Air Canada pay for pub-full of Canadians to get home for Christmas
By Rich Leigh on Tuesday, December 9, 2014
In this year’s ‘Canadian Airline brings Christmas cheer to public’ campaign (see Westjet’s ridiculously popular 2013 version at the end of this post), Air Canada surprised Canadians with the Gift of Home:
To quickly explain the campaign, Air Canada pilots/actors visited The Maple Leaf, a Canadian-themed pub in Covent Garden, London. After talking to some of the mostly-Canadian patrons, it became clear that many would love to go home for Christmas – if only they could afford it, goshdarnit.
Which set the Christmas miracle up quite nicely.
The pilots rang a bell, announcing that they’d be getting a round for every single person in the pub, to applause and cheers.
Not a round of drinks though – oh no. A round ticket back home to Canada, a statement greeted by legally mandatory Christmas PR campaign hugs and tears.
A sweet festive stunt that would have set the company back a pretty penny – and one that has also no doubt given The Maple Leaf a welcome PR boost, too.
Here’s the WestJet gifting campaign from last year, which has been watched more than 37 MILLION times: