At Delta, we understand how important it is to represent everyone. Because we believe that a more welcoming world, where everyone feels seen, included, and respected, is a world worth welcoming. This belief fueled the collaboration with impact-focused creative company Kin and Adobe Stock that began in 2022 to champion a more accurate and authentic representation of travelers today to inspire positive, lasting change within the travel industry and beyond.
For Delta’s Inspired Journeys activation, our brand strategy asked Delta’s in-house creative team to craft an experience that would bring to life the next phase of this representation effort, an task that aligned with a much larger marketing goal. Position Delta as not just an airline but a leading customer experience brand and global connector, in the air and on the ground. Our approach consisted of developing a creative and engaging activation that would amplify more inclusive travel stories in a meaningful and interactive way.
For creative execution of the activation, we rooted our concept in a simple insight: We often travel with preset itineraries, but it is often the spontaneous moments we later remember as our most impactful and memorable experiences. With that in mind, our creative team explored a way for guests and artists of the activation to recapture those memorable unplanned moments forever, and spread awareness of how our travelers are as diverse as the experiences we all share.
As we began to develop our approach to the ask, we grounded our thinking in the insight that consumers long for face-to-face connections and value opportunities to create memories. As a brand, it’s important to produce experiences that drive positive brand sentiment and stand apart from the overcrowded digital space. Given this context, it became clear that engaging in non-traditional marketing actions, like brand activations, was the best way to break through the clutter and create lasting emotional connections with our target audience.
When considering placement for the activation, we strategically chose to have a presence at ADCOLOR, the premier diversity gathering for professionals at all levels, in Los Angeles, California, as well as a public activation in Century City. We partnered with diverse emerging artists from various communities and our very own employees for this experience. Guests shared their impactful travel stories with the artists who then recreated those special moments in a real-time sketch, utilizing a new technology in the art space.
The artists then shared the digital artwork with the guests for keepsakes. During our activation we also encouraged guests to post their travel moment created by an artist on social media for increased exposure and engagement during the event. Additionally, Delta develop a recap video featuring all of the real-time created artwork, to be shared on Delta channels, amplified through paid media, and showcased on each artist’s own social channels for amplified exposure in new online communities.
All and all, this activation allowed activation guests and wider social followings to discover the diverse array of impactful, unplanned travel moments Delta connects the world to, and the life-long impressions those memories create.
Over the course of the activation over 200 individuals participated in having their travel experience brought to life through art. The activation garnered over 12 million impressions on Instagram and TikTok, with over 870,000 story views on Instagram.
This digital amplification managed to break through social feed clutter, proving that our audiences are in fact hungry for content that highlights the far reaching power of connection. Additionally, this event saw participants from various walks of life and industries, with representatives from LinkedIn, Nascar, Microsoft and Disney taking notice of our creative execution. Astonishing metrics aside, this activation led to numerous emotional reactions from participants.
From sheer joy to nostalgic remembrance, lasting connections between artist and subject, brand and audience were created before our eyes. It is this reason that fuels our unwavering belief in the resounding success of this activation.
