British Airways’ Advertisements and Press Release Essay

Introduction

British Airways (BA) is an airline that prides itself as the “World’s Favorite Airline”. The airline has terminals around the world and in a bid to attract more customers it has to make sure that people view its services as both classy and affordable. This is the message that is carried in most if not all of its advertisements and marketing campaigns. In this discussion, we shall analyze two of BA’s print media advertisements and a press release, with the aim of establishing whether or not the company uses Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) techniques as part of its marketing strategy.

Advertisement 1-Terminal 5

This advertisement was meant to let the public know that Terminal 5 was in operation and that it had helped cut the clearance time per customer to 4.7 minutes (“Terminal 5”). The advertisement shows a lady checking out the flight board while leaning on her luggage trolley. She appears relaxed and from the explanation provided, we get to know that she is headed to Beijing to watch her boyfriend compete in a rowing competition.

Advertisement 2-Sea of Tranquility

This advertisement employed the use of graphic design techniques to depict an island in the sea. The island takes the shape of a relaxing man. The sea has branded the Sea of Tranquility and the island has been named the Isle of Comfort (“Sea of Tranquility”).

Press release-World Records

On March 10^th, 2013, BA decided to use a unique technique to raise funds for its charity project named Flying Start. For this purpose, the airline held an exclusive performance for 128 passengers aboard one of its flights (British Airways 1). In the process, the airline entered the Guinness Book of Records for holding the ‘World’s Highest Concert’. After the show, the passengers aboard the plane took part in a recording of the Harlem Shake, which was the biggest internet craze at the time. Coincidentally, this became the ‘World’s Highest Harlem Shake”. The press release describes how the two records were achieved in detail.

From the advertisements and press releases, BA is presented as a time-efficient and caring airline in terms of ascertaining customer-comfort and provision of on-board entertainment. The Terminal 5 advertisement assures the customers that they will save time by using BA, while the Sea of Tranquility artwork guarantees that passengers using the airline’s flights will enjoy the utmost levels of comfort and peace of mind. The World Records press release describes BA as a ‘fun airline’ and one that cares about society through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies.

In developing all the three forms of public communication, the advertising specialists at BA clearly went through all the stages of a good IMC technique. Their approach has been summarized below:

1. Awareness: Through the Harlem Shake it is clear that BA strategists are always tracking the changing social and cultural trends.
2. Image integration-BA maintained the message that it is reliable in all aspects through all advertisements.
3. The functional integration-The airline may have analyzed popular airline advertisements and found that most of them seem too serious. This could explain why the Harlem Shake, the Sea of Tranquility, and the Terminal 5 advertisements take a seemingly casual approach.
4. Coordinated integration-All the three advertisements describe BA as better than competitors.
5. Consumer-based integration-The Terminal 5 and Sea of Tranquility advertisements present BA as an airline that is concerned about the needs of its customers.

Works Cited

British Airways. British Airways flies into the Guinness World Records Book. 2013. Web.

“Sea of Tranquility” n.d. Web.

“Terminal 5” n.d. Web.