British Airways Celebrates 100 Years of Flying to India in Touching New Film
In collaboration with Uncommon Creative Studio, British Airways has unveiled its latest work for the Indian market, directed by award-winning filmmaker Prakash Varma — marking 100 years of the airline’s flights between India and the UK.
- To mark its centenary year in India, British Airways has unveiled its new brand campaign created specifically for the India market, featuring more than 100 of the airline’s colleagues from five Indian cities
- A TV advert shows a touching story of British Airways colleagues going above and beyond to help a British Airways customer reach the airport, reflecting the airline’s passion for caring for its customers as though they’re family
- The campaign has been created in partnership with renowned Indian creative talent, including filmmaker Prakash Varma, Bollywood acting coach Chandan Kumar and emerging photographer Avani Rai
- The TV advert will go live from today, including connected TV and cinema, with placements ahead of films Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Red One
India, Friday 01 November 2024: British Airways has unveiled its new TV advert and brand campaign – ‘Family in the Skies’– created specifically for the Indian market and showcasing India-based colleagues as the stars.
As the UK flag carrier celebrates 100 years of flying between India and the UK this month, the campaign showcases its passion and commitment to providing exceptional service through its greatest asset – its people.
The advert was developed with British Airways’ UK-based agency, Uncommon Creative Studio, and its network of Uncommon Minds based in India. Featuring 25 colleagues, the campaign was collaboratively designed by Indian and British creative directors. In addition, key insights were taken from research conducted with Indian consumers and British Airways colleagues.
The full campaign, which is the first one in India since 2016, also brings together an exceptional roster of acclaimed Indian creative talent, including:
- Renowned Indian filmmaker Prakash Varma who created the short film
- Award-winning casting director Romil Modi (known for the 2024 Cannes Grand Prix winner ‘All We Imagine as Light’), who personally selected the participating colleagues
- Celebrated Bollywood acting coach Chandan Kumar from the National School of Drama who prepared the crew through specialized workshops
MORE ABOUT THE FILM
The full two-minute film follows the journey of a young woman embarking on a solo journey to the UK and making her way to the airport with support and well-wishes from her community and family.
The woman’s van breaks down during the journey and she’s in a moment of panic before a British Airways bus passes. A crew member invites her and her family to join the British Airways colleagues to the airport on this all-important journey and the short film sees them share stories, food and laughter with the family on the bus.
Having transformed a stressful experience into a memorable one, the woman says an emotional goodbye to her family at the airport before being taken under the crews’ wings and making their way to the flight.
This simple yet impactful narrative highlights British Airways’ unwavering dedication to caring for its passengers, shining a light on the crew’s willingness to go above and beyond to create a sense of familiarity and make every journey comfortable and enjoyable.
Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at British Airways, said: “We are so proud to have more than 2,500 Indian-based colleagues – making India our largest colleague base outside of the UK – and we are proud that more than 100 of them feature in this campaign. It showcases the huge amount of talent we are so lucky to have within our British Airways family and we could not be more thrilled to show this on a national scale in India. Not only does the campaign tell a story, but it shows who we really are.
“It’s important to us to shine a light on each of our colleagues’ originality, as this is British Airways at its most authentic: your family in the skies.”
With local media planning by OMD India, working with British Airways’ London-based expert team at MG OMD, the ‘Family in the Skies’ TV advert will launch across India on November 1. Having tested very positively already, versions will also be released in UK, US, and Canada. Placement includes cinema, YouTube, connected TV, over the top, and social media.
British Airways flies to London Heathrow from five Indian cities – Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. The airline currently operates more than 50 flights per week to the UK, which will increase to more than 60 flights per week for Summer 2025 as it adds a third daily service from Delhi.
MORE ABOUT A BRITISH ORIGINAL
In 2023, British Airways, alongside its partners Uncommon Creative Studio and MG OMD, took home the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes Lions for its work launching ‘A British Original’ in 2022. The campaign focused on the common question travellers are frequently asked when they land in a new destination: ‘What is the purpose of your visit?’ but instead of ticking the standard boxes of ‘business’ or ‘leisure’, viewers see more meaningful and relatable answers for travel celebrating each original reason, showing that British Airways recognises each of its customers as individuals.
Since the launch of ‘A British Original,’ the airline has continued to champion originality throughout its customer experience. From new versions of the onboard safety video showcasing everything that makes Britain unique to its menus focusing on British provenance and uniquely British elements on the ground and in the air, the airline continues to hero originality throughout every step of the customer journey.
CREDITS:
Project Name: Family in the Skies
Client: British Airways
Creative Studio: Uncommon Creative StudioProduction Company: Nirvana Films
Director: Prakash Varma
Executive Producer: Sneha Iype
Producer: Nandini Gowda
DOP: Satchith Paulose
1st AD: Balakrishnan S ThevarAdditional Music Production: Luis Almau, Benjamin Jones
Sound Design: Jack Patterson
Additional Sound Design: Graham Norman
Final Mix: Henning Knoepfel
Soundtree EP/MD: Jay JamesPost Production: Black Kite Studios
VFX: Daydreamer
VFX: @daydreamer.ldn
2D Lead: @tommmoreland
2D: @rodders_1979 @peterypstra @itsbradford & Paul Wratten
3D: @vfullerx
EP: @aperitivochristo
Producer: @sophmcdonaldd
Production Assistant: @elizaliight
Media Assist: @jake_day97
