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When I started this business years ago, my mantra was always 'content that consumers will seek out, rather than screen out'. So I really enjoy when other businesses turn what was once 'screened out' into what is now being 'sought out'.
Hands up if you have boarded a plane, stowed your bag, put on your headphones and started reading a book, not paying any attention to the safety procedures video and demonstration? Uh huh, thought so. We've all seen them before. We knew they were boring and we all prefer to do something else. But, oh how things are changing. Airlines, and other businesses, are finally realising that every piece of content is an opportunity to entertain, delight and even become 'campaignable'.
I can still remember my first Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) flight years ago. It was a very similar process, board, store bag, read magazine. But something slightly different happened. The safety video was kind of the same until they got to the Life Jacket demonstration. Place over head. Yep. Arms through holes and tighten belt. I know. When in water, blow into whistle to attract sharks. WHAT!!! The whole plane burst into laughter. It was a brilliant and simple way to get everyone's attention and it fit perfectly with the Virgin brand values. I applaud Virgin for doing something different and making me laugh during a piece of content that was supposed to be very serious and pretty boring.
Fast forward to now and we see airlines like Air New Zealand and Virgin America building marketing campaigns around their In Flight videos. Who would have thought! Have a look at the latest Air New Zealand Safety in Paradise video using Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models (I thought that would get your attention!):
As we work in the content production space, it seems like a 'no brainer' to us. Video is a dominant source of entertainment on devices and computers and this is a piece of content Airlines had to produce. So why not make something amazing? Something that was once shunned by all of us now gets millions of views on Youtube and other online video platforms.
So, have a good think about everything you do in your business, even the things you have to do. You just never know where an opportunity may sit. If you would like to have a chat about how to make compelling content, let's have a coffee.
Now I need to go. Got an Air New Zealand flight to catch and I need to study up on the safety video!