The use of visual and aural language across television advertising by British Airlines.

The use of visual and
aural language across
television advertising
by British Airlines.

Including 2011 Television Advertising by

British Airways & Virgin Atlantic.

Ryan Dunlop

BA (Hons)

University of the West Of Scotland

2012

1

For
his
continued
support
and
laughter
throughout.

My
sincere
thanks
to
Jonathon
O’Keefe.

Extended
thanks
and
best
wishes
to
everybody

At
the
University
Of
The
West
Of
Scotland
including

But
not
limited
to
Dr
Marcus
Bowman
for
his
assistance,

Paul
Tucker,
Lynn
Sinclair,
Stuart
Hepburn,

Dr
Kathryn
Burnett,
Maggie
Sweeney

and
everyone
else
–
there
are
too
many
to
list…

2

CONTENTS

1.01 INTRODUCTION 4
1.02 The aim of this study 6
1.03 Methodology 6
1.04 Study structure 7

2.01 LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.02 The role of colour within Advertising 9
2.03 The role of music within Advertising 12
2.04 Semiotics and Advertising 15
2.05 Aviation Industry Health & Advertising 15
2.06 Brands & Marketing 18

3.01 Methodology 20
3.02 Textual Analysis/ Content Analysis 20
3.03 Mass Survey 21
3.04 Secondary Research 23
3.05 Semiotic Methodology 25

4.01 Historical TV Advertising: Analysis 27
4.02 A Content Analysis: British Airways 28
4.03 A Content Analysis: Virgin Atlantic Airways 29

5.01 2011 TV Advertising: Analysis 33
5.02 ‘Aviators’ by British Airways 33
5.03 British Airways: An Analysis 34
5.04 Virgin: ‘Your Airline’s either got it or it hasn’t’ 36
5.05 Virgin: An Analysis 37

6.01 What Do People Expect from Airline Advertising? 39
6.02 Mass Survey 39
6.03 Virgin: The Results 40
6.04 British Airways: National Pride? 41
6.05 Conclusion of Public Opinion? 43

7.01 Conclusion & Reflection 44
7.02 Bringing back ‘Magic’ and the ‘Dream’ are Crucial 44
7.03 Emotion & Moods can be altered 46

8.00 Appendixes: 47
8.01 Historical Advertising: Video Content 48
8.02 Appendix 02: 2011 Advertising: Video Content 49
8.03 Appendix 03: Mass Survey: Virgin Atlantic 50
8.04 Appendix 04: Mass Survey: British Airways 51

Bibliography 52

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.01 INTRODUCTION

“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes
turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to
return”
[Leonardo da Vinci]

Aviation is one of the most lucrative business ventures in the world and in
2010 over 2.1 MILLION flights passed through British skies transporting a
staggering 200 MILLION passengers to destinations across the world. (Nats,
2011)

This can be illustrated simply in a graph with statistics from the Civil Aviation
Authority in Figure 1 (CAA, 2008), where you can see a steady increase (or
growth) in passenger numbers year on year at UK Airports.

It should, however, be noted that there are some instances where slight ‘blips’
appear due to events such as September 11th Terrorist Attacks in the United
States, the SARS outbreak and the second gulf war.

4

Figure 1: Rolling year passenger traffic at UK airports, 1994 - 2007

According to information from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA, 2011), by
capacity British Airways is Britain’s largest airline, followed by Virgin Atlantic
Airways and thereafter Easyjet - a low fares carrier.

The UK airline market is described by some as ‘saturated’ (Dennis, 2004) and
passengers have a substantial amount of choice in which airline they choose
to fly with. An example of this is during the writing of this study, attempting to
book a flight from Glasgow to London offered the choices of flying with British
Airways, BMI, Easyjet and Flybe (Glasgow Airport, 2011).

This aforementioned saturation has lead to increased competition amongst
airlines and to attract new customers – as well as retain their current customer
base – airlines have required to invest substantially in marketing and
advertising campaigns in recent years. (Brad, 2011)

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1.02 THE AIM OF THIS STUDY

The aim of this study is to analyse a selection of television advertisements
from two major British airlines from 2011 through content analysis to discover
the way they portray their message to audiences and the elements which form
the advertisement’s and what they signify and how this may differ historically
from their television advertising in the past. A sample of other television
advertising by large airlines shall also be used to try and show trends and
produce results with reduced error.

So to summarise, in this report I shall:
1. Evaluate historically in brief the television advertising utilized by British
Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways.
2. Analyse British Airways & Virgin Atlantic’s current television
advertisements from 2011 to critique on their use of visual and aural
language.
3. Provide an analysis of television advertisements by other major airlines
both in the past and present.
4. Explore similarities between the aforementioned advertisements and
differences.

1.03 METHODOLOGY

The primary methodology to achieve the objective aims for this research study
will be that of Content Analysis, this form will be able to collect new and
original data on the advertisements. More information on this research
method can be found in Chapter 3.

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1.04 STUDY STRUCTURE

This research study shall take the following structure:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – an overall introduction to the aviation market in
the U.K. and brief reasoning for airline advertising and marketing. This
introduction shall also introduce the reader to the aims of the study and
rationale as well as touch briefly upon the methods used.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – This chapter is a review of significant
literature relating to aviation, advertising, gender, branding and semiotics.

Chapter 3 – Methodology – An introduction and detail to the research
methodology used to achieve the aims of the research study as outlined in
Chapter 1.02. This chapter also details why the stated methods have been
selected and includes reasoning for the decision why other methodology
hadn’t been selected and/ or wasn’t appropriate for this study.

Chapter 4 – Historical TV Advertising: Analysis – An analysis of historical
television advertisements run by British Airways & Virgin Atlantic Airways.
This analysis shall take a key content analysis.

Chapter 5 – 2011 TV advertising: Analysis – An analysis of the latest
television advertisements by British Airways & Virgin Atlantic Airways through
their visual language used, narration, music and gender – comparing them to
the historical advertisements analysed in Chapter 4.

7

Chapter 6 – What do people expect from airline advertising? – Results
from a mass online survey for key terms and expectations people believe go
‘hand in hand’ with airline advertising.

Chapter 7 – Conclusion & Reflection – Reflection upon the similarities and
differences between the advertising of major British airlines in 2011, the
changes from historical campaigns and social impacts.

