This presentation discusses Southwest Airlines' Valentine's Day 2014 campaign to surprise and delight customers. The airline planned in advance, approving a budget to surprise customers in three cities with $500 gift cards. They filmed interactions between customers and gift recipients, producing a video that gained their highest ever single-day views. The campaign was a success, achieving positive customer and employee feedback and strengthening Southwest's reputation for exemplifying love through their service. The presentation emphasizes the value of planned, budgeted campaigns to surprise customers in memorable ways.

1. SocialMedia.org
This video is from
Case Studies
BlogWell
San Francisco
June 20, 2011
socialmedia.org/blogwell
This presentation is from
BlogWell
Dallas
February 19, 2014
socialmedia.org/blogwell
Christi McNeill
Surprise and delight

3. What Is It?
• The act of surprising
Customers with the sole
intention of creating
delight!
– Freebies and Goodies
– Above and Beyond Service
– Memorable Experiences

4. Quick Question:
What is the most delightful thing Southwest
Airlines could do for you on your next flight?
Tweet the answer to @SouthwestAir use
hashtag #BlogWell

5. Why?
• Opportunities exist
everywhere!
• Something unexpected
makes people curious
and interested
• Empowers Employees to
be decision makers and
do the right thing.
• Minimal investment but
huge return!

6. History of Valentine’s Day @
Southwest
•
•
•
•
Heroes of the Heart
Gate decorating
Free cocktails
Valentine’s flair

7. LUV is in our DNA!

8. Valentine’s Day 2014
Southwest has always been known as the LUV
airline. In fact, our NYSE symbol is LUV. Our
home base is Love Field.
How can we continue to “own the holidays”
in fun and relevant ways for our Customers?
How can we guarantee that our Customers
feel the LUV?

9. The Project:
Planning began in December 2013. We knew we needed
to find a way to surprise and delight our fans and
Customers
• We approved the budget to surprise Customers in DAL,
HOU, and DEN with $500 Southwest Airlines Gift Cards.
• We secured the multimedia resources to bring these
surprises to life.
• Wrote storyboards and concepts, but really had no idea
how our Customers would react…but they loved it!

10. The Video
• The traveling mom, the
military hero, the married
couple, the long distance
lovers…all stories
captured in just 24 hours
of filming in 3 cities.
• Life happens on our
planes!

11. The Launch
• We posted the video at 6am Friday morning to
Facebook.
• Our Facebook fans had the opportunity to win
Southwest Gift Cards as well – this just
sweetened the deal for online fans!
• We pitched the story to news media all across
the nation and secured several placements.

12. The Results
• Our highest video views
in a single day – ever!
• Overwhelmingly positive
response from our fans
and Employees.
• Sense of pride and
ownership from
Employees.

13. A Few Quick Tips…
• Have the right people in the
right positions to make
decisions.
• Equip your field reporters
• Look for story ideas
• Plan ahead (have a budget
and resources set aside for
activations).

15. SocialMedia.org
This video is from
Case Studies
BlogWell
San Francisco
June 20, 2011
Learn more about past and
upcoming BlogWells
socialmedia.org/blogwell
This presentation is from
BlogWell
Dallas
February 19, 2014
socialmedia.org/blogwell
socialmedia.org/blogwell