In October 2015 SAS started flying nonstop from Stockholm to Hong Kong. To celebrate this new flight, we decided to test people’s native skills. The machine Chop When It Drops let travelers prove how much of Hong Kong they had in themselves. To win a nonstop trip for two they just had to catch a ticket when it dropped. Without warning. With chopsticks.

Travelers like to show off their global knowledge. To exploit this manner we built a machine where a robot grip released tickets for two to Hong Kong. Travelers just had to catch one when it dropped – using only chopsticks. Chop When It Drops was placed at Arlanda Airport’s international terminal – well visited by frequent travelers. Each ticket was randomly released within one minute from the game start. Word spread quickly on social media and at the airport. Of 210 tickets dropped in one day, only three were chopped.

Not a single seat was empty on the premiere flight. The video was viewed by almost 800 000 people on Facebook – the total population in Sweden is only 9 500 000. It had 83 % positive word-of-mouth.

It’s a social experiment that captures the attention of travelers at that very moment and place when they are most open to an engaging brand experience – the airport. The promotional message was very clear: a new direct destination to Hong Kong was launching.

We tapped into basic human motivations: people like to compete and importantly demonstrate to each other how worldly they are. There is a specific status attached to commanding chopsticks – which generally shows that you have experienced cuisine from different cultures. And this implies a certain knowledge and curiosity about the world. That is, a trait of a true traveler.

The airline industry is extremely tough. SAS was close to bankruptcy in 2012. So the overall objective is therefore to get Scandinavia’s frequent travelers feel that is worth paying a higher price for SAS than with low cost-carriers. Social identification – the feeling of being part of a community of well-traveled people – actually influence price premium. Since 2014, SAS have been working with the concept WE ARE TRAVELERS in order to transform both consideration and preference into a higher willingness to pay among Scandinavia’s frequent travelers. This specific brief was about launching a new direct destination between Stockholm and Hong Kong and fill the plane.