A social media campaign helped Jordan's Royal Jordan airline sell 50% more tickets to the US in December 2016.
When Jordan's Royal Jordan airline approached Memac Ogilvy Advize, an advertising firm in the country, it had a clear focus in mind - to be rebranded as a 'fun brand'. And that's exactly what the airline - started by the late Jordanian King Hussein bin Talal - got along with a 50% hike in the sale of its tickets to the US thanks to a simple, impromptu, and tongue-in-cheek ad campaign from the ad agency, according to The Atlantic.
US President Donald Trump has had the Middle East on the edge with his anti-muslim rhetoric; then following through on his campaign promise of the travel ban, and now with the ban on carrying electronics as check-in luggage from 10 Middle East and North African airports.
Ad 1: Before Donald Trump became the 45th US President
Memac Ogilvy, unfazed by the anti-Islamic policies of the then US Presidential candidate, released an ad campaign on the night of the election results, urging the people of Jordan to travel to the US, "just in case he wins...while you're still allowed to".
The campaign listed the prices of flight tickets to Chicago, Detroit and New York. The image was posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram on November 8, 2016, the election result night.
Memac Ogilvy said that the posts had an organic reach of 450 million (and counting), it was cited by 26 official news sites and blogs, and had a 80.3% positive reaction.
Ad 2: When Court put a stay on the Muslim travel ban
Soon after Trump was President, he called for the highly unpopular Muslim travel ban. It stranded hundreds of passengers flying from the countries on the no-fly list at the US airports for days until ACLU lawyers managed to get a stay the order. At this time, Memac Ogilvy sprung into action again, with another social media post announcing a discount on its fares to New York, Chicago, and Detroit, saying "Fly to the US with RJ now that you're allowed to."
The post scratched out the 'a' in Ban, making it 'o' and scribbled Voyage next to it - Bon Voyage.
Ad 3: Electronics ban
The Trump camp, relentless in its efforts "to protect the American people", had the US Department of Homeland Security announce a ban on any electronics "larger than a smartphone" as carry-on luggage in flights from 10 Middle Eastern and North African airports. This gave Memac and RJ one more chance to cash in on the Trump politics.
This time, the airline's social media accounts gave a list of '12 things to do on a 12-hour flight with no laptop or tablet'.
From options like, read a book, say hello to a co-passenger, meditate, reclaim territory on armrest, it was followed by a 'Or do what we Jordanians do best.... Stare at eachother.'
The Trump trolling campaign was created by 31-year-old Hadi Alaeddin, an art director at Memac Ogilvy, who - his colleagues handling the client services for the Royal Jordanian campaign - said was a spontaneous idea, according to The Atlantic. "It was real-time, on the spot. We didn't have a strategy, Hadi just thought of it," his colleague told the publication.
The brief for the ad agency for the 'special promotion' was simple - Sell more plane tickets to the US.
The solution provided - Use Donald Trump's ban of Muslims to our advantage.
The idea - "Travel to America while you still can campaign", capitalising on the US Elections and Trump's statement of banning Muslims from entering the US.
All this was done on a zero dollar budget but bookings of Royal Jordan to the US were up 50% in December 2016 compared to the bookings in the same month last year. Traffic to the RJ website was up by 300%.
While the ad campaign cost nothing, profits reached $874,000.
According to The Atlantic, Memac Ogilvy won the Grand Prix for PR, making it the first Jordanian agency to win the award, and four silver and gold prizes at the Dubai Lynx 2017.
Royal Jordan was definitely not the only one to bring out ad campaigns opposing Trump's strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant, anti-refugee rhetoric. Companies like Coca Cola, 84 Lumber Company, Airbnb, Budweiser also came out with ad campaigns talking about acceptance, diversity, and one world.
See the ads here:
Coca Cola's Super Bowl ad: #AmericaIsBeautiful
Airbnb: #WeAccept
Budweiser: Born the Hard Way
84 Lumber Company: We will always support the American Dream
Meanwhile, Dove stuck to a print campaign
According to Twitter users, the ad campaign appeared in the Times and The Guardian a day after Kellyanne Conway used the now infamous two words - Alternate Facts.
The second page of the advert read - "New Dove antiperspirant cares for your underarm skin like never before.
#RealFacts"
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