The Brief

As the smallest of the four major airlines in Australia, Tigerair doesn’t have an advertising budget to compete head to head. To succeed in driving sales, we needed to develop a more direct relationship with our customers. We created a bespoke CRM platform that captures user travel habits and interests and linked these to shareable content. When engaging with the homepage, the user is taken through a sign up journey that asks the customer to share travel habits and destination preferences, enabling us to customise the membership to the individual. The focus on the individual is further evident when the user selects their own printable and personalised card. Like most elements of the campaign, including sale pricing within EDMs, this card can then be shared with friends across social channels. To drive memberships, we used a combination of digital direct response mediums including, display networks, edm, social and web film.

Creative Execution

With a limited budget, everything was created to disrupt the expectations of what an Australian airline should offer. Tapping into the combination of unrealistic expectations and a growing frustration with pointless loyalty programs, we did something that hadn’t been done in the aviation market, an Infrequent Flyers club. The club was built on three pillars: 4. People always prefer honesty. 5. Creating a sense of belonging 6. Making cheap a badge of honour The Club launched with a multi-touch point digital campaign that quickly took off in social media, giving the push longevity beyond its six week media burst. An installation within the airport itself also drove members to the website, where the club continues to grow through word of mouth alone.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

The target audience for the campaign was the 77% of Australians who aren’t frequent flyers. That is, they fly than less than 3 times per year simply because they believe it’s too expensive. 56% of these Australians reject flying Tigerair, most without ever having tried. With a worrying safety record and poorly perceived customer service, Tigerair had very few advocates and needed to prove old customers wrong and convince new customers to take a chance. To do so, we needed to speak honestly and directly. We needed to highlight our great value fares that allow the everyday Australian to fly.

Results

The Infrequent Flyers Club gave Tigerair Australia a new lease on life. The campaign captured the attention of media with Infrequent Flyers Club gaining coverage across major news outlets. For the first time in years, Tigerair Australia was in the news for something positive! More importantly, Infrequent Flyers delivered remarkable results. • Half a million members. • $2 million in direct sales in the last three months. • 45 million PR impressions. • Tigerair’s first profitable quarter in 5 years. Despite sub-optimal brand reputation and a worrying rate of rejection, the appeal of the club was undeniable. The Infrequent Flyer Club campaign has sparked re-appraisal of Tigerair amongst a cynical audience whilst also driving sales. The campaign has delivered in its first year an annualised ROI of 229%. A brand that people once loved to hate, and only flew as a last resort, has become something people are buying into.