After seeing their first profit loss in thirteen years, WestJet, the friendly upstart airline from Calgary, sought growth by upgrading their product offering. Once a low-cost domestic carrier, WestJet transitioned to a full-service global carrier, complete with a fleet of new aircraft equipped with WestJet’s first ever business cabin.

WestJet needed to build credibility with frequent business travellers to whom these new services were targeted. But the number one player in the category had already staked its claim to this group decades before.

We set out to drive positive sentiment, consideration and bookings with a target who had never even considered WestJet before. Rather than taking a traditional approach, we unearthed a problem that was plaguing business travellers and set out to help solve it in an empathetic way, using data that WestJet already had at its disposal.

In the past, WestJet had primarily targeted leisure travellers. But after introducing a fleet of 787 Dreamliners equipped with the airline’s first ever business class cabin, they needed to resonate with an entirely new segment: frequent business travellers.

From focus groups, WestJet learned that a major problem plaguing business travellers was feeling disconnected from their kids — particularly when travelling for work. The average business traveller flies 32 times a year. That’s a lot of time away from their loved ones with no means of communication.

So, we created the WestJet Flight Light, a night light that took real-time flight data and paired it with a bluetooth device to project a parent’s flight path on their child’s bedroom ceiling. Parents simply entered their flight number into an app that sent live flight data to the Flight Light device, which projected the parent’s journey for their kids to follow at home.

The data used was based on WestJet’s existing flight API that allowed us to pull the user’s flight information and project their flight path from the device in real time.

The projector device converted flight information into an easy-to-follow illustration for kids that updated in real time. Data was projected on a child’s ceiling, featuring the arrival and departure locations for their parent’s flight, as well as the weather.

Data targeting was one-to-one. The app and device allowed business travellers to remain connected to their loved ones during their flight. The data was completely personalized, based on the departure and arrival locations of the travelling parent. This one-to-one connectivity via the app and device also allowed parents to send personalized messages to their child, which were projected on the ceiling at the touch of a button.

The WestJet Flight Light is a nightlight that uses live flight data to project a travelling parent’s flight path onto their child’s bedroom ceiling.

The light was modelled after the WestJet Dreamliner, adapting the shape and colours of the aircraft to the look and feel of a children’s toy. Projections of the flight path, along with an array of starlight, came from the wing-shaped base of the light. A detachable flashlight took the shape of the aircraft body as it sat between the wings. It had three simple steps to activate:

- Parents entered their flight number into an app created for the device.

- The app sent live flight data to the Flight Light.

- Kids could turn on the device and see their parent’s journey projected on their bedroom ceiling.

The data used was pulled from WestJet’s existing flight application programming interface, allowing us to translate the user’s live flight information into a kid-friendly illustration, so kids could follow their parent’s projected flight path along with arrival and departure locations, and live weather updates.

With one-to-one connectivity between the Flight Light device and a proprietary app, parents could also send personalized messages and emojis to their child, which were projected alongside the flight path at the touch of a button.

We launched the Flight Light with a TV commercial showing a business traveller making her way home to her daughter, who uses the Flight Light to follow her mom’s journey. This was complemented by video tailored for social and supported by a national media buy.

While long-term plans to mass manufacture the Flight Light were stalled by the pandemic, dozens of Flight Light devices were distributed to WestJet pilots and cabin crew members, as well as business travellers and media personalities.

One of the key objectives of the WestJet Flight Light was to build positive perceptions of WestJet amongst business travellers. And it did just that.

Sentiment for the wider Flight Light campaign was 78% positive, with business travellers praising WestJet for “no end to their personal side of customer service”, “understanding the needs of a travelling parent”, “taking a different approach to the whole flying experience and what surrounds it” and asking competitors to “take note.” On average, WestJet campaigns receive 55% positive sentiment amongst travellers. The Flight Light product and the WestJet brand were widely well perceived by an entirely new target to whom we’ve never spoken before. Individuals even went out of their way to praise us over our primary competitor.