Air France shows its dance moves

As Air France's global agency, we work with the brand on an ongoing basis on marketing initiatives to its current base of frequent flyers, with the aim of targeting its customers to fly more with Air France.

We sent a direct mailer, tagged the Monet Express DM, to 25,000 customers across Singapore and Australia to launch the client's new online booking system in these countries and stimulate online sales. With the new booking system, Singapore travellers can now book online faster -- for the first time, travellers can also book online in Australia. This campaign to drive customers online was two-pronged -- there was a cost efficiency benefit for the client, and for the customers, it's a good experience as it's an easy process. Consumers are happy to book flights online these days, and we also wanted to communicate that with the new booking system, it is now easier than ever to do so with Air France.

Our lead creative team of Henry and Sam came up with the concept of dance steps to illustrate how easy it is to book an online ticket with Air France. One of the blocks to people booking online is that the process can seem complicated, so we wanted to show that it is actually very simple to book online -- just like simple dance steps which you can follow.

The DM, which measured 18cm by 28.2cm when folded, was a double-sided, five panel piece that folded out to show the steps to booking online via these ‘dance steps'. We attached Post-it notes with the DM so that recipients could retain and keep them either at the office or at home. There was also a call to action in the form of a special promotional offer, with that highlighted both on the pack and on the Post-it notes themselves, acting to drive customers online and book within two months to enjoy a special promotional $888 price on Air France flights.

A direct mailer was chosen over other media channels as this campaign required more detailed explanation than could be communicated effectively in a print ad. Because we were communicating to existing customers, we were communicating direct, and that way we have far lower wastage. Plus when you're trying to explain something and you need the customer to get involved, DM is the most engaging mechanism. Use of this medium thus made more effective use of budget than above the line media.

Some of the challenges we faced was that online travel booking is a highly competitive market, so we needed our offer to stand out. Our DM came in a slightly unusual format with its relatively large size, so it stuck out while still being flat mail, which made it distinctive yet cost effective. The DM was also unique in that it's a very long piece when unfolded; you can almost lay it on the floor and dance on it! However, a DM doesn't work if there isn't a good offer or good reason to act on it. Since many customers use Air France for long haul flights and there may be a two month lead time on trip bookings, we needed a way to make our offer last, which explained the two month duration of the promotional offer. Another key was having a really good headline, which came in the form of offering the $888 promotional price. Lastly, I think the essence of the DM really was to communicate that customers needn't be afraid of using the online booking system because it's really easy to use.

The expected response was a 2% increase in sales turnover through the promotion period, but sales quickly exceeded expectations, showing that the DM did have a big impact in the following two months in increasing online bookings. Air France was pleased with our little piece of work, and DM is definitely a proven, successful mechanic for communicating with its customers.

Lucy McCabe is General Manager at Rapp Collins.

THE MAIL

Objective

To create awareness of Air France's new online booking system and attract sales through online bookings.

Approach

A direct mail piece to engage customers into learning the easy ways of online booking and encouraging response with attractive incentives within the launch period.

Result

The expected 2% increase in sales turnover was quickly exceeded.