United Airlines has released a commercial highlighting its new Polaris Business Class product, which will begin to roll out later this year. The commercial is well-done with great music and visuals but the strangely exotic, British narration strikes me as odd.
Instead of Matt Damon, United’s go-to voice in its commercials, United has chosen gone with the “sophisticated” British voice-over artist, perhaps trying to imply that Polaris itself is sophisticated?
To push its “redesigned from Ahh to Zzz” slogan (underscoring that a “redesign” was necessary), United offers a mnemonic to better remember Polaris:
P = Permission to indulge
O = Out of this world
L = Loving the seasonal cuisine
A = Access to everything, including the aisle
R = Reclining in tailor-made bedding
I = I must be dreaming
S = So long, jetlag
The seat and soft product looks great to me and I cannot wait to try it. I have heard from a friend of mine who was part of the consumer test phase that the seats are a bit narrow, but I am still hoping for the best.
What do you think of the new commercial?
Hmm, in my experience, the typical United FA is not a tall, slender, leggy blond (as presented in the photo above).
dull
I’m glad UA is trying to upgrade its international business offering. They needed to do so as they were falling behind their competition. How successful they will be we shall see next year. I have a TATL flight in December, and it will be interesting to see if they have their soft product in place by then. Also good to see they are trying to upgrade their US lounges for international travel. The LHR UA club shows they can provide a good experience when they try. The current domestic lounges are nothing special compared to the international carriers like LH.
By the way, I think it is smart of them to do the commercials, because they make a brand. Korean Air and the Gulf airlines are examples of how to do that based on touting business class. Of course, they need to meet expectations as well, but a lot of people will get an impression from the commercial whether they ever fly international with UA or not..
I give them credit for trying. The problem is, given United’s sorry reputation from the Smisek era, they’re going to have to execute, or the ads will ultimately come off as little more than fluff. I will say the hard product looks promising, but will the soft product match up? (BTW, they really need to ditch the mnemonic. It comes off as trying way too hard to be hip.)
United needs to focus on their CURRENT flight schedules and service. I’ve booked an entire first-class (albeit U.S.) itinerary for October and they’ve canceled one leg. Now they want me to travel 18.5 hours to replace a 1.5 hour flight segment without any other flight options or compensation?! I think not! This will be my LAST encounter with this airline.