After receiving numerous tags in a teacher’s viral video, we saw an opportunity to give this teacher and her students the experience of a lifetime. Our objective was not only to create a lasting impact but also to generate positive media coverage for the brand through a memorable activation and emotionally captivating content.
To achieve our goal, we set the following objectives:
Execute a memorable activation quickly, while the initial viral video was still ranking high in platform algorithms
Earn 5M+ impressions across Southwest’s social channels, effectively going “viral” for our brand
Generate positive media coverage from at least 5 major media outlets
Mrs. Sonja White, a Dallas-based educator, shared a video on TikTok where she taught a classroom lesson about Hispanic Heritage Month by setting up a mock airplane and pretending to fly the students to Mexico. Her airline of choice was Southwest Airlines since she is a fan of the Brand and liked the fact that the students could pick their own seats, giving them the power to make their own decisions.
While it wasn’t feasible to fly Mrs. White’s entire class to Mexico, we wanted to do something special for her, her students, and her fellow teachers to celebrate all that they do as educators. Working quickly over a few days, we invited not just Mrs. White’s class but all the first graders at her school and their teachers to our Corporate Headquarters in Dallas.
The students were greeted by Southwest Employees and Volunteers who cheered, danced, and gave lots of high-fives. Then, the students walked to our Maintenace Hanger where they got up close and personal with one of our aircraft. This was the first time many of the students had seen a plane in real life. Our Employees taught the students what it takes to maintain an aircraft and the mechanics behind how airplanes fly. They even met with our Aircraft Maintenance Technicians and learned about many different careers in aviation.
Next, the students boarded the empty aircraft, where they were greeted by Southwest Flight Attendants and Pilots. The Flight Attendants handed each student a set of wearable wings and snack packs. Each student also received an activity book, which included a toy airplane they constructed and took home. As the students enjoyed their snacks and toys, Captain Nancy, one of our Pilots, discussed the importance of staying true to their dreams and following their hearts. The students asked fun questions about flying airplanes before watching planes take off from Dallas Love Field Airport near our Headquarters.
After, we went back to our Headquarters building where more cheering Employees greeted the students and teachers. There, we announced that the teachers and the principal would each receive two round-trip tickets to anywhere Southwest flies, including Mexico, which is where Mrs. White originally “took” her class in her viral video. To celebrate, a mariachi band played music, as everyone enjoyed a fiesta complete with authentic decorations, food, and dancing. Each student received a goodie bag filled with Southwest swag as they left for the day.
Later, Mrs. White appeared on the Jennifer Hudson Show where we surprised her with $10,000 to go towards her classroom to continue teaching and inspiring the next generation of leaders and aviators.
Over 6 million impressions organically from our owned channels + over 4 million additional from boosted content
1.05M organic impressions
207k organic engagements
2.6M organic impressions
36.6k organic engagements
769k organic impressions
56.05k organic engagements
An additional 2.3M paid impressions and 179K paid engagements (from boosting)
509.4K organic impressions
44.5k organic engagements
1.58M organic impressions
535.6K organic engagements
An additional 2.1M paid impressions and 99.8K paid engagements (from boosting)
89.44k organic impressions
16.7K organic engagements
6.6k earned social mentions from other channels
Earned News Media:
490 news mentions – potential reach of 242,354,676 (calculated using desktop UVPM (unique viewers per month) + broadcast audience reach)
