Behind the Brand: How Southwest Airlines Turns Brand Values into Stories
Alyssa Foster, who leads Brand Partnerships and Entertainment PR at Southwest Airlines shares insights into how Southwest uses storytelling to connect with travelers, highlight the heart of its people, and create authentic brand moments. From their groundbreaking short film "Alone in Tombstone" to leveraging micro-influencers for campaigns like "Summer of Go," Alyssa gives us an inside look at how Southwest is redefining airline marketing.
TRANSCRIPT
Alyssa Foster: Yes, we are a travel provider but we're storytellers and we connect people to what matters to them, the people and the places. And we're going to get them there with the best hospitality and the best people. So with that as our core that's how we approach really all of our communications. All of our marketing is really leaning into that.
Jesse Roesler: Greetings and welcome to Content That Moves, the podcast from Credo Nonfiction and BrandStorytelling that pulls back the curtain to reveal how the very best in brand films and episodic content is being funded, created, distributed and measured.
I'm your host Jesse Roesler, the founder of Credo Nonfiction, where we partner with brands to find and tell stories that reveal brand purpose and deepen brand meaning through short and feature length documentaries or episodic series. Visit CredoNonFiction.com to learn how we can help you create real, moving stories for your brand.
This podcast is co-produced by BrandStorytelling, bringing you the latest news, trends, and insights in branded content with top-of-industry events and in-depth industry coverage online. BrandStorytelling encourages a higher level of collaboration amongst advertisers, agencies, media partners, and creators in pursuit of a richer media environment. For more of the latest in the world of branded content or to explore event offerings, visit BrandStorytelling.tv today.
I’m excited to introduce our guest, Alyssa Foster, who heads up Brand Partnerships and Entertainment PR at Southwest Airlines. Southwest is not only the first airline we’ve had on the show, but also a leader in using storytelling to create meaningful connections with their travelers. From heartfelt campaigns to innovative partnerships, Alyssa will take us behind the scenes of how Southwest uses storytelling to connect with travelers, from their first-ever brand film, Alone in Tombstone, to creative campaigns like Summer of Go. We’ll also dive into how they collaborate with micro-influencers and bring brand values like kindness and hospitality to life in fresh and innovative ways."
I'm thrilled you could join us. Southwest is actually the first airline we've had on content that moves, so that's an exciting first for us. Awesome.
Alyssa Foster: We're thrilled to be that.
Jesse Roesler: And we love, you know, talking to someone from a new industry that's venturing into storytelling and filmmaking now here too. So maybe we just start big picture and I'd love to just get an understanding of how you're employing storytelling and you know, story-driven content alongside more of the traditional marketing and advertising.
Alyssa Foster: So storytelling at Southwest has been a part of our core from the very beginning. Our founder, Herb Kelleher, remembered everyone, remembered their story, could say it back to them and really that's what we see ourselves as. Yes, we are a travel provider, but we're storytellers and we connect people to what matters to them, the people and the places. And we're going to get them there with the best hospitality and the best people. So with that as our core, that's how we approach really all of our communications. All of our marketing is really leaning into that. We use a ton of our channels that are both tools within our communications department and our marketing department. And you'll see them show up a little bit differently depending on the channel. Of course, you want to make sure you're speaking to the audience properly, but, you know, when we approach storytelling, we're looking to showcase our people, the places we serve and our products. So: our experience, our aircraft. And so that's kind of really high-level where you'll see us. But we're looking to showcase the heart of our people, the heart of our airline and the hearts of our customers.
Jesse Roesler: I think that's one of the things that I first saw that moved me probably at one of these events three or four years ago. I think it was the “Go with Heart,” where there were stories that really were like a zoom past the physical product, it enables you to do this, but what does that really mean for somebody? And when you can find a story where it's the most meaningful thing in the world that they're getting, that they're going to this place. So do you want to talk about that, about like stories that you've, you've found or led with with heart that are really moving?
Alyssa Foster: Yeah. There, I mean there's been so many out there. We have so many different examples of storytelling at Southwest, really those heartfelt stories. We've got an amazing charitable and outreach pillar. We've got a medical transportation grant program where we provide airfare to hospitals to distribute to patients who need to travel for medical care. And you'll see stories of kids flying to get treatment and they're just, they're excited to be on an airplane. And so really kind of leaning into that very heartfelt message there, but we also have very pop culture moment fun content too. Especially you'll see that show up on our social channels. And we actually had two folks here present about storytelling on Southwest channels. And the great example I love is we got a new water product on board, a carbonated water, and you could just post a picture of it and say, next time you fly, you can drink this. But our social team really made it fun and you know, based on the channel changed the language a little bit, changed what the content was. So I just, I love that the team is so focused on making sure that the message and the story is tailored per channel and per audience.
Jesse Roesler: Awesome. And I know you have obviously your own channels where this is showing up, but I know you work with talking about the fun con fun content or pop cultural content in particular. You work with others to help extend that reach, I guess you could say. So I'd love it if you want to talk a little bit about how you're you're telling stories, but you're also bringing others in to help tell stories on your behalf and and sharing it with their audiences as well.
