easyJet launched its first ever £8.5m integrated pan-European TV ad campaign focused on what it has to offer business travellers

LONDON, 2014-9-16 — /Travel PR News/ — The airline launches its first business travel TV advertising campaign. The £8.5m integrated pan-European ad campaign will launch in the UK on 13 September.

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has launched its first ever TV campaign focused on what it has to offer business travellers. Passengers travelling for business now account for more than a fifth of easyJet’s passengers with more than 12m choosing the airline every year – and that number continues to grow.

The campaign, called ‘Business Sense’, launches on TV in the UK from 13th September, with actor Hugh Laurie as the new voice of the campaign. It aims to highlight the advantages of flying with easyJet with the TV ads focussing on the airline’s strong record for punctuality pointing out that last year, on average, easyJet was more punctual across Europe than British Airways.*

Peter Duffy, Commercial Director for easyJet, commented:

“This is the first time we have chosen to advertise to business travellers on TV and it is indicative of the importance we place on this key and growing market for us.

“We know business passengers are attracted to easyJet because of our low fares, punctuality and friendly service, flying to primary airports across Europe – all of these factors help the airline to both attract and retain new business customers – but the ad campaign should help us to reach business travellers who may not have considered easyJet to date. So in the campaign we aim to communicate that easyJet isn’t just a more cost-effective option, it’s actually a smarter choice for business travellers all-round.”

The commercial opens in a busy airport. Business men and women rush around racing to catch their flights. Over this mayhem we hear the famous music track ‘I’m late’. Amongst all of the stress the focus rests on an individual reading a business newspaper when two large white ears pop up from behind the paper and we realise the character is in fact a certain white rabbit, who is notoriously known for worrying about being late. He hops up, flips open his pocket watch, looks around at the madness unfolding before him and then very calmly makes his way to his flight with confidence and in the knowledge it is on time.

The television commercials will be supported by a new print, outdoor and digital campaign that uses witty illustrations to showcase some of the key services offered for business travel with easyJet from flexible fares to its extensive network and unrivalled schedule to primary airports. The campaign will also be shown in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Portugal throughout September and October.

Over the last few years easyJet has been successfully growing its share of the managed corporate travel sector. Alongside our famous low fares, a raft of innovations including our GDS partnerships, new product enhancements like allocated seating, Inclusive Fares and Fast Track security, have all contributed to enabling us to compete more effectively with legacy carriers and gain a larger slice of the business travel market.

The airline was one of the first in the low cost sector to make its inventory available to business travel bookers through GDS systems and the partnerships easyJet has built with GDS systems have meant the airline has been able to successfully grow its presence in the business travel market.

With flights to more of more of the major airports on the top 100 European routes, high frequency flights Flexi Fares, Fast Track Security, speedy boarding, mobile boarding passes with the easyJet app and allocated seating as standard, easyJet is helping make business travel easy and affordable for everyone. In January easyJet picked up industry accolade ‘Best Short-Haul Airline Award’ at the 2014 Business Travel Awards.

The campaign was created by the integrated creative agency VCCP with media planned and bought by OMD.

*easyJet’s on time performance 84.4%, BA 73.8% Jul 13-Jun 14. Based on OAG’s 69 comparable city to city routes. Source: www.flightstats.com

ENDS

For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252, visit www.easyjet.com or follow @easyJet_Press

Note to editors:

The rabbit suit for the TV ad was made by the UK’s leading puppeteer and animatronic company, Animated Extras, which have worked on films such as Skyfall, Gladiator and The Avengers.

About easyJet:
easyJet operates Europe’s No. 1 air transport network with a leading presence on Europe’s top 100 routes and at Europe’s 50 largest airports.

easyJet carries more than 63 million passengers annually, of which more than 12 million are travelling on business. easyJet flies over 200 aircraft with more than 700 routes on sale across 32 countries and over 130 airports. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour’s drive of an easyJet airport, more than any other airline.

The airline takes sustainability seriously. easyJet invests in the latest technology, operates efficiently and fills most of its seats which means that an easyJet passenger’s carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.

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easyJet launched its first ever £8.5m integrated pan-European TV ad campaign focused on what it has to offer business travellers

easyJet launched its first ever £8.5m integrated pan-European TV ad campaign focused on what it has to offer business travellers