audience trends informed this decision.

• Over the past three years Australia has seen an unprecedented growth in the consumption of Factual Entertainment television programming, delivering millions of engaged eyeballs
• In the same period, the Australian market has seen a 535% growth in online streaming service subscriptions, so we knew that whatever we created we had to ensure that people could watch it any time, on any device, on demand
• Social needed to play a key part; ensuring the message wasn’t one way, but that viewers could interact, ask questions and engage with the stories we told – making this a two way experience

We created Ready For Take Off.

An 8 part, 30min factual entertainment documentary that told the story of running the world’s safest airline.

We engaged Fremantle Australia as our production partner – ensuring access to production talent from the likes of X Factor, Australia’s got Talent and The Apprentice.

Using the lens of Qantas staff as key characters, the show charted the highs and lows, the conflicts and resolutions, and the smiles and tears of running Qantas. Across Australian airports, Dubai, The USA, Indonesia and at 35,000ft, the show was a purposely warts and all account of how Qantas moves over 28 million customers a year.

From on board medical emergencies, getting the Wallabies to the World Cup, to watching a pilot pass his flight simulation exams – these were just a handful of the behind the scenes access that Ready for Take-Off gave viewers.

At no cost, Ready For Take Off aired prime time on Channel Nine over eight weeks, and was moved from Friday to Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm; the Holy Grail for branded content. The show received extensive promotion by Channel Nine, equal to that of other prime time programming.

The show was available on JumpIn (Nine’s streaming service) as soon as the show went to air, allowing anyone watching on mobile or tablet to watch the show on demand.
The role of digital was critical and two fold.

Firstly we needed to encourage people to watch the programme; a heavy paid social media tease prior, during and post the show drove awareness, editorial content and PR reviews of the show were promoted via Outbrain, and influential social media handles (media and aviation enthusiasts) encouraged people to tune in.

Secondly, we needed to use this as a way to engage with audiences via second screen; additional content and commentary was released on social at exactly the same time as a significant event occurred on screen, deeper two minute side stories appeared in social for people who wanted to watch more, and live Q&A’s were conducted via Periscope in the commercial breaks to ensure audience retention and engagement.

The show set a new standard for branded content, consistently brining in over 550,000 viewers and the fifth episode peaking at over 1 million viewers (just on TV). The show was regularly the number one programme for its timeslot and at one point (episode 5) rated as the number one show of the day across FTA TV.

Revisiting our BM&CA objectives:

1. Positive narrative
While the show’s viewer numbers speak to the positive public reception, social media sentiment also echoed this reaction, with over 90% positive sentiment towards the show across social. Engagement with show related content on social was double that of other posts on Qantas channels, demonstrating a powerful dual screen strategy.

2. Perceptions vs reality:
We were careful to ensure integrity here, and this was delivered with the majority (55%) of the airtime containing negative or neutral storylines, before demonstrating a resolution. This ensured this wasn’t a 30minute ad, but was an audience first narrative. This was compounded by research that told us just 20% of people thought the show was made by Qantas vs 63% thinking Qantas were just featured in the show.

3. Pride amongst employees:
The show found a new, exciting and innovative way for staff to tell their stories and of their love for working for Qantas. This was clear with staff satisfaction up across the period.

4. Public affection:
The storylines and series clearly struck a chord with audiences, with 95% of people who watched the show saying they would watch again.

5. Contemporary:
Brand tracker scores saw an increase of 37% against the metric “Makes me think Qantas is an innovative airline” amongst those that watched the show.

6. Partnership Value:
On broadcast value alone, the show delivered over $16,000,000 of return on Investment for Qantas.

7. Revenue:
As part of our deal, we also drove revenue back from all digital inventory as well as from International tape sales, of which we have already sold to six markets.

Ready for Take Off set a new standard of branded content that delivered far more than just entertainment.