In an attempt to restore the company’s culture of innovative breakthroughs, in 2013 British Airways (BA) was responsible for curating one of the most effective and innovative PR campaigns of the decade. The strategy, “UnGrounded: An Innovation Lab in the Sky” invited 130 top innovators to board a BA flight from San Francisco to London. Once on board, passengers were presented with a unique opportunity to collaborate and tackle global issues facing the future for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) industries.
While developing effective industry partnerships influencers came together to solve a growing global dilemma. A total of 22 concepts were developed with a final 4 key categories focusing on Growing STEM in emerging communities, Fostering Women in STEM, Expanding STEM and Meeting US demand for talent globally.
Contributors were not only able to develop initiatives and ideas to combat these challenges but were able to successfully launch a campaign (AdvisHer) mid-flight to support women pursuing a career in STEM industries. In addition to this, the findings from UnGrounded were presented at the Decide Now Act (DNA) and G8 summits.
The AdvisHer initiative recorded 400 registrations in the first 72 hours from individuals interested in participating in the program aimed to encourage more women into STEM fields.
Executed through an extensive PR Campaign, UnGrounded was a phenomenal success. Wired and TechCrunch along with many other top-tier media outlets reported on the campaign totalling more than 90 unique articles reaching over 225 million readers. Social media engagements saw over 100 million users on Twitter, generating 11,000 online mentions. Press releases, promotional videos on YouTube, announcements, blogging and contests were all part of the meticulous implementation.
With an initial objective to elevate the BA brand as a forward-thinking, innovative player in the technology industry, UnGrounded attracted such positive audience feedback from all over the world, it earned the company an award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2014.
The success behind BA’s UnGrounded campaign is the motivation it sparked in the minds of all collaborators and followers involved: the misalignment of global talent and the initiative that is needed to support STEM industries. It effectively got audiences thinking more about the supply and demand of the Tech industry and how essential community engagement proves to be.
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