BA to stir staff with ‘heroes’ drive

BYLN:

British Airways is using an array of heroes that include Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King for an internal staff motivation advertising campaign.

The campaign, developed by BA’s advertising agency M&C Saatchi, will be seen in the airlines’ newspaper BA News and will carry the strapline, “The World Favours the Brave”.

The first ad features civil rights leader Martin Luther King and the slogan, “If he hadn’t had a dream no one would have listened”.

Other versions planned include one featuring Nelson Mandela behind bars with a speech bubble saying, “I’m going to be president”. This is accompanied by the slogan, “Have the courage of your convictions”.

Another features President Clinton with Yasser Arafat and Yitzak Rabin at the signing of the Palestinian/Israeli peace accord, while a third shows Sherpa Tensing, of Everest fame, being told by a less determined fellow mountaineer, “It’s no good, Tensing, my socks are all wet”. Tensing, of course, is made of sterner stuff and goes on to prove that “The World Favours the Brave”.

The campaign is part of BA’s Leadership 2000 scheme, which aims to make BA the UK’s best managed company within five years.

In the annual British Quality of Management awards it comes third behind retailer Marks & Spencer and industrial group BTR.