• by Karl Greenberg , October 8, 2010

Oneworld, an alliance of 11 major global airlines, is launching a global campaign called "UP" this month that includes the first work in New York, also the first time the alliance has advertised in the U.S.

The campaign, via Imagination, promotes the alliance for a premium experience across member airlines for frequent flyers. The effort, which is also in Japan and Italy, focuses on unusual out-of-home placements on things like the shuttles that run between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square and at the East 34th Street Heliport. The ads, playing on the "UP" theme, are on train carriage ceilings, unusually high on the sides of buildings, and at unusual spots at airports and on routes approaching them.

In the case of the shuttle, the walls and ceilings are splashed with a mural vista of the sky and clouds seen from high altitude, while ad poster space shows business travelers in rapture floating away from the ground. Ad copy includes statements like "Always with you, moving up," and "550 premium lounges worldwide." The placement on the tarmac of the East Side Manhattan heliport says "My access, my reach, my options."

Pierre-Jean Mayol, Oneworld's manager of marketing, tells Marketing Daily that the New York campaign might extend to other markets in the U.S. "We will see how it goes. Right now the central intention is New York because New York and Tokyo are our two most important markets for business travelers."

Mayol says the effort is intended to celebrate the alliance's expansion -- new member airlines including those based in India, Germany and Russia are joining -- and new joint-business deals across the Atlantic with member airlines American, British Airways and Iberia.

"It is aspirational but also celebratory. We really spent lots of time earlier this year and last listening to what our frequent-flyer travelers had to say about their expectations: it was clear that they view Oneworld as a premium alliance; they understand the benefit we offer and see us as something essential to the travel experience, particularly when their travel takes them across multiple airlines, which is the case for more and more business travelers."

The idea, according to Mayol, is to make Oneworld something of a proxy global airline brand, even though a traveler's primary relationship will "always be with the main airline. That form of loyalty won't change, but Oneworld means a guarantee of quality -- that your preferences will be recognized."

Member airlines are supporting the effort in in-flight magazines and against their own media budgets, according to Mayol.