LA is a major travel hub that is saturated with many airline options and unclear distinctions between each carrier's routes, schedules, and on-board experiences. There’s not much product differentiation, little loyalty among LA-based travelers, and, as a result, every airline in the market tries to convince high-value travelers that their brand offers the most premium on-board experience from LA.

The objective was twofold:

Create an ownable, differentiated campaign that pulls Delta away from legacy airline carriers

Reinforce that Delta offers a modern, premium, and comfortable travel experience to our LA Millennial audience

The only way Delta flights could get more comfortable is if we made jet lag disappear.

We partnered with Equinox to do just that.

The method: combining the innovative, comfortable, and premium features of Delta’s aircraft with the power of circuit training coached by LA’s best fitness experts.

We created an actual workout studio called “Sweatlag,” featuring a collection of custom workouts designed specifically to help travelers get over jet lag.

Inspiration came from Delta’s flagship A350 aircraft (featuring the wider windows, ambient lighting, and better cabin pressurization designed to fight jet lag in the air), as well as expertise from Equinox research (suggesting that exercise helps fight jet lag on the ground by rectifying our circadian rhythms).

“Sweatlag” became the ultimate jet lag–fighting workout that combined benefits from both brands, which, in turn, catapulted Delta into a new position as one of LA's leading travel and wellness brands.

Strategic approach:

In order to achieve our objectives, and transcend the airline conversation, we needed to make a shift––from talking passively about Delta’s onboard products to creating a real-life experience that offered a solution for LA millennials. Utilizing a mix of strategic media relations, influencer engagement, and a launch event, we debuted Sweatlag to the nation on July 11, 2018.

The insight:

Health and fitness are important parts of the Los Angeles lifestyle and research suggests exercising can speed up the return to normal circadian rhythms and thus alleviate jet lag. So what better way to reach traveling Angelenos than to associate Delta with something they’re already passionate about?

Delta partnered with Equinox to create Sweatlag, a workout scientifically designed to combat jet lag.

Anyone with a recent boarding pass or flight receipt (regardless of airline) was invited to sweat out time zones as they hit the LAX tarmac. Once in their cars, OOH billboards just outside the airport used real-time flight data to speak directly to people getting off long-haul Delta flights.

We also created digital workout videos accessible to anyone in the world. Every move was specifically chosen for its jet lag-fighting purpose: to increase circulation, amp heart rate, or boost energy. Accessible on YouTube and Sweatlag.com, travelers could take Sweatlag with them wherever they went.

Teasers were released across Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram, along with Snapchat

filters for participants to share. All of this, combined with our network of LA fitness influencers, got word out that Sweatlag was the best way to recoup after long flights.

Last summer, Delta wove the brand into the LA audience’s world. People shared our videos on their social channels and tagged friends. We succeeded in entertaining our target and providing actual utility.

Evidenced by above-benchmark performance for paid media assets, engaging influencer content, and first-to-market digital OOH initiatives that incorporated live-flight data, Delta toppled industry averages by garnering 84MM paid media impressions in LA during the course of the summer.

Delta also received coverage from local lifestyle publications, the news, and added-value opportunities, which led to significant buzz and 58MM earned-media impressions. This earned Delta approximately $149MM in calculated ad value across all press pickup!

It’s no doubt that consumers found value in the online and in-club Sweatlag classes, which demonstrates that Delta is more meaningful to customers when we continue to put them and their passion points at the center of our creative ideas.