bmibaby have implemented virtual check in desks at all 39 bases and destinations to encourage customers to check in to win and aims to reward customer loyalty. Insight will also be given to bmibay's Grand Tour of Europe, which aims to engage, inspire and reward customers through location gaming. A fascinating case study focusing the low cost airline's ongoing social media loyalty scheme. Presented by Naomi Bustin, bmibaby, Bridey Lipscombe & Cat Turner, The Rabbit Agency

1. bmibaby case study:
#MiaItalia
Monday, 19 September 2011

2. Contents
• Background
• The bmibaby brief
• The rise of Instagram
• Our campaign: #MiaItalia
• Results and learnings
• The evolution of the campaign
Monday, 19 September 2011

3. We are a social media ideas agency
affiliated with top ten ad agency
DLKW Lowe
We find clever ways in which
online social tools can be
integrated into brands’
communications strategies
We started work in Feb 2010. So
far in 2011, we’ve won six awards -
including the Digital Impact Award
for best use of digital in the travel
sector: For bmibaby
bmibaby is the first client we won!
About Rabbit
Background
Monday, 19 September 2011

4. We are a small (fleet of
14) UK based low fares
airline
We fly to 39 European
destinations
We use our size to our
advantage - we want to
put the fun in flying and
inspire our customers to
travel
About bmibaby
Monday, 19 September 2011

5. Our campaign
history
• Year one: robust customer
service along side small scale
creatives
• #FFFF
• Twitter Q&As
• Travel Expert Panel
• Year two: customer service
function moving in-house focus
move to larger scale creative
tactics
• Social Media Loyalty Card
• Visual Inspiration Guides
• bmibaby LIVE!
• Grand Tour of Europe
Monday, 19 September 2011

6. The bmibaby brief
• Work together with our online
community to inspire our
customers to travel
• Priority route focus
• Work with international tourist
boards
• Airline first, in the increasingly
competitive social space!
• Cross platform and able to be
brought to life offline
Monday, 19 September 2011

7. Photo sharing social
network
Approaching 10 million
users worldwide
Works on Apple iOS
devices (iPhone, iPod
Touch, iPad), but Android
version in the works
Almost the same no of
users as Foursquare,
which is cross-platform.
Gained in Half the time
The rise of Instagram
Monday, 19 September 2011

8. Instagram
• Not just the usual suspects!
• Highly engaged community
• Integrates: Twitter, Facebook,
Tumblr, Foursquare, Flickr,
Posterous, Foodspotting - the
fastest growing photo-sharing
source on Twitter
• Early adopter brands embracing:
Starbucks, Burberry, ASOS, Moby
• In airlines - BA present, using
mainly as visual news feed.
easyJet created feed 3 months
ago, but has done nothing since
the 1st two posts
Monday, 19 September 2011

9. 104 Instagramer
communities (and growing
every week)
Users identify themselves
as part of these regional
communities by tagging
their pictures eg
#IgersLondon
Coordinated by the main
Instagramer feed run by
@philgonzalez
Presence on Twitter,
Facebook and offline
Instameets
Instagramers or ‘Igers’
Monday, 19 September 2011

10. Creative challenges are
common
Launched by users,
community feeds and
brands
Simple, to avoid language
and tech barriers
Often hashtag lead
My favourite:
@joshjohnson
Creative challenges!
Monday, 19 September 2011

11. Bringing Instagram to
life outside of the app
• New apps, browsers and tools
every week!
• Instagram edit suite: Iris,
Square Ready, Phonto
• Evaluation: Statigram (private
message functionality)
• Browsers: Instagallery,
Instagrid and Webstagram
Monday, 19 September 2011

12. Statigram - a hugely
useful (free) tool
• The ‘basic’ stats (followers etc)
• Most popular pics
• Time of day to post
• Most engaged followers
• And more!
Monday, 19 September 2011

13. bmibaby & Instagram
communities: The Idea
• Working with a different regional
Instagramer feeds each month we ask
the communities to help us create
visual inspiration guides in exchange
for flights!
• Simple message: Tag the beautiful
sights of Italy to win flights!
• Each month a different priority
route focus
• The community decides the
monthly winners
Monday, 19 September 2011

14. Getting started: the bmibaby
feed
• Feed set up
• Regular Content
• Cross post to existing social channels
• bmibaby community tag: #bmibabygram
• Started building relationships with Instagram
community managers
Monday, 19 September 2011

15. Show us the beautiful sights of Italy! #MiaItalia
Monday, 19 September 2011

16. Who won? They decided!
Monday, 19 September 2011

17. miaitalia: winner reaction
Yay! I'm ecstatic! Thank you so very much!
dutchie68!- about 18 hours ago
@dutchie68 congratulations!!!
ilarysgrill!- about 18 hours ago
@ilarysgrill thank you!
dutchie68!- about 18 hours ago
Not yet but I'll find out how I can right now!
dutchie68!- about 18 hours ago
That was easy, I'm now (I think)!
dutchie68!- about 18 hours ago
@dutchie68 congrats!!! ;))) enjoy your flight!!
igersitalia!- about 18 hours ago
@igersitalia thank you very much!
dutchie68!- about 18 hours ago
Monday, 19 September 2011

18. miaitalia: results - entrants
#miaitalia
Entrants at week 1 1,000+
Entrants at week 2 1,600+
Entrants at week 3 2,300+
Continued growth of
3,000+ images
community
Monday, 19 September 2011

19. Chapter One: #MiaItalia
Still growing all the time
thanks to the community
Soon to sit as chapters on
the bmibaby blog,
alongside #MyGermany!
Visual inspiration guides
Monday, 19 September 2011

20. Visual inspiration guides
Monday, 19 September 2011

21. AND NOW.......mygermany!
Monday, 19 September 2011

22. Results so far!
#miaitalia #mygermany
Entrants at week
1,000+ 1,600+
1
Entrants at week
1,600+ 2,000 +
2
Entrants at week
2,300+ 2,600 +
3
Continued growth
3,000+ images TBC
of community
Monday, 19 September 2011

23. Why did this campaign work?
• We worked with an existing community rather than just release a
competition out into the wild. We won their trust to avoid looking like
another brand jumping on the latest bandwagon
• There is a brand tie-in (bmibaby countries, the idea of travel and discovery),
but bmibaby didn’t over brand it - for example neither #mygermany or
#miaitalia has bmibaby in the name
• It is long-term and given time to work, rather than a tactical ‘one hit
wonder’ - more countries are coming up
• Extensions beyond Instagram - the visual inspiration guide, used for PR /
press, fed through bmibaby’s other social feeds
• A benchmark of how successful this has been: Each #jj_forum (one of the
most famous IG comps, running worldwide) gets around 3-4k tags, the same
as #miaitalia. Moby launched a micro-site encouraging fans to tag pics
#destroyed - acres of publicity, 1700 tags
Monday, 19 September 2011

24. The UK’s first
Instagram exhibit
• bmibaby: The only brand
exhibiting
• Event organised by
IgersLondon and IgersUK
(Rabbit Agency supporting!)
• Exhibit to be announced to
press this week!
• Instameet on Saturday 22nd
at the gallery location
Monday, 19 September 2011

25. Monday, 19 September 2011

26. Thank you!
• Instagram, Twitter and Skype:
@brideyrae
• Twitter: @NaomiBustin
• www.therabbitagency.com
• http://blog.bmibaby.com
Monday, 19 September 2011