Infrequent Flyers
Tigerair
Issue 34 | March 2015
Agency
McCann Melbourne
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Pat Baron Creative Director David Ponce De Leon Associate Creative Director Andrew Jones
Production Team
Agency Producers Victoria Conners-Bell Chelsea Nieper Airbag Productions Ralph Elisha Fiona McGregor Samantha Kelly
Other Credits
Managing Director Adrian Mills Senior Account Manager Will Hollosy Group Account Directors Serrin Dewar Alec Hussian Senior Planner Danish Chan
Date
November 2014
Background
Tigerair was a low-cost airline that served Australia, Singapore and South- East Asia. It was a brand people loved to hate with 59% of people saying they would not fly Tigerair, even though most of them had never flown with it.
The problem was that 77% of Australians flew fewer than three times a year for the simple reason it was too expensive for them.
Idea
In response to a recent change Qantas had made to their frequent flyer programme, charging people $89.95 to become members, Tigerair came up with the Infrequent Flyer Scheme. This was a parody of the loyalty schemes the bigger, more expensive airlines operated. It was also a tacit acknowl- edgement that most Australians really don't fly that often.
Targeting these people, the Infrequent Flyers Club was a satirical take on the other airlines, highlighting Tigerair's real value – cheap flights.
A bespoke CRM platform was created, mimicking the cliche´s of frequent flyer programmes. It gave members the power to choose the colour of their membership cards, such as '70's Brown' and 'Triple Emerald Sapphire Ivory', so long as they printed the cards themselves.
They could also choose from one of 18 different membership levels, from Beer to Bin Green to Hipster Chino.
Travellers could also print out their own Tigerair branded personalised paper luggage tags, described them as 'not all that sturdy, but if you laminate them they'll do the job for sure.'
TV commercials launched the idea, which was supported by Tigerair's VIP Lounge at the airport, which turned out to be no more than a door behind which was the message: We don't have a lounge, you have one of those at home.
Results
The Infrequent Flyers campaign delivered a 7% increase in revenue in the first 6 months.
The infrequent flyer club accrued 410, 000 members.
The campaign delivered a first year annualised ROI of 229%.
A brand that people once loved to hate, and only flew as a last resort, became something people bought into.
Our Thoughts
From those wonderful people who gave us Dumb Ways To Die, Dumb Ways To Fly. This is so typically Australian, to take the mickey out of all the other airlines and you can tell that typical Aussies love it from a scan of the results. That’s because the idea is based on a very real insight, that loyalty schemes are totally meaningless to three-quarters of the country’s entire population – because they don’t fly frequently.
It is proving to be a successful long- term strategy with phase two of the campaign rolling out recently.
Really funny, really successful, really good.