How Royal Jordanian Airline Used Trump’s Ban Of Muslims To Sell More Tickets To America

Diaspora News
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While many airlines panicked after Donald Trump’s ban of immigration from Muslim-majority countries, national carrier of kingdom of Jordan, Royal Jordanian, saw a huge opportunity.How? Sell more plane tickets to the US by mocking Trump.And the Idea has worked miracles for the airline.Its first ad was a simple image published on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram on November 8, 2016, just before the U.S. election results were announced.It showed economy and business class prices for RJ flights to Chicago, Detroit, and New York, saying “Just in case he wins… Travel to the U.S. while you’re still allowed to!”

The ad went viral and, won PR firm, Memac Ogilvy, the Grand Prix for PR (a first for any Jordanian agency) along with four other silver and gold prizes.In their camping strategy, the PR firm's objective were very simple: “Sell more plane tickets to the U.S.” Method? “Use Donald Trump’s ban of Muslims to our advantage.” Campaign budget? “Zero USD.”And it worked.The ad agency’s Facebook page, RJ bookings to the U.S. increased by 50 percent after the campaign.And from then they have been matching each and every Trump's “negative” announcement into a successful campaign that has landed them more customers.

 The mastermind behind all these campaigns is the creative team at Memac Ogilvy, led by Hadi Alaeddin, a 31-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian art director who also designs posters and T-shirts on the side.RJ doesn’t want to lose business, but they also can’t force American policy to change. Sometimes the ads can be annoying but according to Aya Nasif, who also handles client service, they usually have a positive impact in one way or another.“It’s annoying!” Nasif said. “All of us travel. I can only imagine how it would have been when I was in university, having to worry about this whenever I flew home from the States.”“We know it’s annoying and we’re trying our best to accommodate,” Alaeddin said, adding that they’d given RJ some ideas about ways to enhance on-board entertainment without laptops.

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