Star Alliance celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year and has unleashed a phenomenal ad campaign to begin the celebration.
Rather than try to describe the videos, you can watch them here:
The message: we’ve got your back.
Part of the 20th Anniversary ad campaign includes a series of “Connecting Cultures” videos that highlight unique experiences in the hubs of member carriers. The first two videos are already out. Check out Bangkok and Stockholm.
I’m not sure I’d like to go boxing in Bangkok or climbing in Stockholm…but the ads are clever.
Naturally, I am partial to Star Alliance because I worked there and have flown 1.5 million miles on Star Alliance carriers. Still, I love not only the composition of the ads, but the underlying message. Indeed, even as alliances wane in influence, the proposition of an alliance (reciprocal earning, lounge access, priority handling, status recognition) remains one of the greatest marketing achievements of all time.
Alliance partners do not always get along well, but when they do the customer benefits greatly. Alliances have brought together foes and turned them into unlikely allies.
The 20th anniversary celebration is going to be huge. Later on I’ll have details about an attractive contest in which you can win 1,000,000 reward miles.
Wow, talk about a lack of diversity in the ads. For ads centered around connections, Star Alliance is sure focused on its white customers. Also, while the entire ads are atheistically pleasing to watch, the fonts are difficult to read.
Perhaps I should have mentioned these are the English ones. There are ads in several languages. For example, the Chinese ad has Chinese travelers.
That’s nice–really, it is–but there are lots of English speakers who aren’t white.
So you think the Star Alliance campaign is biased/racist?
I was just giving you a hard time :-P. But there is probably an intrinsic element of exclusion to it. I mean, I’m from California too and can associate with the landmarks and nostalgic of the ad, but maybe not so much with all of the white travelers…
The United Club in SFO was hanging up a banner noting the 20th anniversary when I was there on Sunday.