A Challenger Brand Takes Flight

With relatively low awareness in the U.S., a brand identity tied to a largely unfamiliar destination and a market presence limited to just seven North American cities, Icelandair found itself competing against carriers with a more global reach. The brand needed to boost consideration across a wider range of travelers to win new customers, while simultaneously driving better connections with its valuable base of existing flyers. Doing so meant building awareness not just for the airline brand itself, but also for the whole of Iceland as a travel destination.

We conducted market-specific research among travelers aged 25 and older, developing three core user personas with associated purchase journeys. Our study revealed the core stimulus that sparks most travel decisions is a consumer’s ability to visually explore and imagine oneself in the destination. Segmenting a target market of highly visual thinkers played directly into one of our brand’s core strengths – Iceland’s beautiful and dramatic natural phenomena landscapes. Using impactful visual media to showcase the scale and essence of these spectacular, comparatively unseen vistas would entice our target audience in precisely the way to which they’re most receptive.

Amp developed a fully integrated digital and offline media strategy focused on reaching our most valuable audience at key touchpoints, via media placements and partnerships that directly complement the uniqueness of both Iceland and Icelandair. Our plan spanned across digital, mobile, OOH, and a first-of-its-kind partnership with Uber, customized – market by market – to each area’s individual awareness level and audience nuances.

To highlight a unique benefit of flying Icelandair – free stopovers in Iceland on airfare traveling to Europe – we developed the very first brand-accepted partnership with Uber.

In Boston, we surprised unsuspecting Uber riders with complimentary rides decked out with Iceland-inspired extras, such as a real Icelandair flight attendant, traditional music, glacier water, Blue Lagoon lotions, and even free tickets to Iceland.

Ticket-winning riders were given a free “stop-over” trip to a friend or family member’s home en route to their desired destination, enabling the rider to invite their chosen companion along on their newly won vacation. We reached over 28% of Boston Uber riders in one day, connecting with our target audience in an uninterruptible environment. The integration further benefited from complimentary Uber-branded promotion as well.

As Uber riders took to social channels to share their exciting anecdotes in the Icelandair-themed Ubers, we introduced the hashtag #MyStopover to promote and sustain conversation, resulting in over 56,000 social impressions within just a few hours.

We launched the campaign with high-impact OOH executions in target cities to maximize awareness. Our train and transit wraps and projection media targeted areas where our audience was most present, boldly presenting the epic appeal of Icelandair and its destinations to jaw-dropping effect.

Finally, we also partnered with travel sections of key news sites in Icelandair’s markets – along with TripAdvisor, Soujourn, Adara, Afar, and Atlas Obscura – to ensure a multi-touch impact through premium digital and mobile executions.