8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.01 INTRODUCTION

At time of writing this study, there is an apparent shortage of academic
research concerning airline television advertising and it’s affects on people.
To overcome the apparent lack of concluding materials, this study has
researched into the following areas:

1) The role of colour within advertising.
2) The role of music within advertising.
3) Semiotics & advertising – which will be key to this this study through
the methodology of content analysis.
4) Aviation Industry Health & Advertising – background research into the
aviation industry and advertising generally.
5) Brands & Marketing

2.02 THE ROLE OF COLOUR WITHIN ADVERTISING

Since the very first colour television advertisements on British television in
1969 by advertising agency Unilever for ‘Birds Eye peas’, (Unilever, 2011)
colour has been essential to the way companies and agencies advertise their
products, services and ‘brands’ to consumers and potential customers.

Colours are all around us and each and every colour comes with its own
apparent ‘meaning’ to people, in this sub-section I intend to explain colour

9

meaning’s with the work of J. Biner, L. Crew and E. Biggs as well as an
example regarding Tobacco advertising in New Zealand.

Joseph Binder (1934) proposed a ‘colour wheel’ in which various colours
would signify different meaning and could therefore be used with advertising to
portray ‘feelings’ from an advertiser to a consumer.

Binder proposed that Red is the colour of ‘fire and blood, so is associated with
war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire and
love’, that orange ‘combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It
is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics.’

His study did not stop there though and was picked up by Ernest Biggs (1956)
who proposed that in fact there is more to colour bar the standard colours
which Binder proposed - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white and
black.

Instead Biggs wrote that lighter and darker versions of each colour would

cause stimuli in the consumer; for example that light red would represent “joy,
sexuality, passion, sensitivity and love’ where as dark red is associated with
‘vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice and wrath.”

From the website Effective Advertising (2011), their theory is scientific and the
way that the physics of the eye and the brain work. They wrote that the way
we register colour is when a ‘light beam enters our eyes, pigments in our eyes
determine the different colours that will sent out a message to our brains.
Thus, colours do effect how we feel and react to certain advertisements’

10

They continue to say that because we do not actively think of the colours and
ideas they remind us of, the effect colours have on us could be described as
subliminal.

Effective Advertising also write that ‘humans have been conditioned to accept
colours to represent specific ideas such as stereotypical blue for boy and pink
for girl.’

Another study by the University of British Columbia (2009) found that found
that ‘when the background colour was red, people formed more favourable
evaluations of products when its ad featured specific details as opposed to
evocative, creative messaging. However, when the background was blue, the
opposite pattern of results emerged’.

The study also found that ‘people were more receptive to a new, fictional
brand of toothpaste that focused on negative messages such as “cavity
prevention” when the background colour was red, whereas people were more
receptive to aspirational messages such as “tooth whitening” when the

background colour was rendered in blue.’

A relatively recent report in the news regarding colour within advertising is
about New Zealand ‘phasing out of point-of-sale tobacco advertising’. The
article (Fraser, T., 1998, pp. 82-84) wrote that ‘the tobacco industry [try] to
establish the colours of the brand over a period of the time. When the code
ceases to exist [allowing them to use coloured advertising], the colours will be
imprinted in smokers’ minds.’

The tobacco industries usage of colours in advertising therefore serves as a
practice-based example of the previous aforementioned theories at work.

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2.03 THE ROLE OF MUSIC WITHIN ADVERTISING

‘Music can induce emotions and feelings in line with product meaning, leading
to an enhanced likelihood of purchase.’ (Alpert, M. et al, 2003)
An experiment conducted by Alpert, M. et al in 2003 involved exposing one
greeting card advert to seventy-five student volunteers; however background
music which accompanied the advertisement varied.

With the difference in music choice across the four groups of student’s it
provided a reasonable sample to show how music alters people’s opinions in
advertising.

Two groups viewed the aforementioned advertisement with ‘sad music’, while
the other two were shown the exact same advertisement, but with ‘happy
[upbeat]’ music. The results concluded that that the ‘distinction in the formal
music structure might have substantial influence over the emotions of the
consumer audience’.

An example is simple: A Christmas card would work better with a more
‘upbeat’ music style to show the ‘happy and good times’ of the year rather than
a more down-beat, sad music choice which would be more suited to the likes
of funerals.

An article from Gorn (1982) which is described as pioneering on the effects of
background music in advertising, however also described controversial is of
particular interest.

12

Gorn instead relied on a more theoretical approach of ‘classical conditioning’.
This theory suggests that ‘pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditional
stimulus will produce a conditioned response’.

A study conducted in 1989 which attempted that replicate Gorn’s results found
a contradiction and was unable to find any evidence that ‘product preferences
can be conditioned through a single exposure to appealing or unappealing
music.’ (Kellaris, J. & Cox, A., 1989)

Where Gorn’s previous study in 1982 had become massively ‘influential,
having been cited in at least 34 refereed journal articles (Social Science Index
1982 – 1988)’. It has also been subject to controversy and according to the
1989 report by Kellaris & Cox, sever researchers have been unable to find
classical conditioning in similar experiments (Allen & Madden, 1985; Park &
Young, 1986).

Kellaris & Cox (1989) conducted essentially a replication of Gorn’s 1982 study.
Firstly Kellaris & Cox conducted an experiment where they exposed a sample

to slides of a coloured pen, accompanied by either pleasant or unpleasant
music and then provided the ample group the opportunity to select either the
pen colour in the slide or an alternate colour. There were a few slight
modifications/ differences in this experiment compared with Gorn’s in that
Kellaris & Cox attempted to ‘hold other music characteristic’s constant’,
therefore two recordings were chosen; a Mozart overture and a selection by
Milhaud – both similar instrumentation, tempo and modality, but subjectively
judged to differ in appeal.

Results from this study by Kellaris & Cox shown that of music appeal the
choice of an advertised pen was 89 where a non-advertised pen was only 69;

13

showing that music had potentially influenced the original choice by the
groups.

Other research through the ‘ELM model’ utilized by Petty & Cacioppo (1981)
and Petty et al (1983) suggested ways in which attitudes can be ‘influenced’
rather than the aforementioned theory of favourable and/ or non-favourable
associations. The ELM model research suggested that the attitudes could be
influenced in a particular way if the ‘individual [consumer] is motivated, and
able to process product information.’

