Does quirky social media sell airline seats?

After a day of phone calls, texts and emails about Air NZ’s latest viral ad campaign, maybe this blog should help spread the virus.

There is after all, no certainty that they are going to win more customers than they alienate, in the examples shown below. Don’t get me wrong, the All Blacks Rugby safety video is very good. But some ‘lost’ Kiwi country boy buying dresses for the inflatable doll he just married isn’t going to make me ditch my Velocity or Qantas memberships for the Air NZ scheme even if I flew the Tasman once a week.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmnX6Yjl_7c&feature=channel[/youtube] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZLBY3lYtsQ&feature=channel[/youtube]

How many of those who see the offending or amusing YouTubes will inquire more about the originality of the new Air NZ product offerings? Serious sky warriors have a lot to consider in the new premium economy layout in its 777-300ERs, particularly as the carrier is betting that there will be demand for 50 of them, which is a very large number for this type of jet. It looks good, but is it worth it? We won’t find out for at least another year as the new configuration (seat map below) meets the reality of sales figures as it is gradually introduced on Air NZ’s long haul routes.

Maybe Virgin Blue will do something similar in its A330s or revamped Boeing 737s although it might be rather costly to change its 777-300ERs so early in their service life time?

There is an entire YouTube Air New Zealand channel, which does suggest that pull advertising, even some really bad examples of same, is buying the airline serious exposure.

And at around 0.0001% of the cost of a page of print! There is a lot more precision about counting metered social media eyeballs than believing anything a newspaper might say about readership eyeballs, or even circulation.