Taking British Airways Further

The Brief

London Gatwick wanted to raise awareness of some of British Airways new routes and win market share. We developed a two-phase campaign that combined destination-led messaging with a broader route awareness strategy, helping the airport reach high-intent travellers across key catchment areas.  

The Audience

Focusing on areas surrounding London Gatwick, we included three key hotspots: the M3 corridor, East London, North Kent, and the North Downs corridor. 

Using London Gatwick’s audience framework, we focused first on ‘Service Demanders’ and ‘Airport Embracers’, before expanding into ‘Mainstream Flyers’ in phase two.

Audience insights also showed a higher-affluence Caribbean traveller who knew they wanted to travel, but not always which island to choose. That meant our messaging had to stay broad enough to inspire consideration while keeping route relevance high.

The Strategy

Built around route relevance, audience proximity and competitive advantage, we focused our strategy on the routes where Gatwick had the clearest competitive advantage: destinations with proven demand that rival airports did not serve, or where Gatwick could offer a more compelling choice. That gave the campaign a clearer role than simply raising general awareness.

In phase one, we selected Antigua, St Lucia, and Grenada due to their popularity, as well as a focus on raising awareness of alternative routes such as Punta Cana and St Kitts.

Phase One: Caribbean Routes

Phase one ran for 40 days across three channels:

• Skyscanner: used to reach high-intent travellers actively researching flights and destinations, influencing consideration at a key point in the booking journey.
• Out of home ads across Global and Clear Channel inventory: used to build broad awareness of British Airways routes from London Gatwick through high reach, high dwell time placements that keep the campaign visible and top-of-mind.
• Spotify: used to build repeated audio exposure across a relevant, travel-focused audience, reinforcing the destination message and helping maintain consideration beyond the initial point of awareness. The Spotify strategy used both Reach and Impression campaigns. The Reach campaign was designed to maximise audience penetration, while the Impression campaign reinforced the message and increased frequency to strengthen recall.

Phase Two: Short Haul Routes

For the second phase, the strategy shifted from Caribbean-specific messaging to broader network awareness, promoting a wider range of British Airways routes from London Gatwick.

In addition to continuing Skyscanner and Spotify from Phase One, the campaign expanded across Outbrain, DAX and Uber to broaden reach, strengthen frequency and add new contextual touchpoints across the travel journey.

• Outbrain: used to deliver efficient reach through native placements, helping introduce the broader route message in relevant contextual environments.
• DAX: used to extend audio-led reach across premium digital audio placements, building on route awareness and supporting Spotify activity.
• Uber: used to add a premium contextual layer, reaching hyper-relevant audiences travelling to and from London Airports.

The Results

Across both phases, the campaign delivered awareness at scale and exceeded plans on both impressions and clicks. In total, activity generated 8.29 million impressions against a forecast of 6.66 million, finishing 25% above target, alongside 36.5% clicks ahead of plan.

Phase One delivered 3,169,920 actual impressions across Spotify, OOH and Skyscanner.

• Spotify delivered 411,218 impressions. The channel outperformed on engagement, generating almost 20% more clicks vs estimates. 
• OOH delivered exactly to plan, generating 2,382,979 impressions. This provided the campaign with a strong awareness base and ensured consistent visibility across key Gatwick catchment locations.
• Skyscanner delivered 375,723 impressions.  Playing an important role in reaching users in a relevant travel research environment.

Phase Two delivered 5,123,400 actual impressions across Outbrain, Spotify, Skyscanner, DAX and Uber.

• Outbrain was the standout scale and efficiency driver. It delivered 3,500,000 impressions, exceeding the planned impression volume by more than 2.4 million impressions. CPM was £1.01 against an estimated £3.40, making it the most cost-efficient channel in the campaign.
• Spotify remained an important awareness driver in phase two, delivering over 805,000 impressions across premium digital audio placements. CPMs were higher than forecast, this reflected the wider cost pressure observed across the channel during phase one, hence the decision to introduce DAX to scale audio reach beyond Spotify. 
• Skyscanner delivered 410,000 impressions, remaining valuable as an awareness channel for this campaign.
• DAX delivered 375,000 impressions, exactly in line with the planned estimate. The channel provided controlled awareness delivery within an audio environment.
• Uber delivered 33,400 impressions, matching the estimated delivery exactly. It generated 651 clicks, with a CTR of 1.95% against an estimated 1.5%. This made Uber the strongest channel for engagement rate, showing the value of contextual placements that reach audiences during active travel moments.

Overall, the campaign successfully raised awareness of British Airways routes from London Gatwick across both Caribbean and short-haul audiences. Phase One gave the campaign a strong destination-led foundation, while Phase Two significantly expanded reach and delivered the strongest overall media performance.

The clearest learning was the value of a diversified media mix. Each channel played a distinct role, combining audio, out-of-home and display formats to build reach, frequency and engagement across the travel journey.

Long-term partnerships create the conditions for stronger, more informed work. Our relationship with London Gatwick has allowed us to apply previous learning, optimise activity over time and extend reach with greater confidence.

Explore another London Gatwick success story in our From Turbulence to Take-Off case study, showcasing how integrated marketing helped influence traveller behaviour and increase public transport use.

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