New easyJet ad campaign means business

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– The airline launches its first business travel TV advertising campaign

– The £8.5m integrated pan-European ad campaign will launch in the UK on 13 September

easyJet new ad 2

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has launched its first ever TV campaign focused on what it has to offer business travellers. Passengers travelling for business now account for more than a fifth of easyJet’s passengers with more than 12m choosing the airline every year – and that number continues to grow.

The campaign, called ‘Business Sense’, launches on TV in the UK from 13^th September, with actor Hugh Laurie as the new voice of the campaign.

Peter Duffy, Commercial Director for easyJet, commented:

“This is the first time we have chosen to advertise to business travellers on TV and it is indicative of the importance we place on this key and growing market for us.

“We know business passengers are attracted to easyJet because of our low fares, punctuality and friendly service, flying to primary airports across Europe – all of these factors help the airline to both attract and retain new business customers – but the ad campaign should help us to reach business travellers who may not have considered easyJet to date. So in the campaign we aim to communicate that easyJet isn’t just a more cost-effective option, it’s actually a smarter choice for business travellers all-round.”

The commercial opens in a busy airport. Business men and women rush around racing to catch their flights. Over this mayhem we hear the famous music track ‘I’m late’. Amongst all of the stress the focus rests on an individual reading a business newspaper when two large white ears pop up from behind the paper and we realise the character is in fact a certain white rabbit, who is notoriously known for worrying about being late. He hops up, flips open his pocket watch, looks around at the madness unfolding before him and then very calmly makes his way to his flight with confidence and in the knowledge it is on time.

The television commercials will be supported by a new print, outdoor and digital campaign that uses witty illustrations to showcase some of the key services offered for business travel with easyJet from flexible fares to its extensive network and unrivalled schedule to primary airports. The campaign will also be shown in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Portugal throughout September and October.

Over the last few years easyJet has been successfully growing its share of the managed corporate travel sector. Alongside our famous low fares, a raft of innovations including our GDS partnerships, new product enhancements like allocated seating, Inclusive Fares and Fast Track security, have all contributed to enabling us to compete more effectively with legacy carriers and gain a larger slice of the business travel market.

The airline was one of the first in the low cost sector to make its inventory available to business travel bookers through GDS systems and the partnerships easyJet has built with GDS systems have meant the airline has been able to successfully grow its presence in the business travel market.

With flights to more of more of the major airports on the top 100 European routes, high frequency flights Flexi Fares, Fast Track Security, speedy boarding, mobile boarding passes with the easyJet app and allocated seating as standard, easyJet is helping make business travel easy and affordable for everyone. In January easyJet picked up industry accolade ‘Best Short-Haul Airline Award’ at the 2014 Business Travel Awards.

The campaign was created by the integrated creative agency VCCP with media planned and bought by OMD.

It remains to be seen if the reality of a wonderland of flights without delays can be delivered.