At Christmas, Iberia not only connects people from all over the world, it is the airline that Spaniards living abroad choose during the holiday season. It reunites family and friends, and for many years has served as a witness to the emotion generated by this anticipation and reunion.

Iberia wanted to showcase and highlight the excitement we feel when reuniting with our loved ones on these special occasions through an action that would position it as a tech-savvy brand that understands the motivations of its market.

It was important that the action be carried out both in flight and at the airport.

Goals:

-Brand awareness and distinction from the rest of the holiday “noise.”

-Attributes of an up-to-date, attractive modern, digital and technological brand.

-Emotional connection with the users: the excitement of Christmas.

We created the world’s largest greeting card, where those waiting on the ground could convey their excitement to passengers about to land.

We built an installation 4km from the Madrid airport on a 24,000 m2 area with 2,600 LED devices, interconnected and configured to function as a huge video screen visible from up to 1,000 metres high. The messages rotated east or west depending on which of the two runways the flight approached, since the installation was situated between the two T4 runways, connected and synchronised with air traffic. Users could write messages in real time on a website, indicating the flight number and a tool—created and programmed ad hoc—transferred the messages to the installation at the opportune moment using real-time big data from flightradar24.com and passenger databases.

This is the first time in history that a brand has created an outdoor display only visible from planes.

We used real-time big data from flightradar24.com to programme an ad hoc tool to transfer users’ messages to the installation at the opportune moment when they would be visible from the aircraft, calculating distance, speed, and altitude.

By crosschecking air traffic data with passenger databases, the installation (4 km from the airport) knew on which of the two T4 runways the next plane would arrive and the messages rotated to the east or west accordingly, as the screen was situated between the two runways.

Users could write messages on a website, in advance or in real time, indicting the flight number. Messages were saved and programmed based on the data.

An installation 4 km from Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez airport, on an area spanning 24,000 m2 (6 football fields, the world’s largest outdoor display) previously levelled with heavy machinery, consisting of 2,600 LED devices, interconnected and configured to function as a huge video screen visible from up to 1,000 metres high, with an anti-glare system. Users could write messages in real time on a website, indicating the flight number, and a tool—created and programmed ad hoc—transferred the messages to the installation at the opportune moment, using real-time big data from flightradar24.com and passenger databases.

The campaign lasted one month and the entire process was monitored by a team situated in a booth near the installation operating coordination with the control tower.

Business impact: sales, donations, site traffic/response rate/change behaviour

• Reach: +16 million

• +160,000 interactions

• +5 million views

• Content amplification gained with an impact of +10 million.

• +15,000 messages sent