| Title | CINEMA TAKEOVER |
| Brand | SILKAIR |
| Product / Service | REGIONAL AIRLINE |
| Category | B03. Consumer Services |
| Entrant | JWT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE |
| Entrant Company: | JWT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE |
| DM/Advertising Agency: | JWT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE |
Credits | |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Tay Guan Hin | JWT Singapore | Regional Exec. Creative Director |
| Ali Shabaz | JWT Singapore | Exec. Creative Director |
| Clarence Chiew | JWT Singapore | Creative Group Head |
| Minzie Liyu | JWT Singapore | Senior Art Director |
| Anna Lee | JWT Singapore | Producer |
| Sandra Ong | JWT Singapore | Asst. Producer |
| Cheryl Ong | JWT Singapore | Associate Account Director |
| Adela Andrei | JWT Singapore | Senior Account Executive |
| Peter Cheung | JWT Singapore | Group Account Director |
| Charmaine Deng | Mindshare Singapore | Media Planner |
Regional airline SilkAir was flying into turbulent times. Budget carriers were burgeoning in Asia, and were starting to fly to many of its destinations. While it was confident in its superior service offering, its full-service proposition was starting to lose relevance in the eyes of some travellers, even though it was only slightly more expensive. Our strategy was simple – create a 'sampling event' to remind our target audience what premium service-travel felt like.
Instead of running price-off ads and competing against budget carriers, this method of promotion demonstrated a reason to believe without dragging SilkAir into a price war that was counter-productive to what it was trying to achieve - full-service travel comfort without compromise. By flying in the face of tradition, SilkAir managed to turned an ordinary 'journey' into an extraodinary one, exploited cinema advertising's unique advantages, and demonstated its service difference to a captive audience in a cost-effective way.
We’re all familiar with sampling events for different products and services. To create word-of-mouth buzz, and increase advocacy and consideration ratings, what we created for SilkAir was the first sampling event ever for an airline – giving our audience a taste of an airline's service, on the ground. Over a period of four weeks, selected theatres were redecorated to look like the inside of an airplane. Ticket stubs spoofed boarding passes. Stewardess welcomed patrons as they were seated. And the pre-movie announcement was recreated in the form of a pre-flight safety video.
Confidential: During the period of the campaign, SilkAir's growth figures exceeded its targets. Advocacy ratings (percentage who would recommend airline) increased from 29% to 65%, while Consideration ratings (percentage who consider flying the airline) increased from 54% to 91%. Result: SilkAir’s Consideration and Advocacy ratings outperformed LCCs and full-service carriers tracked. Compared to the same period in the previous year, visits to silkair.com also increased by almost 40%. And in spite of the weakening economy, SilkAir posted an operating growth of 11% in the second half of 2008, exceeding its target of 9.8%. (Source: SilkAir)