The research continues to suggest that if the individual is ‘not motivated and
therefore unable to process product information [in an advertisement] then
attitudes are formed through associations, which can be caused by music in
an advert.’ (Zander M.F., 2006, pp.466)

Another study by Gorn, Goldberg & Basu (1993) investigated the effects of
mood on production evaluation’. In their study a sample of subjects were
asked to ‘evaluate stereo speakers on which they heard music that induced

either a good or bad mood.’

The results from this study suggested that mood caused a bias; a good mood
by the subjects meant they favoured the product more compared to a bad
mood where they were unfavourable to the product. The results from the study
also suggested that even when a subject was motivated to attend an outside
stimulus and to evaluate it objectively, if in a bad mood the subject would have
a limited ability to do so.

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2.04 SEMIOTICS & ADVERTISING

‘Every book and picture tells a story’. Semiotics is one of the most known
analytical techniques for the study and/ or analysis of advertisements whether
on print or in a media form such a broadcast. Semiotics, also sometimes
called semiology, is defined as ‘the science (or theory) of signs’. (Anderson,
Dewhirst & Ling, 2006)

Derrived from structural linguistics and the work of Ferdinand de Saussure
(1959), semiotics is a form of qualitiative research for the study or analysis of
advertising. Saussure says that where there is a sign, ‘there is a system of
meaning which can be separated apart into two key components; the signifier
and the signified.’

I have provided a more of in-depth explanation of the methodology of
semiotics in Chapter 3.05 Semiotic Methodology.

2.05 AVIATION INDUSTRY HEALTH & ADVERTISING

British Airways is the world’s 5th largest airline by ‘Scheduled international
passengers/ kilometers flown’ and therefore the biggest in the UK. In 2010 the
flagship carrier carried 103,095million people across the world. (IATA, 2011)

Since September 11 2001, the aviation industry has suffered a continued
fallout and coupled with the global economic situation and increasing fuel
prices, established airlines are facing ‘unusually intense financial pressures’.
(NY Times, 2004)

15

However, even though airline spending fell to $678million [£437million] in 2003
from $2.4billion [£1.54billion] in 2000. In the first six months of 2004, it had
reached $375million [£241million] – showing a positive growth.

Although these statistics are from 2003/4, they are relevant to this study to
show the growth after such a large aviation downturn due to the traumatic
event’s in New York. In 2011, the national carrier British Airways launched it’s
biggest brand advertising campaign in ‘more than a decade.’ (Taylor, 2011)

BA Chief Executive Keith Williams was quoted in Travel Weekly: “The new
campaign represents an opening of a new chapters”

“The industry has been through difficult times in the last 10 years, through
periods of severe disruption, record oil prices and the deepest recession since
the 1930s. But BA has emerged and returned to profitability.”

The advertising campaign which is believed to have cost £20million shows the
airline and overall industry strength coupled with resilience. (Sweney, 2011)

British Airways have also recently launched their largest pilot recruitment
campaign in which they intend to hire 800 new pilots by 2016. The airline will
also finance their training, which pilots will repay during their career with BA.
(BBC, 2011)

BALPA (The pilots union) commented to the BBC saying that “the union had
warned for some time that a recruitment freeze by the industry since the
recession risked leaving airlines short of personnel in coming years.”

16

Elsewhere in the aviation industry, Virgin Atlantic was awarded the ‘Passenger
Choice Awards 2011’ at the annual Airline Passenger Experience Awards in
Seattle, U.S.A. (Virgin, 2011)

The Branson owned airline also launched its first major advertising campaign
in the U.S. in 2009/10 costing £6million [$9.3million]. (Smith, 2010)

Elsewhere, growth and the scale of the aviation industry is well documented
by the likes of National Air Traffic Services who reported a growth 1.5% in UK
flights in June 2011 after handling its ‘millionth flight of the year on 22nd June
2011’; last year the millionth flight was on 1st July 2010.’ (Nats, 2011)

A more detailed look at air traffic in the UK is detailed in Figure 1, it shows
201,116 flights in June 2011 compared with 198,063 in 2010 and overall
1,057,838 flights in 2011 from January to June period compared to 997,592 in
2010.

Figure 2: UK Flight Statistics handled by NATS (June-2011)

17

These statistics coupled with the data from the British Airways and Virgin
Atlantic aforementioned marketing and advertising spending shows the
industry is in good health; in particular with its advertising and marketing
spending overall.

2.06 BRANDS & MARKETING

Brands and a companies branding is one of the largest foundations and crucial
items to any form of marketing and/ or advertising. A brand forms
associations, it is colour, slogans, a statement, a logo, a promise – if
influences people and essentially creates value; such a value that there is a
bond with your customer.
Such branding is heavily reliant on the way consumers (customers) digest
information in the brain and the way human beings both record information,
process it and recall it (sometimes subliminal and without thinking). (Grimaldi,
2003)

Carey (200-) argues that the ‘vast majority of advertising is ineffective and
inefficient’. Carey uses an interesting example of car manufacturer Hyundai
whom use the tag line “Cars That Make Sense” in which he suggests that the
tag line has little or no effect either upon ‘our personal lives or even Hyundai’s
sales overall.’

Instead, Carey is inclined to say that the advertising by Hyundai – and other
companies such as Apple – give a light hearted entertainment rather than
serious advert and grant consumers a sort of ‘permission to ignore the long-
term consequences of [their] purchasing decisions’.

18

Carey also suggests that ad consumption is more of a consumption-orientated
mindset that makes brand names a ‘source of status and an end in
themselves.’

A paper by Beckwith (1972) also writes about branding in regard to
advertising, he wrote that consumers were ‘more likely’ to spend with a
company such as Coca Cola rather than a newer competitor due to the brand
and the association of the brand within a ‘consumers daily lifestyle’.

A report by Bass et al (2004) shown that the ‘benefits of generic advertising
are conferred to all firms regardless to who contributed’, however that brand
advertising must be ‘properly coordinated’ but provides larger market potential
in the long term.

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.01 INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to analyse a selection of television advertisements
from two major British airlines from 2011.

This chapter explains the research methodologies that will be used within this
research study and their rationale.

The aims of this chapter are:

6) Identify research methods that exist that are appropriate to this study.

