Rex Airlines’ sky-high wit on full display in ‘An Airfare to Remember’ campaign, via T&Pm
WPP’s recently merged full-service agency, T&Pm, has collaborated with Rex Airlines on a new campaign that tips a hat to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Playing off the 1957 film ‘An Affair to Remember’ starring cinema legends Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant, Rex’s ‘An Airfare to Remember’ campaign seeks to convince customers “to rethink their relationship with rival airlines”, with the ultimate goal of improving awareness of Rex’s brand and domestic travel network.
The campaign’s creative uses double-entendres and playfulness in its ‘Your Rex’ phrase to reflect the airline’s wit, allowing the materials to leverage humour – a tool described by T&Pm Australia’s general manager, Britt Lippett, as “powerful”.
“Rex is a brand perfectly suited to wit and satire because it is the quintessential underdog – a scrapper from the bush who moved into big jets and brought competition,” said Lippett.
“Until Rex came along, fares between Melbourne and Perth for example, hadn’t shifted in 10 years and there was little incentive for the major airlines to change, or to improve services.
“But building up a brand when the big two hold a 95 per cent market share – dwarfing the banks and supermarkets – requires a powerful tool, and we think humour is the best one.
“The ‘Your Rex’ campaign works because it invites the consumer in on the joke,” she continued.
Despite a 2022 report from Oracle stating that brands are not willing to use humour in the chance that they will be cancelled, Lippett said there is “a resurgence of humour” in the sector.
“It’s been well documented that the industry had seen a decline in irreverent ads over the past decade, with brands less willing to take a comedic risk for fear of a pile-on,” Lippett explained.
“Thankfully, post pandemic, we are seeing a resurgence of humour with the Cannes Lions Awards introducing a humour category this year, recognising its importance and impact.
“And to its credit Rex has got on board with us – embracing a little mischief to try and encourage disaffected travellers to dump the bigger airlines that took all of us for granted for so long.”
The campaign will be in market for a month.
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