December 6, 2010
Delta: Keep Climbing
Wieden+Kennedy was honored to become the strategic and creative partner to Delta Air Lines in 2009. Delta is arguably the most iconic of all American airline brands, and, at that time, with the pending Northwest merger standing to make it the world’s largest airline, Delta also had quite a bit of global attention. Let’s also not forget that our allegiance, as business travelers working for a company with offices in seven countries but headquartered in Portland, was now to Delta. How could we not support the company that provides us nonstop access to our Tokyo and Amsterdam offices?
Wieden+Kennedy developed the "Keep Climbing" campaign to convey Delta's mission to provide the highest quality product and service to its customers.
Practicality aside, Delta also presented a wonderful strategic and creative challenge. There is no better time for an advertising agency to work with a brand than when it is reinventing itself, and there is no more fertile opportunity for W+K specifically than when that brand is looking to uncover and communicate its core values and true voice. Delta was in such a place, and we were able to work with the team in Atlanta to find Delta’s truly differentiated offering and to create a campaign to communicate this promise.
The airline industry is not for the faint of heart. It is a difficult business. It always has been. From the industry’s birth on the bluffs of Kitty Hawk through today, challenges have been its fuel, and how an airline deals with those challenges is the true measure of its worth. This is the thought behind Delta’s new tagline, “Keep Climbing,” and the campaign that supports it. With “Keep Climbing,” Delta and its employees are committing themselves to making flying better in meaningful ways.
For the September 2010 launch of the new Delta campaign – which appeared primarily in NYC, but also in Portland thanks to the Port – we shot two TV spots and several videos and produced a multitude of print ads, billboards and destination images for the brand to communicate Delta’s mission to “Keep Climbing.” So far, popular response to the campaign has been terrific and Delta is so pleased by the positive impact the campaign is having on the brand that it will redouble its marketing efforts next year with a national push.
Photos courtesy of Wieden+Kennedy
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