7) Assess the aforementioned research methods in relation to their
relevance to this study.

8) Detail the selection of the research methods, which will be utilized in
this research study and also to provide an explanation to the reader as
to why other research methods were not chosen.

3.02 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS/ CONTENT ANLSYSIS

Textual Analysis is a methodology of the social sciences and allows critical
analysis of communication, whether through text or documents. American
Sociologist Earl Babbie (2008, pp.141-145) defines it as “the study of recorded
human communications, such as books, websites, paintings and laws.”

20

Through content analysis I shall be able to focus on the frequency with which
concepts occur in the advertisements; this will allow for a study of the gender
of people within and colours in particular. This type of approach has been
used to examine a wide variety of topics including that of conceptual shifts in
presedential addresses, (Sullivan, 1973) and cultural changes (Namenwirth
and Webber, 1987).

In its most basic form, content analysis involves a list of concepts and then a
set number of texts/ documents and/ or media and the researcher shall simply
count the number of times each concept occurs within the text. The
differences or similarities then provide trends and an insight into the content.

The sample will include an advertisement from both British Airways and Virgin
Atlantic’s 2011 television advertising campaigns, as well as an historical
sample. (See Section 4)

While there is no current uniform standard regarding sample size (Krippendorf,

1980; Riffe et al., 1998, pp. 81-100), the sample of a historical advertising by
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways shall provide a reasonable margin
for error and provide an efficient amount of data for accuracy of results.
(Neuendorf, 2002)

3.03 MASS-SURVEY

Surveys are a form of quantitative research and can provide data on real world
observations.
The breadth of coverage of many people or events means it is more likely that
surveys rather than other methodological approaches can obtain such a

21

representative sample and can therefore be generalizable to a population.
(Kelly, K.; Clark, B; Brown V., Sitzia, J, 2003)

In this research study I intend to conduct a ‘mass-survey’ which will include
both open and closed questions:

Open Questions will allow respondents to be able to ‘speak their mind’
although it has been noted that it tends to be slower to administer and can be
harder to record responses due multiple answers that could be given.
(Dawson, 2009)

Closed Questions by comparison tend to be quicker to administer, easy to
code answers due to a limited and ‘controlled’ selection although respondents
may not be able to raise new issues due to the options provided by the survey
and may become frustrated due to lack of choice. (Dawson, 2009, pp. 90-95)

The benefits of producing a mass survey combining both types of questions
and – I believe - therefore far outreaching any limitations. My intention in

regard to the open-questions which tend to be more difficult to record would be
to create a system where word repetition is recorded throughout the sample,
an example is provided in Figure 3.

Figure 3: An Open Question (Key Word) Example:

Question: What colour do you think of when you think of Virgin?
(Please only write one colour)
Answer: Red

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We would then therefore be able to produce a table of results based on ‘key
words and/ or phrases’ being utilized by respondents; this would provide a
faster results recording process and also provide a greater degree of accuracy
from the results gained. (Powel, T.R.; Renner, M, 2003)

3.04 SECONDARY RESEARCH

Secondary Research is the method in which information or data is gathered
and/or collected through literature, published material and media – as well as
various other sources.
Secondary research in this study shall allow a much deeper understanding
into the topic and the results found in this study.

This form of research is essential to understand the airline business in general
and it’s usage of advertising - in particular with the television medium.

Another advantage of secondary research is cost in both monetary and time
considerations and that it can disclose data that may have already been fully
studied in that particular area or field.

McDaniel and Gates (2000) have provided an explanation of various
advantages to using secondary research, these include (but are not limited to):

1. Help to clarify or redefine the definition of the problem as part of the
explanatory research and study process.
2. Provide a workable solution to a problem which may exist.
3. Alert the researcher to any potential problems or difficulties that may
arise.

23

4. Provide alternative primary research methods.
5. To provide essential necessary background information – and historical
data where relevant – and to build grounds for research.

Although secondary research is generally of high standard, it must be noted
that in all cases sources shall required to be checked with impartiality to
ensure of its credibility, accuracy and relevancy.

It should be noted there is a particular absense of relevant research at present
into airline television advertising, although the sources that have been found
for this study which are of relevance are as follows:

Previous Research
Previous research into branding and consumers connections with brands is
particularly useful when interrogating data gained and in particularly relevant
due to the recognizable brands within this study.

Research into ‘Women in Aviation’ by the University of Pretoria (Wilson, 2005)

also provides a better grounding understanding for this study and in particular
of genders in aviation generally – therefore allowing a better understanding of
the use of genders and roles within airline television advertising.

News & Press
News and press articles present current and prior views regarding advertising,
background and relevant current information and public opinion.

Academic Texts
Academic Text & Literature has provided and provided a grounding for this
research study with relevant – both current and historical. The key relevant

24

areas of academic texts include: Research Methodologies, Advertising &
Marketing and Aviation business.

Internet
Online sources provides the ‘immediacy’ and most current data and
information for study. It must be noted that due diligence and fact-checking
has been used for all sources – including internet sources – for this study.

3.05 SEMIOTIC METHODOLOGY

Derived from the work of Ferdinand de Saussure (1959) and structural
linguistics, semiotics is a form of qualitative approach for studying the content
of advertisements.
I have touched upon semiotics in Chapter 2.04 during the Literature Review
and the work of both Saussure and Barthes.

During the semiotic analysis process the research must provide due
justification and rationale for the advertisements to be analysed and also a
period (whether it be minutes or hours or even weeks/ months.)

The aforementioned period (or sample) may consist of a particular advertising
campaign(s) or a ‘cross-section’. The analysis would then involve the
compilation of a denotation (the initial meaning the sign is designed to capture)
inventory – accounting for both written copy (i.e. linguistics, size, fonts,
typography etc. and images or video. (Dryer, 1982)

After creating such a denotation inventory, the study could then pursue more
in depth semiotical study into - for example - the connotation (Sebeok, 2001)

25

where they may be a secondary meaning or implied meanings of a sign or text
and produce a further in-depth analysis. (Barthes, 1972)

From Anderson et al (2006); ‘the analyst observes whether different elements
may be polysemic, accounting for the fact that signs or texts have multiple,
hierarchical meanings with some of them being designated as dominant/
preferred.’

