2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The client brief was straightforward: recruit 18,000 new and active Emirates Airlines Skywards members in 3 weeks. The key word was ‘active’. The number of times a member flies is in decline. 5 years ago 80% of people who signed up flew. Today, it’s 50%. It wouldn’t require much to add 18,000 people to a free frequent flyer program. A little motivation was necessary however to attract active, enthusiastic members who would contribute consistently to the program. We needed to recruit those bitten by the travel bug.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

What is the one thing self-professed travel lovers want more of? Well, travel. We created a Facebook competition, Meet Me There, which invited each follower to win the trip of a lifetime to one dream destination with 5 friends. All they had to do was sign up for an Emirates Skywards account and invite 5 friends to ‘Meet Me There’. To be eligible to win, all 5 friends must have Emirates Skywards membership.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

• We acquired 18,586 new Emirates Skywards members. At about $2 per new member, that gives us a total Emirates Skywards value of $40,514. • The number of likes on the Emirates Skywards Facebook page increased by 270,000. After factoring organic growth into the total number, at 1,000 fans per day, we can assume that the competition garnered a total of 244,000 direct likes. With a cost of $0.33 per fan acquisition, this would give us a fan value of $80,520. • The value of new members achieved from application: New Members $40,514 + FB $80,520 = $121,034

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Airline loyalty programs are about more and better travel. Meet Me There not only delivered on this but did it in the way that really mattered: with friends. Because the best adventures are those that are shared. Both the virability and shareability of the Facebook application platform allowed us to reach as wide a network as possible of like-minded travellers. This was the first time an airline loyalty programme used a social media platform to turn the virtual into a reality.