UPDATE: The new BA ad has now been uploaded to YouTube and can be seen here. Let us know your thoughts on our forum, or take part in our survey.
British Airways has unveiled its biggest advertising campaign in a decade, alongside product improvements including Club World meal choices in World Traveller Plus and the reintroduction of tuck boxes in World Traveller cabins.
Business Traveller was granted a preview of the advertisement - along with the rest of the world's press - representatives were there from Nigeria, Hong Kong and Tunisia to name three.
As alluded to by recent YouTube videos released by the carrier, the ad - which features BA pilots and cabin crew as well as actors - concentrates heavily on BA’s heritage, from predecessor Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd, through to BOAC aircraft and the iconic Concorde.
The 90-second ad has a cinematic feel, with impressive attention to detail in the fashion and aircraft of various periods in BA's history, and places emphasis on the carrier’s motto To Fly. To Serve., which forms part of BA’s coat of arms (see below) and was recently given new prominence with the launch of the carrier’s new First product (for more details click here).
The coat of arms also features in one of BA's new print ads, running through a typically British stick of rock.
The new TV ad will premiere on the carrier’s Facebook page tomorrow morning at 11am, followed by a TV slot during Channel 4’s Grand Designs and subsequent slots during The X Factor, and Rugby World Cup and Champions League football programmes.
Connoisseurs of BA’s previous ads may rue the absence of the familiar Flower Duet from Delibe’s Lakme opera, and there is also very little in the way of current cabin products on show, although the carrier stressed this was just the first in a series of TV and print ads which will be rolled out over the next few months, with a new TV ad currently being filmed.
BA used the preview as an opportunity to highlight several new initiatives in onboard services, including a revamp of its World Traveller Plus dining offering. Passengers will be offered a menu that includes a choice of two meals served in Club World, with the order taken at their seat and meals prepared and served individually.
In World Traveller “tuck boxes” will be reintroduced, and in Club World the carrier is launching new menus inspired by Heston Blumenthal’s Mission Impossible TV programme, alongside a Taittinger Brut champagne offering.
On the ground BA is set to unveil revamped check-in facilities at Gatwick’s North Terminal, including the ability to print off luggage tags at self-service kiosks, while at New York JFK lounge improvements are under way, mirroring Heathrow Terminal 5’s Concorde Room, First and Club lounges and an Elemis Spa.
The carrier also plans to double the size of its current lounge facilities at New York Newark, with separate dining areas for First and Club World customers, and will also revamp its Miami lounge offering, offering a co-branded facility with transatlantic joint venture partners Iberia and American Airlines.
For more information visit ba.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
The new TV ad will premiere on the carrier’s Facebook page tomorrow morning at 11am, followed by a TV slot during Channel 4’s Grand Designs and subsequent slots during The X Factor, and Rugby World Cup and Champions League football programmes.
Connoisseurs of BA’s previous ads may rue the absence of the familiar Flower Duet from Delibe’s Lakme opera, and there is also very little in the way of current cabin products on show, although the carrier stressed this was just the first in a series of TV and print ads which will be rolled out over the next few months, with a new TV ad currently being filmed.
BA used the preview as an opportunity to highlight several new initiatives in onboard services, including a revamp of its World Traveller Plus dining offering. Passengers will be offered a menu that includes a choice of two meals served in Club World, with the order taken at their seat and meals prepared and served individually.
In World Traveller “tuck boxes” will be reintroduced, and in Club World the carrier is launching new menus inspired by Heston Blumenthal’s Mission Impossible TV programme, alongside a Taittinger Brut champagne offering.
On the ground BA is set to unveil revamped check-in facilities at Gatwick’s North Terminal, including the ability to print off luggage tags at self-service kiosks, while at New York JFK lounge improvements are under way, mirroring Heathrow Terminal 5’s Concorde Room, First and Club lounges and an Elemis Spa.
The carrier also plans to double the size of its current lounge facilities at New York Newark, with separate dining areas for First and Club World customers, and will also revamp its Miami lounge offering, offering a co-branded facility with transatlantic joint venture partners Iberia and American Airlines.
For more information visit ba.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
