Israir "A vacation is longer.."

If I see another picture of a palm tree beach anywhere I will start crazily massacring people. In my personal opinion they don’t make you want to go there, it’s like watching food channel on a diet. You’re just making me angry and resentful. Israir have managed to come up with an awesome campaign for their airline and they’ve done it in a cool, interesting way.

I am a serious victim of the amazing gap yah. That’s a bunch of annoying people that went traveling and now can’t shut up about how much it’s changed their life- yeeeah that’s me. This ad is just showing a small version of that, it’s showing how a tiny amount of time away can spill out into your back-to-work life, whether it’s your post-holiday tantight skin or your beautiful experience with that Indian villager/shaman that totally just like really showed you perspective. The experiences stay with you.

Many people think that when they only have a week off, going abroad is too much of a mission; I get that. Israir is trying to say that when you’re traveling, a week isn’t just a week. “A vacation is longer than just the time off”, great headline. Smart folks. They aren’t looking at other airlines as competition; they’re looking at people’s mentality towards travel. They know the “why bother” mindset we all get in after months of mind-numbing, soul-destroying work and they’re trying to draw us back, “remember how fun it was, that one time…” They’re taking the cheesy overdone “memories are moments” and making it less mushy.

I must admit understated ads appeal to me, in a giant pile of LOOK HERE NOW, BUYBUYBUY they stand out and I think this might be why I enjoyed this set of print ads so much. It’s an amazingly simple concept, based on one great insight with fantastic art direction. I love how they’ve illustrated the concept by putting it on a calendar- it simplifies the entire image while explaining the idea even further. The white border angles yours eyes making the actual reading experience more interesting, inside to out rather than left to right. It’s the little things like this that make this a great print ad.

I’m not saying these ads are faultless; there are certain things I don’t like. I feel that the hotel ad is just filling space. It’s not executed as well as the others and I mean comeon-it’sahotel, where’s the experience in that? I’m just not sure if the idea is as strong as the others but that is definitely personal opinion. I’m a backpacker’s girl. Hotel holidays don’t appeal on any level.

I really appreciate the fact that these ads aren’t pushing deals on everyone. They’re saying, “Hey, you look knackered, wanna talk about it?” They’re inviting you to investigate further rather than laying all the cards out on the table. Smart move on their side, as a brand. I’ve just finished “Hey, Whipple, Squeeze this” and a point that the author, Luke Sullivan, makes over and over again is that brands should treat meeting new consumers as if they were going to a party and making new friends. Basic rules: don’t be obnoxious, don’t talk too much about yourself and definitely don’t try to start selling stuff to them. Suggest, yeah- that’s OK- but no one invited a salesman to the party.

This isn’t the first time Israir has had a cool campaign. For a small(ish) airline, they sure are doing some fun stuff. Last year they had an outdoor campaign where they took the “You are here” on city maps and added “Too bad” with a tiny bit more writing about their plane fares.  Again, not pushy, just a little “waddup, life could be better”. I love it when I feel like I could befriend an advert or a brand (I definitely think about this a dangerous amount). Israir has left me thinking about them as the straight laced, suited guy, who loves shamrock hip-hop and has sweet moves on the dance floor. Fun, clever, quirky, trustworthy. That right there is the definition of doing a good job- making suckers like me believe in your brand.