Alyssa Foster: So, you know, I think the first one that we can really kind of talk about is it was actually a project that was born here in the brand storytelling space. So several years ago it was actually pre-pandemic. We met great folks from Wattpad here and we worked with them to host a writing contest. Wattpad is a very UGC generated storytelling platform. People submit their books to the platform. And people can read them, vote them up or down. But they've seen great success with the stories being adapted into film, short film and picked up by the big streamers. So we hosted a writing contest in celebration of our 50th anniversary, and we had people write their own stories that they experienced kindness during travel. And we had hundreds of submissions and it was everything from, you know, somebody traveling to go try chicken wings in every state, and just, you know, the kindness that they experienced along that journey. But we narrowed it down to 10 finalists. And then we did have a winning story. The writer was E.A. Comiskey and the story was called “Alone in Tombstone.” And so that was a great, amazing contest. We saw a really great engagement, but then we wanted to take it a step further. So we adapted “Alone in Tombstone” into a short film. It was our first ever brand film.
Jesse Roesler: We love hearing that.
Alyssa Foster: We were super proud of it. We did bring on Tongle just to lean into their creative community. So we had an up-and-coming director, Kelsey Taylor, who adapted this short story from Tongle, from Wattpad to a film. If you watch it, I hope you do, it's on Southwest YouTube page. It's also on our in-flight entertainment portal. So if you're flying on Southwest, you can access it for free. Which is a great distribution platform. And we can talk about that a little bit more too. But she adapted that into this film, really, there's no Southwest branding in it. And it really is just leaning into that kindness that this person experienced during travel.
Jesse Roesler: So there's no visual branding per se, but would you consider kindness as a brand value?
Alyssa Foster: Right. Exactly. Yep. Yep.
Jesse Roesler: I think that's awesome. I mean, there's so many great stories that can be born of just focusing in on a particular brand value, and it sounds like that sort of permeates, like you said, the hospitality. I mean, kindness is probably a part of every, every piece of that experience, or at least you want it to be. So it would make sense that something would be born from that. And to have your community be part of the creation of it, I think is, is really fun too.
Alyssa Foster: Yeah, it was wonderful.
Jesse Roesler: I know you're working, you're not only inviting people to be part of the storytelling there, but you work with a lot of influencers, micro-influencers on different social platforms. I'd love it if you maybe just want to tell us what your strategy has been, how that's evolved, and maybe what the latest thing is you're doing in that regard.
Alyssa Foster: Yeah, so we're pumping out content all the time on our own channels, and it performs great, it does well, but when we can loop in creators and really leverage their channels, obviously that's a great win for us to get our branding out to new audiences. I think also using a creator to share their experience, you know, just really kind of validates the things that we're trying to share in a very authentic way. So we've really seen a lot of success in leveraging creators specifically around our travel content. So right now we've got a great campaign going on, it's called “Summer of Go,” and it is a 10-week program that we launched. And the background on that is during the pandemic Southwest opened up 18 new cities, unheard of in our history.
Usually maybe one or two a year, just kind of depending on what's happening. But during the pandemic we needed to put our planes and people to work, and so we really saw it as a great opportunity to get into new markets. But with new markets, you've gotta work on awareness. So we were charged really to build awareness about these leisure destinations and how we can get people to really think of Southwest when they want to go to Bozeman or they want to go to Palm Springs. So that's how “Summer of Go” was born. And so it's a 10-week program where each week a surprise destination is revealed that is a part of a sweepstakes. And so and then once you enter the sweepstakes, you get a promo code that you can book a ticket to that destination as well. So there's your little sneak peek. Go enter.
But, you know, I think for our approach, yes, we could post and say, go enter now, here you go. But we've worked with content creators for their perspective about that market, about that city: Show us the best things to do in Bozeman. Give us your take. And that's what we're using to really help drive the awareness and then lead into the sweepstakes.
Jesse Roesler: Awesome.
Alyssa Foster: Yeah. We've seen great not only content engagement on our channels, we've seen earned media pick up on it. So it's been a really great program.
Jesse Roesler: Sweet. And how are you deciding who you're working with in each market? Like is it, is it about their culture point of view, their followership? A little bit of both? What's the recipe there?
Alyssa Foster: Yeah, so it really depends per program. But for “Summer of Go,” we really are looking at those micro-influencers. We're using a lot of folks that we've worked with before. You know, we may have brought them in on a different project. We've had that great rep with them. We have trust with them. We love their perspective on it. They're very much in the travel niche so their audience is used to seeing this type of content from them. Maybe they've seen us as a part of their content or not, but it's really been a great method for us with this one.
Jesse Roesler: Cool. And how long have you been working with influencers in that way?
Alyssa Foster: We've had a formal strategy for five+ years. I think we were pretty early on in bringing creators to the space. Last year we had a creator day where we brought in some of our best creators to come in and have a look at our operation, have a look at our headquarters, hear from some of our other partners. And I think that was a really good opportunity for them to have some of those exclusive chances to show things for their audience. You know, not everybody gets to go to see an airplane up close. So that was a really great thing. We are planning another one this year for later on in this fall. But I think it's just continuing that relationship with them so that we know that when something comes up, they're going to be the first ones that we go to to help tell our story.
