SilverJet loves British Airways
Seriously. It's true. The BA-SilverJet love-in starts here.
Lawrence Hunt and the SilverJet crew look up to BA to such an extent that they have mocked copied its classic TV ad from 1989, using the same ad agency Saatchi (for a cool £100,000, according to The Times).
And the tagline: The World's Most Sivilised Airline (geddit?).
Here's the new one.
And here's the old one.
The groovy ad types in Soho must have been laughing into their lattes during the "chemistry meetings" for this one.
Or maybe not...
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
Technorati tags: silverjet british airways saatchi TV ad
16 comments:
I love Silverjet and I love this new ad - great Chutzpah
BA had great advertising in the past but then the latest campaign of stewards handing out plastic beakers of water in the sstreet with the line if only life was like this every day" or some such rubbish is, err, rubbish.
I think the groovy ad types were on double espressos. Terrific commercial! Well done Silverjet for taking on the big boys.
You could argue that if you are unaware of the old commercial it is not as clear.
Even then though, the photography is great and the spot is good enough to keep you interested until the end.
What is it exactly you didn't like?
With a blatent copy like that, created by the same agency, if I were BA I would sue both the agency and Silverjet. If the advert sees the light of day, I would expect the lawyers to be crawling all over it.
Alan Bowen: The ad will be aired on UK this weekend at 1.55pm, during the Engl;and-Australia rugby woprld cup game.
so, if you're right, lawyers will be working hard tomorrow.
but i doubt it.
Socialman: i never said we didn't like it. :-)
Alan Bowen doesn't get it. The whole point is that it's a blatant copy. Tell you what, the ad's working already if we're sitting here arguing about it! Will be interesting to see what happens when they launch on TV. Lot of buzz I should think.
AndrewBruck: lots of buzz? not sure either. some people will remember, many will not.
but then the target market for silverjet probably will do.
18 years is a long time in advertising.
i would say the PR dept at silverjet has done a pretty good anyway.
Think Socialman is right - anybody outside the bubble will just be confused. For most people commenting here the SJ proposition is a known quantity. For most people sat in front of the rugby yesterday it won't have meant a lot.
Are they going to think, "Great! Silverjet is taking on the big boys!"? Or, "Nice camerawork. But why has British Airways launched something called Silverjet? And given that I've literally seen all this before, what does it do that's new"?
It's a nice story for travel/advertising news media, but I don't think trade 'buzz' is a) decent return for a £100k ad aired in the middle of a major sporting event or b) a substitute for coming to market with a distinct message and identity.
Nothing against Silverjet, mind, and Kev is right about the PR agency doing a good job.
nathan:
the groovy wallahs in agencyland are already licking their lips at the thought of a Cannes Lions award. :-)
I saw the ad during the rugby (great game) and looked it up to see it again. I thought it looked great and got Silverjet's message across. I also liked the swipe at BA (I had to queue 3 hours in check-in and security last time I flew them).
That's great. Even if they sued, it would probably constitute "parody."
I think there's a good chance that a substantial portion of their market for C class pax actually does remember the ad, will recognize it immediately, and will get the joke.
Thanks for the clips. It actually reminded me of just how good the original BA ad was - and how unthinkable it would be for them to make the same ad today.
I think Silverjet have been extremely clever and innovative..even if they have pinched the initial concept from BA's ad from 1989.
Just come across this on youtube...Kevin what do you think now???
http://travolution.blogspot.com/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MUJD8aCQVQU
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