Brussels Airlines sweetens Team USA World Cup defeat

KLM's social media "faux pas" after Mexico's World Cup defeat might have seriously damaged the Dutch airline's image in the American country. An avoidable mistake, all the more surprising when taking into account that KLM's traditional mastery of social media channels...

At least it looks like their Belgian neighbors took good note...

When Belgium's team defeated the United States in one of the best matches that have been seen in this World Cup so far, Brussels Airlines was ready to, literally, sweeten the defeat by presenting its American customers with a consolation prize. Being a Belgian airline, you guess what they got!

A nice example of how airlines can use current events for marketing purposes, even by turning around the "negative" connotation they might have for part of its customers.

Photo-Gallery: the best airline World Cup liveries

Although defending World champions, Spain, might have had an extra reason to show the colours up in the air when flying to Brazil. Iberia has not been the only airline to come up with a special livery for the Brazil World Cup.

As we did for the London Olympics, here is a (non-exhaustive) list of airlines with World Cup liveries. Which one is your favourite?

1. Brussels Airlines - Belgium

The Airbus A330 that will take the Belgian side to the World Cup. Quite an uncommon duty for Brussels Airlines!

Picture: Brussels Airlines

A conveniently decorated A330 interior. Picture: Brussels Airlines

A detail of Brussels Airlines' World Cup livery. Picture: Brussels Airlines

2. Qantas - Australia

Football (soccer) might not be Australia's top sport, but Qantas seems to take it pretty seriously. Picture: Qantas

Australians are quite good at all sorts of sports, let's see how they do in this World Cup! Picture: Qantas

The venerable Boeing 747 on an important mission of World Cup importance. Picture: Qantas

3. Lufthansa ("Fanhansa") - Germany

As corresponds to one of the World's football powerhouses, Lufthansa has painted not only one aircraft in "Fanhansa" World Cup livery, but two...

Picture: Lufthansa

...as in addition to the Boeing 747 depicted above, this A321 will also fly around its special livery in support of "die Mannschaft". Picture: Lufthansa

4. Air Berlin ("Fan Force One") - Germany

As Lufthansa's two football-themed aircraft were not enough, Air Berlin has also unveiled its own World Cup-liveried aircraft, the "Fan Force One", that has even its own dedicated website where you can track its whereabouts.

5. JAL (Go Japan!) - Japan

Just like Qantas, Japan Airlines is another regular in the industry when it comes to special liveries inspired in major sports events. This Boeing 777 has received the "Go Japan!" livery for the occasion.

6. Aerolineas Argentinas - Argentina

The best football player in the World (and possibly best in history too) will fly on this Aerolineas Boeing 737

Picture: Aerolineas Argentinas

7. GOL - Brazil

And, last but not least, the World Cup guests: Brazilian airline GOL, official carrier of the Brazilian football team (and a very aptly named airline!) could not be missing from this gallery. Here is the video of how they transformed one of its Boeing 737s in a really colourful bird!

LOT is looking for amateur film-makers

Video is an amazing online marketing tool (just ask Air New Zealand!). This is particularly true of content that is inspirational (and aspirational) the sort of content that, for decades airlines have been using to sell tickets. And, although, professional video still plays (and will continue to do so) an important role in marketing campaigns, the increasing number of people that have crossed the increasingly blurry line between consumers and producers of content multiplies the pool of talent airlines can tap when they wish to sell dreams.

It is in this context that Polish flag carrier, LOT, has just launched "Travel Inspirations" a contest for amateur film-makers that wish to share the graces of one of LOT's destinations by submitting a 45 second video depicting it from a specific inspirational angle (food, shopping, opportunities to practice outdoor sports).

The prize? You guess it...free tickets on LOT.

This initiative reminds me of Vueling's Instagram contest, where people were asked to share their best shots of Vueling's destinations. In that case, the 200 best pictures ended up decorating an Airbus A320 aircraft. I could not find information about what use is LOT going to give to these films, but I guess, besides the buzz it might generate, it is a nice (and low cost) way to outsource the production of videos to be used in later promotional campaigns.

Virgin Atlantic joins the safety video craze

In-flight safety video production has become a real creativity contest...and this time is not Air New Zealand!...Virgin Atlantic is upping the game with its latest in-flight safety video, a 5min-long animated movie that recalls a range of scenes from the World of cinema...and features one of its soon-to-join-the-fleet Boeing 787 Dreamliners!

As always in these cases, the only thing left to us is to post the video and say: Enjoy!

What happens when Air New Zealand and Sports Illustrated join forces? Safety in Paradise

Air New Zealand's has not run out of ideas when it comes to releasing new in-flight safety videos.

The latest one is guaranteed to please, at least, our male audience: Safety in Paradise celebrates 50 years of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue by featuring models Chrissy Teigen, Ariel Meredith, Hannah Davis, Jessica Gomes and Christie Brinkley, not on an airplane, but enjoying the sunshine in the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific, one of Air New Zealand's tropical destinations.

This video is, actually, a double issue, since Air New Zealand has also released "The Making of Safety in Paradise", so that you can see a bit more of the work that is involved in the production of this already classical in-flight safety videos.

And I almost forgot to mention!... Air New Zealand is also running a contest, those of you that have seen the video better check it out for a chance to travel to the Cook Islands in good company...!