Jesse Roesler: Cool. And for brands that might be new on that journey of utilizing influencers to help spread the word, how are you a two-parter? How are you defining influencer from micro-influencer and then when you first decided who these relationships would be with, were there any sort of guiding principles or parameters on that?
Alyssa Foster:Yeah I think when we say micro-influencer, it's really based on follower count. That's what we're looking at. There are times when we'll use one with more of a following just based on what the need is or what the particular campaign is.
Jesse Roesler: Is there a threshold for when micro translates, when it ceases to be micro and starts to be a bigger influence?
Alyssa Foster: Yeah. I mean, I guess to us, I would say probably 10K or lower is that follower count, that is sort of our micro. And then we've worked with bigger names as well. In the travel space there's probably you may already follow some of them. So that's kind of how we divide it out. As a brand we are really protective of how our brand is used, how it's portrayed, all of that. So I think setting the creator up for success, really being clear on what the ask is. Giving them a very thorough brief on what you're hoping to see from them. And just kind of walking alongside with them, you know, have that, that pre-pro call with them, talk them through the whole experience. We usually provide a several slide deck about, okay, here's what you should do, here's what you shouldn't do. Here's our cell phone if you have a question. And then obviously having a chance to review the content before it goes live. But I think really being clear with them from the beginning about what you're looking for, you're just going to see a better product.
Jesse Roesler: A lot of times we think about brand standards in terms of colors or fonts or photography, but I assume there's a whole other set of parameters when others are charged with making an entire story. Right?
Alyssa Foster: Yeah. And you know, if you're trying to get brand values or feelings across in content, you just need to be really clear about what feeling you want to evoke. Right?
Jesse Roesler: Do any of the micro-influencer campaigns or pieces of content stand out as particularly successful? And then how are you measuring those when you are looking at what's done the best for you?
Alyssa Foster: We worked with the Alpha Dads last year for Father's Day. Really wanted to lean into kind of a humor play on Father's Day. So we wanted to see how it looks to travel like a dad. And so it was a huge parody of the whole travel experience: arriving to the airport too early, tipping the captain, providing feedback on the landing. All those kind typical stereotypical things.
Jesse Roesler: Lots of dad jokes, I hope.
Alyssa Foster: So many dad jokes. Yes. There was puffy vests involved.
Jesse Roesler: I follow all the dad joke accounts.
Alyssa Foster: But so based on what we were looking at, that one was really impressions, reach and engagement. And they just delivered something amazing for us. And they were a lot of fun to work with.
Jesse Roesler: When you look at, and I'm not sure if you benchmark this, but when you look at your reach and the spend that's made with micro-influencers versus if you took that same amount of money and bought a traditional ad, have you done any comparison between those two?
Alyssa Foster: Yeah, and I think specifically for our social channels and in terms of what we're looking at, when we're looking at engagement, which is very important to us and impressions, those are really important to us. When we provide that sort of authentic show-up in someone's feed, it just performs so much better than something that is very clearly an ad.
Jesse Roesler: And I imagine viewed through watch-through or screen-time, is that all part of the metric there? I assume that would probably get better when it's coming from one of the micro-influencers because their audience knows it's from them.
Alyssa Foster: Exactly. Yeah.
Jesse Roesler: Any parting advice for brands who are either looking to make their first brand film like you did, or are looking to maybe partner with influencers in a way that they hadn't before?
Alyssa Foster: With the “Alone in Tombstone” experience we learned so much along the way. You know, shooting a short film is completely different than something short-form for our Facebook page. It was a totally different experience. We loved it. It was amazing. I think really from the get-go, find great partners that you trust, be very upfront and clear about what you're trying to achieve. But then be flexible because things can change, things can happen. And then don't be afraid to, at least for me, I learn so much by asking questions. So if you have that great partner that you know you can trust and get feedback from, use their wealth of knowledge as well because they probably have done it before too, or they may have the same question. So that is what I would say about “Alone in Tombstone.”
In terms of working with influencers. I think it might even be the same. Find those influencers who are an extension of your brand. I mean because that's really what you're asking them to do. So you need to have that level of trust with them and just be really clear with them from the start.
Jesse Roesler: Awesome. Well all actionable advice for folks to take away. Awesome. Thank you for sharing.
Alyssa Foster: Oh, thanks for having us.
Jesse Roesler: Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode! If you’re curious to see some of the incredible work we discussed, you can watch Southwest’s first-ever brand film, Alone in Tombstone, on their YouTube channel or in the in-flight entertainment portal if you're flying with them. As always, I hope you've been enjoying the podcast and I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, drop me a note at jesse@credononfiction.com.
Also I’ll be at Brand Storytelling in January so if you have an interesting idea for a podcast episode, drop me a line.As always, I hope you've been enjoying the podcast and I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, drop me a note at jesse@credononfiction.com.
