And the carrot at the end of the stick was something of high value to everyone in that “waiting moment” in airport: all participants were already thinking about their ensuing discomfort of a long flight, and our game kept them motivated.

In the two airports we organized the contest, 80% of the travellers tried their luck by playing the Air France mobile game to win an instant upgrades. The top scorers were upgraded to Business Cabines, and the runners-up to Premium Economy…and at the boarding time, the rest of passengers walked through the business class cabin to get their seat, realizing one more time what they have just missed out.

As every airline travellers dreams of getting free upgrades, we thought of an idea which this time would allow passengers to upgrade themselves, and which would not involve any miles, extra-fees nor luck: a mobile-contest favouring the love of Asian people for online gaming.

When you lead a campaign in a region which is full of cultural differences and tensions such as Pacific Asia, you need to find THE thing that reaches a consensus. International airports and their travel conventions appeared to be the ultra normative environment we could twist, by bringing surprise to travelers who usually expect nothing but being already arrived at their final destination.

We played by the rules of airport security but added a little twist to intercept our audience at the most relevant moment to discover our message: right before boarding, they would be given 15 minutes to compete against each other and have the chance to spend their 12 hour-long flight in the new Business cabins.

The campaign turned Air France image into a more playful and dynamic one, as an airline looking to keep its passengers entertained.

We made airline passengers crazy to discover and eager to travel with the new Air France Business cabins: the Upgrade Challenge video was seen more than 3.5 Million times, and the operation generated 132 Million impressions.

On Twitter, the number of Air France followers doubled in Malaysia and in Indonesia during the period, and the Return On Investment jumped by 269% in Pacific Asia (Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia).

There were more than 300,000 parties played on the mobile-app during the contest, and 1,422 gamers keep on playing the game on a regular basis.

At a worldwide scale, people out of the Asia Region praisedAir France to open their geographic area to the Upgrade Challenge.

In Asia, Air France was suffering from a cold and old image; Asian travelers felt unrelated to it, like to any business acquaintance without deep personal relationship nor friendship.

To promote the new business cabins Air France had just renewed, it was then crucial to avoid the pitfall of a distant and arrogant communication, especially regarding the fast-growing young and wealthy audience of travelers in the region.

As every airline travellers dreams of getting free upgrades, we thought of an idea which this time would allow passengers to upgrade themselves, and which would not involve any miles, extra-fees nor luck: a mobile-contest favouring the love of Asian people for online gaming.