elevating an iconic brand
with a new experience that's distinctly American.
A (virtual) world of possibilities
reconnecting with customers with a new approach to brand experience.
When American Airlines embarked upon their ambitious rebrand, they faced a significant challenge when it came to unveiling the new aircraft livery and in-flight experience; they didn't exist.
Re-painting and re-fitting an airlines entire fleet of planes is a costly and time-consuming exercise; it would take American almost 4 years to complete the task. In the meantime, they were ready to unveil their refreshed livery, and start generating a buzz around the new aircraft interiors and in-flight experience.
To overcome this challenge, we put the new aircraft fleet into service 'virtually', by creating a series of sensory experiences that allowed customers to explore the new brand. We created immersive interactive 3D experiences that allowed over 65 million customers to explore first-hand the features and benefits of the new aircraft.
To overcome this challenge, we put the new aircraft fleet into service 'virtually', by creating a series of sensory experiences that allowed customers to explore the new brand. We created immersive interactive 3D experiences that allowed over 65 million customers to explore first-hand the features and benefits of the new aircraft.
Working alongside the brand team at Futurebrand, we first set about identifying the target high net-worth audiences and researching their aviation travel habits. This provided the data and insights needed to develop an interactive experience that highlighted key features of the new in-flight product that were most relevant.
Making it simple
We mapped the user journey, and devised a universal UI grid to work across the web, mobile and embedded delivery platforms.
Keeping it real
Photo-realistic VR
A key part of the user experience was ensuring the visual accuracy of the product in VR.
We also devised a strategy for re-purposing 3D digital brand assets into a number of other experiential activities. This included featuring a caricature of the new American B777-300 as a character in Disney's animated feature, Planes. And a 3D gesture-controlled game installation at selected venues and airport lounges.
The result was one of the most successful livery launches in aviation history, a surge in growth of first and business class passengers, and significant cost savings from leveraging a virtual fleet of aircraft for all brand and commercial marketing and advertising.