Semiotics is heavily dependent on the skills, strengths and experience of the
researcher/ analysis and thus a more experienced researcher with
considerable experience in both semiotics and a particular subject area will
without doubt produce a more in-depth and comprehensive report.
Anderson (2006) also states that ‘it is important that the semiotic analysis be
performed on advertisements that are both representative of a particular
advertising campaign and the brand’s positioning historically, as opposed to
handpicking single advertisements to illustrate expedient points.

To summarise; semiotics allows a very in-depth and view of the meaning of

the advertisement and is incredibly advantageous, however, it does require
the analyst to have experience in both the methodology and field of chosen
study to provide a in-depth report with a ‘layer of richness’ to the interpretation
of advertising content. (Anderson, 2006)

26

CHAPTER 4 HISTORICAL TV ADVERTISING: ANALYSIS

4.01 HISTORICAL TV ADVERTISING

For the aim of this study and to provide a grounding and therefore to attempt
to show results over a more sustained period of time – in this case a matter of
decades - we shall assess ‘historical television advertising’ by major airlines
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
The sample used for this section are television advertisements used by British

Airways from 1970 through to 2006 and Virgin Atlantic’s recent campaign in
2009.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word Historical means ‘in the past’,
‘belonging to the past’ and ‘past events’. For the purpose of this study the
following advertisements (i.e. Pre-2011) shall be studied for the two airlines.

N.B. Each commercial used is available to freely view online, links are
provided in Appendix 1.

In the next chapter I shall explore a more in depth analysis of the most recent
television campaign(s) by the two major airlines.

From British Airways:
‘British Airways Fly The Flag Commercial’ from 1970.
‘British Airways Face Commercial’ from 1989.
‘British Airways Worlds Favourite Airline’ from 1992.
‘British Airways TV Advertising’ from 1997.
‘British Airways Dolphins Campaign’ from 2006.

27

From Virgin Atlantic:
‘Virgin Atlantic: 25 Years, still red hot’

4.02 A CONTENT ANALYSIS: BRITISH AIRWAYS

A content analysis of the aforementioned British Airways campaigns provided
some results and indicated a pattern of various key factors consistent
throughout the television advertisements used by the airline from 1970 to
2006.

Table 1 (Below) shows the amount of times various key factors arise:

Table 1: Content Analysis of BA Advertisements 1970 – 2006

Year of Ad Pilots-Male:Female Cabin Crew- Male:Female

1970 1:0 0:2

1989 1:0 0:1

1992 0:0 0:8

1997 0:0 0:0

2006 0:0 0:1

Table 1 shows a clear trend towards a potentially eccentric and draconian
attitude towards male and female roles within the workplace. The data from
the campaigns used by British Airways from 1970 show a clear distinction of
male ‘pilots’ and female ‘cabin crew’ with a very clear image to audiences –
but why is this?

28

Research conducted in 2009 into Gender in management which included
sexism in the UK airline industry examined the cultural sexism in this industry
through interviews with pilots and cabin crew. (Sarah Neal-Smith et al, 2009)

The paper indicated that female pilots face a sort of ‘cultural sexism’ where
their male colleagues expect them to be ‘different based upon assumptions’.
This would fit in with the findings found in the content analysis of the British
Airways 1970-2006 campaigns.

The advertisements used by British Airways not only provide an insight to the
culture at the airline during this period but also British culture in general.

4.03 A CONTENT ANALYSIS: VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS

But is this just British Airways or can this be seen at another national air
carrier, Virgin Atlantic? Well in a brief content analysis of the advertisement
from 2009 titled: ‘Virgin Atlantic: 25 Years, still red hot’ it shown to be in line
with these findings, see table 2.

Table 2: Content Analysis of Virgin Atlantic 2009 advertisement

Year of Ad Pilots-Male:Female Cabin Crew- Male:Female

2009 1:0 1:26

Based on these findings in particular from Virgin Atlantic who launched
approximately 27 years ago claiming they that they were a ‘refreshing and
modern’ approach to aviation, why has the airline then chosen to celebrate
this apparent fact/ claim in such an old-fashioned and eccentric viewing
advertisement, in every sense of the word?

29

Ad agency Y&R in London were behind this advertisement for Virgin Atlantic
celebrating the airline’s 25th anniversary. Critics for the ad have called it the
message which the ad is portraying ‘more retro than its look’.

The add features a group of Virgin cabin crew in ‘red power suits and
stilettoes’ and their (mostly) blonde tresses flowing in the breeze. The tagline
of the advertisement is ofcourse that Virgin is ‘still red hot’ – so what should
Virgin’s potential consumers take away from this advertisement?

Eliza Williams wrote on blog and review website CreativeReview in 2009
asking ‘What are we supposed to take from this? Surely Virgin has something
more interesting to say about itself than “fly with us because we’ve got the
most shaggable stewardesses?”. (Williams, 2009)

Williams continues to comment that Virgin was an ‘attractive’ brand because it
sought to leave such ‘retarded nonsense behind’. She makes a good
comment asking that ‘If you were a female CEO of a major organization,
would this ad make you want to give your business to Virgin?’ – Without

making any prejudice comment - I would suspect not.

Comments from readers of the website add interesting perspectives:

“I think the spot’s pretty awesome. I mean, it wouldn’t have flow in the 90s,
when feminism was at its most dour, but thankfully we’ve moved beyond that.”
Richard

“The ad did a very good job of recreating the feel of the 80s, including the
perception of women – reminiscent of countless pop videos (take Club

30

Tropicana for example) and movies from the era – in that regard, works. Even
the clunky dialogue at the conclusion fits the bill.
Nonetheless, I do not feel that it would be my choice to represent my
company in such a way. As has been noted, it seems to fly in the face of
everything the brand has stood for, and – irony aside – indicates that they are
stuck in the past.”
ThePickleBot

The comment from Richard indicates that possibly because ‘times have
changed’ in essence that the advert is now passable and creates a more
humorous tone where as only a decade or two ago would of caused
substantial offence?

‘ThePickleBot’ comment’s the article congratulating the advert of summing up
the particular time period of the 80s with reference to the song ‘Club
Tropicana’ and concludes that it does in that essence, work.

The commentor continues to state that ‘nonetheless, I do not feel that it would

be my choice to represent my company in such a way’ – so really is Virgin
really acting sexist here and if so were British Airways in their previous
advertisements we viewed previously in this section?

