British Airways bids Asia Pacific 'Sleep Well'

British Airways has launched a new and innovative advertising campaign - Sleep Well - for its business class cabin, Club World.

British Airways General Marketing Manager - Asia Pacific, Stacey Philipsen, said: "We realised it was important to move beyond a product features campaign to one that focuses on our product's end benefit - sleep."

"The Sleep Well campaign is a departure from traditional airline advertising in that it uses a series of very compelling visuals to illustrate one single minded proposition. We are thrilled with the campaign M&C Saatchi developed as it supports entirely the insight from our research, conducted by the One Centre, that identified sleep as the single most important benefit to business class travellers."

M&C Saatchi in Sydney developed the concept of Sleep Well using parts of the body. "Our thinking was brutally simple. We looked at sleep as superior product truth then related that truth back to the business class passenger. To succeed in business you need certain qualities - qualities often referred to as parts of the body. You have to have a backbone, you sometimes need to stick your neck out and you shoulder great responsibility.

"The premise of the creative is that the British Airways Club World bed allows you to rest all of these important body parts," said M&C Saatchi's Creative Director, Ben Welsh.

"The creative concept significantly changes the playing field and takes us to exactly where we want to be - taking the focus off the Club World features directly into the end-benefit territory," said Ms Philipsen.

To deliver the concept British Airways employed the talents of the award-winning, London based photographer Nadav Kander.

"Nadav was our first choice for this campaign. He is widely regarded as one of the finest photographers and we were delighted when he agreed to get involved," said Ms Philipsen.

"I was pleased to be approached by an airline so linked to quality and also to be asked to do work that clearly is very innovative," explained Nadav Kander.

The result is a campaign that while eschewing references to airline seats or beds, depicts both males and females naturally and peacefully asleep. The poses are elegant and graceful, beautiful and above all evocative of a sense of tranquillity and peace.

"In controlled style, using beautiful sensitive light and balanced shadows, it was my intention to achieve a sense of serenity and comfort," said Mr Kander.

"Nadav's work is outstanding and the result is an innovative advertising campaign that shifts the paradigm to a much more emotional level - one which revolves around the customer," said Ms Philipsen.

The Sleep Well campaign is being delivered through several different mediums, including print and outdoor in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan in the Asia-Pacific region.

The campaign is also being supported below the line by a unique regional public relations and direct marketing campaign.

"Ultimately with this campaign we aim to reinforce our position as a global leader, and even more important and valuable to our customers, as a leader in insightful innovation," said Ms Philipsen.

Nadav Kander - a biography

Nadav Kander is a big name in international photography. Born in Israel in 1961, Kander grew up in Johannesburg before making London his base.

Kander has built up an enviable reputation as a landscape and portrait photographer. He has exhibited his work in numerous museums and galleries, including Liverpool's Tate Gallery, the Royal Photographic Society, the National Portrait Gallery, the Michael Hoppen Photography Gallery, The Photographer's Gallery, the Saatchi Gallery and the Peter Fetterman Gallery in Los Angeles. His work also forms part of the public collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Kander is perhaps best known by international audiences for his commercial work. He has short portraits of Tracey Emin for The Sunday Times, Last Tango in Paris director Bernardo Bertolucci for Dazed and Confused, and world-famous footballers for Rolling Stone. Among his numerous awards he has won the Stone Prize at Epica's 1999 European advertising awards.