In 2013, WestJet started its campaign of making Christmas special for its customers. It records these celebrations and uploads on You Tube every year to share the joy and celebrations with others. The culture of WestJet of being fun, friendly and caring is being spread through these surprises and videos. This ad has been viewed 42,819,136 times as on 6th December, 2015. In 2014, when I was in India I saw this ad being shared by many of my friends. The ad has also been mentioned on the globe and mail, Financial Post, The Global News and CBC. It has been called a “Tear Jerker” ad.
When I came across Chip Heath’s video on “Made To Stick” , I was reminded of West jet again and I decided to find similarities between the theory and ad.
- Simplicity “Simplicity isn’t about dumbing down, it’s about prioritizing” as has been mentioned in the book “Made to Stick”. The core of the message in this ad is as simple as it seems. It’s about having fun, spreading joy and believing in miracles. There is no complex message that is being sent here and no hidden imagery that is thought provoking.
- Unexpected : This video has held attention right from the beginning. The “curiosity gap” in this video is the reactions of the customers. Another “curiosity gap” which was only for small time was what will WestJet do of the information it is collecting from its customers? Will it really gift these things that the customers desire? The ad has a shock value. The passengers never expected these wishes to be fulfilled. The element of surprise makes the ad more appealing and stronger. This also makes the viewer to share the ad since they want to discuss more about this.
- Concrete : “To be concrete, use sensory language.” This ad uses multiple ways to stick the message in the minds of the viewers. The rhyming description and customers sharing their joys is one of the best ways to use multiple types of memories. As the Voice Over narrates the perfect Christmas story, it adds to the appeal of the video. This penetrates the attention of a viewer and makes him engaged at many levels.
- Credible: The idea of the ad is original but is also common. As credible as gifting on Christmas seems, this idea is associated only to an event. Making customer happy beyond belief but it lasts only for an event. Once the season is over the customers may not remember it. However, if the customer service was highlighted more than the joy, it would have had a greater impact on the choice of the customer.
- Emotional: This ad has a very high emotional appeal. It captures surprise, joy, affection, celebrations and family values at the same time. The ad clearly communicates that WestJet cares about people and their emotions. This makes the ad a clear winner. Customers want to be cared and when a brand cares about their emotions, the brand wins their loyalty. The viewer’s get a joy out of watching these videos. By sharing this video they also try to share joy. This ads builds an emotional roller coaster. The viewer cannot leave this ad in the middle because it has been designed to engage the viewer emotionally till the end. Every age group enjoys the emotion of joy, gifts, and surprises. WestJet gives these emotions in its video and have been successful in stocking the message in the minds of customers
- Stories : “Stories drive action through simulation (what to do) and inspiration (motivation to do)” as mentioned in the book “Made to Stick”. The video clearly has one strong story and that is Christmas story by WestJet. The passengers are asked about their wishes and then the staff of WestJet rushes to multiple partner stores for gift shopping and as soon as the plane carrying these passengers’ lands they are surprised to see the gifts. The story has been spun well with all ingredients of a joyful story. Every time the story is mentioned, Westjet will be remembered by the customer. Its association has been cemented. The simulation for viewers is to spread the joy by sharing the video and the inspiration is the underlying desire to see miracles happening. Our minds love fairy tales and stories that make us believe in good emotions like love, loyalty, care, trust etc. These emotions are surfaced in this ad and act as motivation to share it and talk about it.
People also have strong associations in their minds to brands. As much as they enjoy stories, they do not prefer highlighting the brands over the story. This video successfully keeps the involvement of brand WestJet subtle and lets the passenger experience and happiness take the front seat. This creates an impression in the mind of the viewers that the brand genuinely cares about their emotions.