Title	SWISS - ATTENTIVE EYES
Brand	SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES
Product/Service	AIRLINE COMPANY
Category	A05. Branded Live Experience
Entrant Company	ACHTUNG! Hamburg, GERMANY
Contributing Company	ACHTUNG! Hamburg, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Andreas Heinz	Swiss International Airlines Ltd.	Head of Market Communication Sales
Philipp Schad	Swiss International Airlines Ltd.	PR Manager
Gerry Hofstetter	Hofstetter Marketing	Light Artist
Christina Zorn	achtung! GmbH	Management Supervisor
Max Ströbel	achtung! GmbH	Chief Strategy Officer
Imke Beermann	achtung! GmbH	Senior Account Manager
Anneli Tomfort	achtung! GmbH	Senior Art Director
Daniel Rehn	achtung! GmbH	Account Manager Digital

The Campaign

In the competition of European airlines, brand differentiation has become difficult. Especially for the rather small airline SWISS. How can SWISS emphasize its brand essence “Swissness”: they take a more pleasant flight experience than any other airline – measurable in European brand tracking. And without running an expensive paid media campaign. Reaching people in SWISS’s key markets – Germany, Austria, UK, France, Italy and Spain – means engaging with different cultures. But they have one thing in common: an interest in travel. And the need to be perceived as special. Flying with SWISS fulfills this need. Our mission is to shape this perception of SWISS into the travelers’ consideration set. Empathy is required to bring the brand essence of “Swissness” to life. Empathy that generates attentiveness. This is the universal value that is lacking in Europe as confirmed both by current news and by a specially commissioned, representative Europe-wide FORSA survey: 83% of interviewees want more mutual attentiveness. A widespread wish that united. Simultaneously, attentiveness is SWISS’s brand essence. The idea: SWISS links this common interest and sends a signal for attentiveness in Europe “Attentive Eyes”. SWISS and lighting artist Gerry Hofstetter illuminate historic European landmark buildings in six cities in an unseen way – with the eyes of hundreds of SWISS flight attendants. The buildings include i.e. the Cité Internationale Universitaire and the Sagrat Cor church. They becoming an appeal for greater attentiveness to others. Every nation is proud of its cultural assets. If one is shown in an emotional light, the local media report. People take notice and want to be part of this fascinating experience. Extensive international media work, blogger relations, direct marketing and content marketing are used as multipliers. This gives people in Europe the opportunity to become part of a movement for more attentiveness in Europe.

Every light installation elicits a breathtaking response. In Milan alone, 100 journalists, 150 bloggers and countless passers-by participate. Traffic in front of the building comes to a standstill. Some 2,000 media reports appear across Europe. The story appears on the covers of high-circulation daily newspapers such as BILD and LA VANGUARDIA, and is featured by TV stations. Google’s autocomplete automatically adds the term “attentiveness” to the brand name of SWISS. There are hundreds of thousands of tweets, Instagram and Facebook posts and YouTube videos – all showing SWISS’s red tail fin. The campaign has a total reach of 1 billion – without a cent spent on paid media. It is SWISS’s most successful communication project ever with a significant impact on brand perception: in European brand tracking, agreement with the statements “SWISS takes a personal and individual approach to passengers” and “SWISS makes flying pleasant for passengers” far exceeds the targeted increase.

The airline SWISS recognizes that it takes a higher brand purpose, an important issue, and action within society to touch people and be relevant for them. With “Attentive Eyes” SWISS links its brand essence of “Attentiveness/Swissness” with the cross-culture desire for greater interpersonal attentiveness in Europe. SWISS sends a signal to people in Europe: the eyes of SWISS flight attendants illuminate historical landmark buildings in six European metropolises in an unseen way. It is no campaign of loud messages but rather of fascinating, touching images. Images that give pause to many thousands on the ground, encouraging people to become part of this signal themselves. They photograph, film and post these powerful images and make their own “eye-selfies”. SWISS reaches a huge response with this emotion-evoking idea across all disciplines: live event, media (print, online, radio and TV), social media, blogger relations, online, direct marketing and content marketing. An incredible success!