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Ann Handley

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WestJet Christmas Not a Miracle, but a Mindset to Adopt in 2014 #BMTPPT [New Video Series]

What can marketers learn from the WestJet Christmas Miracle video? How can you coax buttoned-up executives to get on board with some playful improv? What’s it mean to give “generous content gifts”?

In a special holiday edition of our new show – Better Marriage Through PowerPoint – Tim Washer and I discuss all this and more:

A few show highlights follow.

1. A Heartwarming Story Paired With Powerful Brand Storytelling

WestJet won Christmas this year, at least from a marketing perspective.

WestJet’s Christmas Miracle video — wherein a purple-clad Santa stuns an airplane full of passengers by making their wishes come true — has attracted more than 23 million views on YouTube and plenty of social media love for the small Calgary-based airline. (Had you heard of WestJet before last week? I hadn’t.)

Most importantly, the video is completely on-brand with the airline’s bigger story of a fun, friendly, caring culture that WestJet VP Richard Bartrem articulates here.

2. Humor as an Emerging B2B Marketing Trend in 2014

Tim recently produced a series of videos Cisco made at its CIO conference in Orange County, and here he shares the back story of how he pulled it off, and why it worked so well.

“You create an opportunity so it’s a good thing for them,” he says. “I was so surprised at how playful everybody was.”

3. Planning for 2014: Give Your Customers a Gift

“How can you delight your customers? How can you surprise them?” As I talk about all the time, we need to relentlessly and continually focus on our customers and think about things with extreme empathy. “Extreme Empathy” sounds like a reality TV show, but it really just meant to get out of our own heads, and into theirs.

Your content marketing doesn’t always have to be funny (like Cisco’s). It doesn’t always have to be an expensive and complicated (like WestJet’s). But it must maintain a generous mindset: “How can we give them a gift?” (Even if that “gift” just helps them make a decision or explain things more clearly.)

Humor and surprise and extreme empathy can be your differentiator in 2014. So now is the time to start planning.

Like what you see? We’d appreciate it if you subscribed to the Better Marriage Through PowerPoint YouTube channel here.

Filed Under: Annarchy, Business, Content, Social Media, Video Tagged With: Better Marriage Through PPT, tim washer

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gordon Diver says

    December 14, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    Thanks for this. A nice addition to the landscape, fun, informative and timely.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      December 14, 2013 at 7:05 pm

      Big thanks, Gordon! We had fun. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Danny Brown says

    December 14, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    WestJet is one of Canada’s greatest success stories. Everyone talks about JetBlue and the service they offer (and they’re awesome) but WestJet is built on employees. Every employee has a stake in the company, and the mantra is every customer is special.

    This video is a perfect example of their mantra. 🙂

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      December 15, 2013 at 9:02 am

      Exactly! I’d never heard of them, Danny. But way to get on the map… !

      Love that they value employees that much, too. Awesome.

      Reply
      • Dana DiTomaso says

        December 16, 2013 at 10:35 am

        What Danny said. We’re in Edmonton and I fly only WestJet if possible. They’re friendly, fun and really follow through on customer service. I think they have one of the strongest airline social media presences out there – keep an eye on them.

        Reply
  3. Richard Hill (Quarry) says

    December 16, 2013 at 10:52 am

    We loved this video Ann & Tim! And it’s been amazing to see the impact it’s had on WestJet’s social media following: Before they uploaded their “Christmas Miracle” video, WestJet had around 3,700 subscribers (as of early Dec). Now, their YouTube channel has nearly 25,000 subscribers – a 576% jump in just a few weeks! Go team Canada for great content marketing 🙂

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      December 16, 2013 at 7:31 pm

      Whoa. I’m really interested to see what they do next!!

      Reply
  4. Doug Kessler says

    December 16, 2013 at 11:33 am

    Love it! Just getting to eavesdrop on you guys is my idea of a good time.

    Note to self: bug Ann & Tim’s phones. Quit job. Buy Beer.
    Would that be creepy?

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      December 16, 2013 at 7:30 pm

      Yes.

      But it’s okay. 🙂

      (Thanks, Doug!)

      Reply
  5. Tony Faustino says

    December 17, 2013 at 7:59 am

    Ann, have you seen the movie Love Actually? The beginning and end of the movie show people greeting their loved ones at London’s Heathrow Airport with The Beach Boys classic, “God Only Knows,” playing in the background. That’s what I thought of when watched West Jet’s amazing storytelling — it’s that good!

    The scene when the woman opens her gift to find the digital camera she asked Santa for is priceless — her reaction really got to me.

    Reply
  6. JourneyMart says

    December 19, 2013 at 6:29 am

    I like it, thanks for sharing idea in blogging just like Marketing Trend, Gift idea and many more.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    December 20, 2013 at 9:56 am

    […] ← WestJet Christmas Not a Miracle, but a Mindset to Adopt in 2014 #BMTPPT [New Video Series] […]

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  2. What You Can Learn From Six Online Marketing Superstars says:
    January 5, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    […] might know Ann Handley as Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, but you’ll also find her hanging out at […]

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  3. How to Use Instagram in a Genius Way says:
    February 12, 2014 at 10:14 am

    […] concept is rooted in what I think of what I think of as extreme empathy for the customer – another hallmark of best-in-class content. (I just debated whether I might […]

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  4. Four key marketing lessons to propel us into 2014 - Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow} - Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow} says:
    June 10, 2016 at 6:59 am

    […] 2014, she encourages marketers to “give your customers a gift.” Ask yourself how you can delight them, the way Westjet delighted their passengers by granting […]

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