OgilvyOne’s Magic of Flying (#LookUp) for British Airways was one of the first high-profile campaigns to mix real-time data and emotion to reconnect travelers with the beauty of flight. The intent was to remind people that air travel is more than transportation – it’s still a marvel worth looking up for.
Launched in 2013, digital billboards across London’s Piccadilly Circus and Chiswick displayed live messages triggered by actual British Airways planes passing overhead. As each aircraft flew into range, the screen showed a child pointing skyward alongside details of the flight number and origin.This required custom-built software that mapped the flight’s path and timing to the billboard’s location.
The real-time execution blended technology and wonder with precision, incorporating the sky and the product, flying, into the media buy.
The campaign won multiple international awards, including the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Direct, and is still cited as a masterclass in data-driven storytelling with emotional pull.
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Magic of Flying re-established British Airways as a brand capable of turning technology into poetry – reminding a jaded world to simply look up.
Even as early as 2013, it showed the potential of the coming digital out-of-home advertising revolution.
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