Big Little Welcomes

Medals Won

• 🥇 GOLD – Transportation
• 🥇 GOLD – Most Outstanding Creative

Campaign Overview

Christmas is a time for family reunions, yet the heartfelt moment of reconnecting often gets lost in the chaos of airport procedures. British Airways sought to reclaim these emotional reunions, elevating them into unforgettable moments of joy. The campaign, Big Little Welcomes, invited customers to share personalized messages for loved ones traveling home for the holidays, transforming advertising spaces into heartfelt welcome signs.

Over ten days in December, Heathrow Airport became a canvas of love, where handwritten greetings replaced traditional commercial ads, amplifying the warmth of Christmas reunions and reinforcing British Airways’ role as the nation’s flag carrier.

Creative Concept

The campaign turned standard airport advertising into a platform for human connection:

• Personalized Messages: Invited customers to write or doodle welcome messages for their loved ones, which were displayed across hundreds of ad sites.
• Dynamic Integration: Leveraged real-time flight and passenger data to ensure messages were seen at the right place and time, whether at Heathrow, en route home, or even projected onto recipients’ houses.
• Emotional Focus: Shifted away from sales-focused ads to deliver moments of genuine thoughtfulness.

Execution Strategy

1. Customer Engagement: Used emails and social media to invite customers to submit messages through an intuitive mobile platform.
2. Dynamic Delivery: Served personalized ads every two hours using live API data for precision targeting.
3. Multi-Touchpoint Impact: Displayed messages in various formats, including airport posters, roadside placements, and home projections.

Impact and Results

The campaign achieved exceptional results:

• 20% increase in preference for British Airways.
• 9-point increase in prompted consideration.
• Ad awareness rose from 15% to 23%, against a category average of 11.5%.
• 75% agreed that British Airways is worth paying more for.

Why It Worked

By prioritizing emotional connection over commercial messaging, Big Little Welcomes turned ordinary reunions into extraordinary moments. This thoughtful activation strengthened British Airways’ brand equity, creating a new Christmas tradition that resonated with audiences and set a benchmark for customer-focused campaigns.