The audience I sat in was appropriately bemused and subsequently amazed.Club World journey, 1993A clever print campaign advertising the airline's Club Class It was later mocked by Virgin Atlantic. The rivalry between the two has been one of the best in UK marketing since Sir Richard Branson launched his airline in 1984. The Saatchis, who greatly admire the rival advertising, have consistently taken the approach that, as market leader, BA should not engage in a battle with Virgin, which would bestow further credibility on the challenger brand. If only BA had taken that advice at a corporate level, there may not have been the damaging "dirty tricks" campaign.'Where is everybody?', 1994This was the first major campaign to break after BA switched from Saatchi & Saatchi, after the ousting of Maurice and Charles, to M & C Saatchi - thanks to the intervention of then-CEO Sir Colin Marshall. As the battleground switched evermore towards price on short-haul flights (they could charge a premium on long-haul), BA needed something to glue together all their different offers.
Again, this was a huge global launch, but this time different markets created their own executions all over the world.PJ O'Rourke, 1997The idea was to have a laconic American commenting, as a third-party outsider, on British-ness in a way that would make us Brits uncomfortable. Originally written for Bill Bryson, eventually the role went to satirist PJ O'Rourke. It was a wonderful attempt to encourage us to feel pride in a global success. Unfortunately for the agency, it took place against a backdrop of new chief executive Robert Ayling's disastrous re-branding of BA's tailfins. If you look closely at the last frames, the one red, white and blue new design moves past the window.PJ O'Rourke 'low cost', 2002Years after BA itself launched Go, this ad formed part of a belated response to Ryanair and easyJet. It was the first time that the airline had fought back in print. Tim Duffy, currently chief executive of M & C Saatchi, had the idea to redefine these airlines as "low service" and not just "low cost".
It was a nightmare to navigate the script through endless conversations with the BACC, because BA was not actually able to denigrate rival brands. This powerful ad is a little embarrassing today after two summers of BA problems.Times Square, 2003This was one of the best-ever demonstrations of product superiority in airline advertising Like the best BA ads, it was blindingly simple. A business traveller climbs into a BA flat bed in the middle of Times Square in New York and in the next frame wakes up in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. Part of a wonderfully classy and single-minded mixed-media campaign. BA spends roughly 80 per cent of its advertising budget in London and New York.. ledgling DJs Fizz and Nils like nothing better than a bit of banter about clothes and text messages.