Turkish Airlines: Flying Cool Football

Hi everyone,
Since May 2010, the football marketing landscape has a new guest: Turkish Airlines. On the way to becoming a global brand Turkish Airlines, has achieved another worldwide success with the sponsorship deals. Last year, by featuring FC Barcelona players in a cool commercial, the airline carrier sent another strong football sponsorship message by partnering with Manchester United.

In May 2010, the Turkish Airlines / Barcelona commercial was first aired during the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona and it was set to hit the next week global TV networks. Marco Grandia directed the TV commercial with the motto Turkish Airlines “We are Turkish Airlines, We are Globally Yours“. The musics of the commercial has been formed by Nil Karaibrahimgil and Sertab Erener has sung on the commercial.

The commercial was shot in Istanbul and Barcelona with a crew of nearly 286 people, to be shown in 70 countries. The advertisement, which will premier in Turkey, was aired on many domestic and international channels such as CNN International, BBC, Euronews, Al Jazeera, CNBC and Eurosport.

[Source: Turkish Airlines.com]

More recently, Manchester United have sealed a new three and half year deal with Turkish Airlines. Another cool TV ad was released starring famous players (Vand der Sar, Rooney, Evra, Scholes to name a few) and legend Sir Bobby Charlton.

Honnestly? one of the coolest football TV ad. A mix of top quality and elegance with a big dose of fun, joy and wittiness. The ending is particularly funny with Van der Sar saving Sir Bobby Charlton from being hit by Rooney’s almighty shoot! We must protect the legend at all cost folks! Demonstrating the playing wizardry of the United team mates the ad sublimely demonstrates the brand synergy between Manchester United and their global travel partner.

Directed again by Marco Grandia, the commercial, aptly dubbed “Football on Air”, was filmed in the Manchester Studio at Media City’s Pie Factory.  The shoot involved building a full sized passenger jet and the production crew spent a further three weeks preparing for the shoot which took two days to film. The talents of more than 115 people were involved in creating the ad which will air in 80 countries around the world.

Sir Bobby was delighted to get involved on the day, “For me Manchester United will always be the greatest football club in the world. The partnership with Turkish Airlines brings fans all around the world closer to the Club which is fantastic news”.

Manchester United Commercial Director, Richard Arnold, said “Turkish Airlines are the perfect airline partner for Manchester United. It is an ambitious, innovative and truly global brand.”

[Source: Turkish Airlines.com]

Turkish Airlines outlines its global reach by using a global football clubs such as FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Also, its brand positioning is with no doubt on the fun and cool segment. What will be the next steps of Turkish Airlines? Taking the route of its competitor Emirates and enter the naming rights stadium path and sponsoring major clubs? Time will tell, but for sure it will be fun to watch!

Karl Lusbec