This commercial had me in tears - emotional storytelling done right.
You don't need to know Hebrew to get the gist of it.
As background, when October 7th happened, thousands of Israelis who had been abroad ran back to Israel to fight or help however they could. Most flights into Israel were cancelled because the airport was under missile attack from Gaza, and El Al was the only airline flying in. The returning Israelis, many reservists, packed the planes and then went straight to meet up with their units when they arrived.
Why is it so effective?
- The inciting incident connects us back to the emotions that we in El Al's main customer base (Israelis and diaspora Jews) experienced as we learned the news of what was happening on October 7.
- The storyline was true-to-life. Many Israelis spend time traveling the world after their army service like the main characters. And most of us in Israel know someone (or were that someone) who rushed back and had to navigate the puzzle of finding an available flight.
- After evoking the painful emotions at the beginning, the ad resolves with our characters finishing their service and returning to their adventure, giving us hope that we also can get back to some semblance of our previous lives (and the travel we've put on hold).
- Their new tagline at the end, "Fly with the Flag" is a reminder that El Al is the airline that came through for our country when we needed it. While many disparage the company because of customer service problems and pricey fares, this tagline reinforces the connection to the audience's core value of love for our country.
Well done, EL AL Israel Airlines - kol hakavod!
https://lnkd.in/eeuRsSkP
Since the start of the war, we've maintained Israel's vital connection to the #world, ensuring your #safety wherever you are, with a genuine sense of Israeliness that makes you feel at #home globally.
Last evening, we launched the "Fly the Flag" #campaign, in which we donated 15% of our advertising space to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a cause close to our hearts since day one.
Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming initiatives expressing our gratitude to the dedicated men and women serving in the #idf, both in active and reserve duty.
Fly the flag, fly EL AL:
https://bit.ly/3utjQMx
--
3moYou're not alone!