Currently on television is Pan Am, a drama series all about the life of the crew
working at the late Pan American Airways. The BBC television drama
‘recreates the days when flying was fun and glamorous’. The Daily Mail
commented on the series stating that ‘Even the blatant sexism is viewed more
with affection than regret.’ (DailyMail, 2011)

31

This would indicate a more positive view and ‘reminiscence’ of the decade’s
gone by albeit with their various faults and controversies – people therefore
have a warm emotion and attachment to the brand creating a better ‘feel
good’ factor and therefore resulting in higher business/ sales and an overall
greater brand loyalty. (Gorn, Goldberg & Basu, 1993)

32

CHAPTER 5 2011 TV ADVERTISING: ANALYSIS

5.01 2011 TV ADVERTISING: ANALYSIS

With British Airways now being ranked as the world’s 5th largest airline by
‘scheduled international passengers/ kilometers flown’ and carrying over
103,095million people round the world.

On the other side of the market, Branson’s Virgin Atlantic was awarded the

‘Passenger Choice Awards 2011’ and launched its first major advertising
campaign in the United States last year, costing £6million [$9.3million].
(Smith, 2010)

Thus at the end of 2011, the industry has seen an increase in the health of
airlines after a tough and fierce decade which started with the traumatic
events in New York in September 2001. (IATA, 2011)

In this chapter shall look at the 2 major advertising campaigns on television by
Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways in 2011 through their use of visual
language through semiotics, the narration, music, gender and shall conduct a
comparison to their previous historical campaigns as discussed in the
previous chapter.

5.02 ‘AVIATORS’ BY BRITISH AIRWAYS.

British Airways ‘pay tribute to whose who first too flight – and follow in their
footsteps’. The most expensive campaign ever for the British national flag
carrying airline recruited the help of experienced ad agency

33

On the other side of the market, Branson’s Virgin Atlantic was awarded the
‘Passenger Choice Awards 2011’ and launched its first major advertising
campaign in the United Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in this £20million
campaign.

BBH is a long established advertising agency and having launched on 1982
‘pride themselves in complete engagement and establishing brand
‘effectiveness to make subsequent ideas even bigger.’ (BBH, 2012)

The aviators advert by British Airways is all about ‘showing off’ the companies
92-year history and digs into its archives with a rather nostalgic look.

In the previous chapter I looked at the historical advertising by British Airways
and discovered a potential ‘eccentric and draconian attitude’ towards even the
exposure of people appearing in the advert, although this new ‘aviators’
campaign has a nostalgic look – people will be glad to know that BA have
taken such draconian and potentially feministic areas of concern onboard and

have a more equal mix of staff – all of whom are actual real life British Airways
staff. (PlanetContent, 2011)

5.03 BRITISH AIRWAYS: AN ANALYSIS

BBH and British Airways have performed particularly well when it comes to
adding a ‘feel good’ factor to their consumers through this new advertisement.
The voice-over which is read aloud by actor Jack Davenport – famously
Pirates of The Caribbean – is distinctly British and creates a ‘national sense of
pride’ of which could be described as effective use of symbolism and creating
a brand attachment through a sense of nationalism of ‘British-ness’.

34

In addition to the voice chosen for the narration (or voice-over if you would
like) of the advertisement, the linguistics and choice of key wording stimulates
the mind and creates a sort of cinematic feel.

“Those first young men, the pioneers, the aviators building super highways in
an unknown sky.
Leaving wives and children in their snug homes, with just a kiss and a
promise to return.
Roaring into the clouds to battle wind and stars. Their safety systems built of
brain and heart.
They landed where there were no lights.
Transforming strange names from tall tales into pictures on postcards home.
And those next young men, travelling further, faster, higher than any in history
and the ones who followed them, who skimmed the edge of space, the edge
of heaven, the edge of dreams”

The consumer becomes lesser a customer who is parting with some sort of

finance or bond for a service or a ticket but more a consumer who is being
entertained through the use if linguistics which could be described more as a
Hollywood movie rather than an advertisement ‘selling an airline’, instead
British Airways are selling a dream, a story – essentially the ‘magic’ of flight.

So based on the aforementioned idea and proposal that British Airways are
selling a dream rather than a ticket – it would indicate that BBH (the agency)
have succeeded with paying ‘tribute to those who first took flight’. (Creativity,
2012)

35

In addition to the use of linguistics and Jack Davenport, the airline
commissioned music by Helen Jane Long with her track which is aptly titled
‘The Aviators’.
As discussed in chapter 2, ‘Music can induce emotions and feelings in line
with product meaning, leading to an enhanced likelihood of purchase.’ (Alpert,
M. et al, 2003)

The track which is used includes a piano accompaniment with orchestral with
a rising tempo creating a sense of urgency, this relates to a theoretical
approach from Gorn (1982) of ‘classical conditioning’. This theory suggests
that ‘pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditional stimulus will produce a
conditioned response’.

Gorn also believed that ‘product preferences can be conditioned through a
single exposure to appealing or unappealing music.’

5.04 VIRGIN: ‘YOUR AIRLINE’S EITHER GOT IT OR IT HASN’T’

A £6million global campaign which ‘evokes the lush, racy title sequences of
James Bond fillms. (Guardian, 2010)

Virgin Atlantic’s advertising campaign is “surreal and glamorous” or so says
the company which is taking a completely different approach to British
Airways. Instead, Virgin Atlantic are taking viewers on a ‘metophorical flight of
fantasy’ – and as the soundtrack being used for the track – Feeling Good by

36

popular rock/pop act Muse – suggests, it’s all about the ‘feel good’ factor for
the Virgin brand.

The campaign is the largest that the airline has ever undertaken by giant UK
creative agency RKCR.
In Virgin Atlantic’s own words this is what they hoped to achieve:

“The campaign takes the viewer on a metaphorical flight with Virgin Atlantic,
guiding them through a surreal and glamorous world of airline iconography
and dramatising how it feels to fly with the airline.
Our objective in producing this TV ad was to bring to life the ‘it’ that makes
Virgin Atlantic such a special and unique airline.
We were keen to do that in a highly memorable, eye-catching and amusing
way.”
Paul Dickinson, Director of Sales and Marketing, Virgin Atlantic
(Virgin, 2011)

5.05 VIRGIN: AN ANALYSIS

The advert itself really is highly memorable and from first viewing the
consumer is taken into the ‘Virgin mindset’ and subjected constantly to the
colour red with the background, airline uniforms, shoes, finger nails and
branding – it is a stimulating experience for the consumer and a colour which
has became infamous with the companies brand.

