"I believe I can fly" or the world's most creative airlines

Nowadays, as companies seek for uniqueness in interaction with their customers, creative approach to public relations is an unspeakable must. In order to attract attention of indulged customers businesses search for unexpected advertising solutions. And in a contemporary competitive environment New Zealand Airlines definitely found a key to success.

Captivated by a recent innovation in safety instructions approach, I found myself in front of my computer screen, seriously considering a trip to New Zealand. A newly filmed video, showing aircraft safety instructions in style of upcoming Hobbit movie is just fascinating. The safety instructions are given by an Elf Princess with Dwarves, Hobbits, Orks and other Tolkien's MiddleEarth inhabitants onboard. The video not only advertises a film that comes out on December 13th, 2012, but also promotes the country of New Zealand internationally in the most appealing fairytale style. The Hobbit is a pre-history to a legendary Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien, filmed in the magnificent lands of south continent. A great "behind the scenes" movie for the unusual safety instructions may also be found on YouTube Air New Zealand's (ANZ) channel.

But it's not the first time when Air New Zealand entertains their passengers in such outstanding and innovative way. A disco instructions video was shown on ANZ plaines in March 2011. Lively and colourful, the 80s style disco characters "dance" passengers through safety procedures onboard.

Bright engaging content of these videos makes routine procedure of safety instructions the most interactive part of a flight, leaving a bright trail in passenger's memory. Not to mention a good dose of positive mood received instantly.

ANZ owe their amazing safety instructions ideas to a New Zealand-born talented artist Joanne Gair  (other known as "Kiwi Jo"). She also appears behind their smart and funny "nothing to hide" add campaign, featuring real ANZ staff at work and by that gaining customers' trust. Another safety instructions video was presented as a part of "nothing to hide" campaign, featuring Ricci - ANZ's special provocative humorist toy character.

One more evidence of ANZ's status as the world's
most creative airlines is their contribution to WOW "World of Wearable Art" fashion design festival in Berlin this year, awarding a special ANZ prize. The award was first launched in 2005 and is valued in the design world.

Unfortunately, not many companies use this creative approach to their communications. So everything for us as customers to wish for is a possibility for more brands to adopt Air New Zealand's friendly approach in targeting their publics ethically, using sense of humor, trust and reliability as their main promotional tools.