Ewa Lampart heads up the marketing team at Poland’s national airline Lot. She specialises in digital transformation and building positive brand sentiment and fostering connections with customers.
The airline industry globally and in Poland is experiencing turbulent times, with carriers facing rising operational costs due to increasing fuel prices, labor shortages, and geopolitical tensions that impact passenger traffic. Economic uncertainty and persistent inflation has also meant that today’s travelers are more sensitive to ticket prices and they seek deals, discounts, and budget-friendly options.
This price sensitivity has intensified competition in our industry, with low-cost airlines transporting over 60% of passengers in Poland in the first quarter of this year alone. Lot has 95 years of history and experience as the national airline. However, our customer surveys revealed a decline in brand awareness following the pandemic, resulting in lower scores for brand attributes — such as the perception of Lot as a modern, ambitious company — and our brand's overall appeal.
To stand out, we needed to offer passengers something beyond comfort, convenience, and flexibility. Our aim was to create a new brand image that presents Lot as more than a carrier: a companion for fulfilling travel dreams. As we recently expanded our flight network with new routes, our aim was to not only boost awareness with our revamped brand image in Poland, but also in our biggest sales markets, US, Germany, and South Korea.
Generations united in emotional journey
We named our new brand campaign "It's who you travel with" as we wanted to express that flying is not merely about plane safety and service. Instead, we highlighted, it's an experience of discovering the world that passengers can even share with the next generation.
The main campaign video tells a story of love and passion for travel passed down through generations. The Lot brand is shown on a branded backpack passed from generation to generation. Our passengers are the hero of the story, and we accompany them. To enhance brand awareness, we incorporated elements of experiential marketing. For example, we featured Lot-branded items like the backpack on social media and in our store to encourage customers to collect memories with us.
Beyond traditional media channels, we leveraged YouTube to expand our reach and increase our brand awareness with this new message. To identify and engage the most relevant customers, we implemented Demand Gen campaigns. We chose Demand Gen, which uses the power of AI to drive demand, as it offers a wide inventory and convinces travelers to consider Lot. For example, we used lookalike segments to reach people who share similar characteristics with our existing customers.
Finally, we shared a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, featuring short interviews with participating crew members and showcasing how we filmed the campaign video. This made the brand more human as it allowed our customers to meet the team who made the magic happen.
Our goal was to offer passengers a new perspective and position ourselves as an ambassador of Polish culture and history.
The video ads generated a reach of over 30 million users across four markets: Poland, US, South Korea, and Germany, attracting 22 million new viewers. The campaign’s effectiveness prompted us to expand it to other markets where we wanted to raise awareness and generate sales, in particular Germany and South Korea.
In Germany, we sought to attract loyal customers in a highly competitive market. We focused on Poland-Germany routes and connections to Asia and the Middle East. South Korea is one of our strongest markets in terms of sales, and we wanted to expand our presence there further. And it was a great success. Following the campaign, we saw a search lift of 48% in South Korea and 16% in Germany. Moreover, Demand Gen has now become a key element of our always-on strategy for acquiring new customers, enabling us to scale our business efficiently and effectively.
The art of safety
Building upon the success of the original "It's who you travel with" ad, we also created a new safety video in partnership with the National Museum in Warsaw. Previously, our safety videos followed a traditional format, with crew members presenting safety features on a plane. In the new video, however, viewers explore the 19th century art gallery, where flight attendants communicate safety with Poland's greatest art masterpieces being a part of the demonstration. The main characters are mother and daughter from the previous video, and Lot’s backpack appears briefly again, maintaining consistency in the brand's image.
Our goal was to offer passengers a new perspective and position ourselves as an ambassador of Polish culture and history. We promote Poland's best qualities — hospitality and friendliness — while also carrying its heritage. By doing this we were able to connect with customers on a deeper, emotional level. "It's who you travel with" has become an integral part of our brand identity.
To connect with our audience on an emotional level and meet their needs, we share unique content on Lot's YouTube channel, including materials from our aircraft, interviews with our pilots, and travel reports. This content reflects our passion for flying and helps constantly grow our subscriber base.
As the next step, we plan to expand our brand awareness in international markets where Lot will be increasing its flight offerings. Everyone already knows “It’s who you travel with”. Now it’s time for something new. Our future campaigns focus will be on the destination: “It’s who you travel with, so where to?”