However, as explored in Chapter 2 with colours and what they signify,
because we do not actively think of the colours and ideas they remind us of,
the effect colours have on us could be described as subliminal. Virgin’s use of
the colour red is of particular interest:

37

As explained in previously, lighter and darker versions of each colour cause
stimuli in the consumer; for example that light red would represent “joy,
sexuality, passion, sensitivity and love’ where as dark red is associated with
‘vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice and wrath.”
(Biggs, 1956)
Virgin’s use of both light and dark colours provides a balance of sex and
passion together with a willpower and longing.

The colours aren’t just tied directly with the Virgin brand but as aforementioned
colours and the intensity whether light or dark can produce further stimuli as
suggested by Biggs in 1956. The use of the colour red on finger nails of
Stewardesses and sexism similar to what we explored in the previous chapter
with Virgin’s advertising historically create a sense of sex, passion and desire.

The airline, however is no stranger to such accusations of ‘discrimination
against flight attendants’ and journalist Mark Sweney wrote in The Guardian in
2009 commenting that “The complaints argue that the all-female crew

members are being promoted as the main reason for choosing the airline, and
that this is insulting to all women, especially those working in the aviation
industry”. (Sweney, 2009)

So one could deduce that Virgin haven’t changed their formula for their most
recent campaign compared to their previous ’25 years and still red hot’
advertising on television.

I explored this further with Virgin’s brand and what it signifies to people in
Chapter 6 through a mass online survey on social networking site
Facebook.com.

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CHAPTER 6 WHAT DO PEOPLE EXPECT FROM AIRLINE
ADVERTISING?

6.01 WHAT DO PEOPLE EXPECT FROM AIRLINE ADVERTISING?

In the previous chapters I have explored both historical advertising and the
most recent campaigns by two major airline carriers in the UK whom are also
large players on the global scene – in addition to the differences and
similarities between the carriers and their historical campaigns, there were
also a key number of similarities in their most recent campaigns’ in the past
year.

6.02 MASS SURVEY

Surveys are a form of quantitative research and can provide data on real world
observations.
The breadth of coverage of many people or events means it is more likely that
surveys rather than other methodological approaches can obtain such a
representative sample and can therefore be generalizable to a population.
(Kelly, K.; Clark, B; Brown V., Sitzia, J, 2003)

For this instance it has been decided for the use of closed questions only as
by comparison tend to be quicker to administer, easy to code answers due to
a limited and ‘controlled’ selection although respondents may not be able to
raise new issues due to the options provided by the survey and may become
frustrated due to lack of choice. (Dawson, 2009, pp. 90-95)
Copies of the example survey’s are available in Appendix 3 & 4 of this report.

39

6.03 VIRGIN: THE RESULTS.

For this report, a survey was posted on the Virgin Atlantic Facebook page,
reaching a potential 135,315 people worldwide – this is a substantial potential
sample. Of this total reach 781 people took part; providing to a combined
4,686 responses.

See table 3 for the results.

Table 3: Virgin Atlantic Survey: Results
*Use Appendix 3 along with this table as a reference to results*

Question Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

1 750 6 27

2 689 90 2

3 203 518 68

4 241 488 52

5 769 10 2

6 590 142 49

The numbers produced through this survey in Table 6.04 provide an
interesting reading and at first glance we can see responses in line with the
research in the previous chapters 4 and 5.

Our results show that 96% of respondents believe red signifies the Virgin
brand, whilst the remainder believed black and/or white represented Virgin to
them.

40

88% of Respondents believed the ad was ‘just fine’ in duration in its present
long form at a duration of 1’30”. 66% of Respondents felt the Virgin ad
signified ‘sexy’ness’ to them where as 25% felt it was ‘powerful’.

One response which could cause possible concern relates to who respondents
felt the ad was ‘best aimed at’; 62% felt it was aimed at males with 30%
believing it was aimed at ‘everyone’ and the remaining 8% believing it was
aimed at a female audience. This links in with the analysis on chapter 5 where
Journalist Mark Sweney wrote in the Guardian commenting “that this is
insulting to all women, especially those working in the aviation industry”.
(Sweney, 2009)

It should be noted, however, that 75% of respondents answered yes when
asked ‘does this encourage you to fly Virgin?’

6.04 BRITISH AIRWAYS: NATIONAL PRIDE?

Similar to the survey posted for Virgin Atlantic, I also carried out a similar type
for British Airways, again using popular social networking website, Facebook.
The airlines’ facebook has a reach of over 227,000 people of which 1,045
people took part in this research.

At only 3 questions long, the short but large reaching mass survey asked key
questions such as ‘what do you think of when you think of BA’ with 3 options
for example; high service, low cost, British’ness. See table 4 for the results.

41

Table 4: British Airways Survey: Results
*Use Appendix 4 along with this table as a reference to results*

Question Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

1 434 2 609

2 790 57 198

3 964 22 59

What is impressive with the results in table 4 with the British Airways advert is
how distinct the responses are. When asked ‘What do you think of when you
think of BA?’, 58% answered with ‘Sense of British’ness’ and 41% answered
with ‘High Service’ – both are pro-active to British Airways philosophy as
explored in previous chapters.

When respondents were asked how they felt with the ad duration – which is
identical to Virgin Atlantics at 1’30” – they responded with a staggering 75%
selecting that it is ‘Just Fine’ and in fact 18% selecting that it is ‘too short’ –
are we seeing a return of long form and higher budget television advertising
perhaps? As explored in Chapter 5, this new BA ad is more of an
entertainment value to the audience/ consumer rather than just selling a
product.

Finally, when asked ‘Does this encourage you to fly with BA?’, 93% answered
with ‘Yes’ which without any doubt what so ever shows that the higher budget
and the fact BA have produced with their agency BBH an advert that not only
entertains but sells the brand - and the dream perhaps too?

42

6.05 CONCLUSION OF PUBLIC OPINION

So through this mass online survey we have discovered that both airlines’
advertising campaigns have been relatively successful in translating their
desired message which we investigated in the previous chapter.
We have also discovered in addition to each airlines individuality which is
obviously always up for discussion, that the particular length of the
advertisements has proven well based on our results.

In general according to website PlanetCompare (2011), we have noticed an
increase in long form advertising in television in general, albeit with higher
scale brands. The website comments that in ‘the last couple of the weeks [we
have] seen lengthy tv ad campaigns by the likes of British Airways, Virgin
Atlantic and John lewis, the aim being to really sink the message into our
minds.’

The website continues to also comment that they are ‘succeeding each time’
– something I personally agree with.

The level of both advertisements have seen high level budgets as each airline
attempt to get ahead of the game and as PlanetCompare write ‘I think the
competition is good for customers and TV viewers alike’ – it isn’t a bad thing,
in fact it results in a higher entertainment value and a much more creative and
engaging experience, it is everything but passive advertising.

43

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION & REFLECTION

7.01 CONCLUSION & REFLECTION

As discussed repeatedly in this report, there is the theme of the airline
downturn after the tragic events on September 11th 2001. Now, over a decade
on we are beginning to see airline and aviation travel growth once more and
moving forward it appears this trend will continue. (CAA, 2008)

An airline’s position isn’t just about annual revenue, it is about instead their
position in the overall marketplace globally and that position can influence
directly just how well an airline’s advertising campaign can be. I’ve looked at
two world leading airlines, both of which have substantial budgets and are
leaders in their field – but with increased competition from low fares carriers
and the headache of the recent recession, remaining on top isn’t such an
easy task for these world leading carriers.

To stay at the top of the ‘airline food chain’, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic
must instead not ‘brag’ about ‘what airline has got it’ or not as the case may
be but continue to create the powerful, creative and innovative messages they
have portrayed in their most recent marketing material, they must constantly
re-iterate and re-vigorate the key factors that have kept them at the top spot.
(Ries, Trout, 2001)

7.02 BRINGING BACK ‘MAGIC’ AND THE ‘DREAM’ ARE CRUCIAL

As aforementioned in 7.01, the headache of low-cost and cheap-frills airlines
are and will cause a headache for the traditional major air carriers but what

44

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have on their side is quite simply their
‘dream’.

This ‘dream’ which British Airways echoed throughout their recent Aviators
campaign is critical to mainting their poll position. With recent popular tv-
drama Pan Am on the BBC, people have the choice to make their own
decision and based on the results in chapter 6 there is still a substantial reach
that these major carries have at their disposal.(DailyMail,2011)

Linking back to the quote in the introduction of this report by Leonardo da
Vinci:

“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes
turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to
return”
[Leonardo da Vinci]

By bringing that ‘hey-day’ feeling of flying from decades gone by through to

today’s technology and innovation, major airlines don’t only have the
opportunity to engage with their consumers (and essentially tv audiences) but
also form a bond through the iconography of flying – these major carriers can
and will not only suffice and survive, but lead the industry for decades to
come.

45

7.03 EMOTION AND MOODS CAN BE ALTERED

Moods, emotions and attitudes can and always will be open to alteration
towards brands and products, even after a connection is established. One of
the key purposes of these major advertising campaigns is in fact to change
people’s perceptions and to make the brand ‘central’ in the consumer’s mind.
These advertising campaigns rely directly on the viewer becoming emotionally
attached to the advertisement so they can successfully sway the consumer’s
emotion and essentially change his/ her attitude.

In this research, it has been shown the subconscious and ideologies of
particular colours associated with brands. (i.e. Red with Virgin)
These brand’s can play upon this so not only does the consumer become
directly connected and attached to the advertisement, they are at the same
time on a subconscious level engaging that ‘colour scheme’ with that brand
once more, therefore forming a much stronger engagement.

Therefore, at the end of the day, the actual consumer has very little or no
control over this form and the unconscious and subconscious mind –
alongside some other factors it must be noted – is determining the extent of
the emotional attachment and loyalty based upon the advertising campaign
and marketing presented to him/ her.

Essentially, what is presented as ‘emotional attachments’ are no more than a
‘willingness’ to accept a companies message and ‘dream’ in this cultured
setting through ideologies – something that will benefit these major carriers for
years to come.

46

8.01: HISTORICAL ADVERTISING: VIDEO CONTENT

1.01 BRITISH AIRWAYS ADVERTISEMENTS

‘British Airways Fly The Flag Commercial’ from 1970.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nkbcqA1_mY

‘British Airways Face Commercial’ from 1989.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxs106rp5RQ

‘British Airways Worlds Favourite Airline’ from 1992.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmpxTZsoZMU

‘British Airways TV Advertising’ from 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiZTI-zDIxc

‘British Airways Dolphins Campaign’ from 2006.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgQFai5kOXg

1.02 VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS ADVERTISEMENTS

‘Virgin Atlantic: 25 Years, still red hot’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cM4EOeJzHA

48

8.02: 2011 ADVERTISING: VIDEO CONTENT

2.01 BRITISH AIRWAYS ADVERTISEMENT

‘British Airways Aviators’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XozHLoqwp_4

2.02 VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS ADVERTISEMENT

‘Your Airline’s either got it or it hasn’t’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbib-A6NpW8

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8.03: MASS SURVEY

Virgin Atlantic Ad - 2011

Q: WHAT COLOUR BEST REPRESENTS VIRGIN?

Red – Black – White

Q: HOW WAS THE AD DURATION?

Just Fine – Too Long – Too Short

Q: WHAT DOES THE COLOUR RED IN THE AD SIGNIFY TO
YOU?

Power – Sexy’ness – Weakness

Q: WHO DO YOU THINK THIS AD IS BEST AIMED AT?

Everyone – Male – Female

Q: HAVE YOU SEEN THE AD PRIOR TO THIS SURVEY?

Yes – No

Q: DOES THIS ENCOURAGE YOU TO FLY VIRGIN?

Yes – No

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8.04: MASS SURVEY

British Airways ‘Aviator’ ad 2011 Survey

1: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK OF BA?

High Service – Low Cost – Sense of British’ness

2: HOW WAS THE AD DURATION?

Just Fine – Too Long – Too Short

3: DOES THIS ENCOURAGE YOU TO FLY WITH BA?

Yes – No – Not Sure

51

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