Less than a week after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Fallon Minneapolis, creative director/copywriter Bob Moore received one of the most difficult phone calls of his career. United Airlines, a Fallon account, was also one of the carriers whose planes were hijacked on Sept. 11. Now United was seeking the help of Fallon to say something in an ad. But what do you say? Or should you say anything at all? These were some of the questions faced by Moore and his creative team.
"I would say that in the twenty years I’ve been doing this, this was probably the most difficult problem I’ve had to solve," recalls Moore. "Getting the right tonality, the right message, dealing with people’s perception of the airline, and weighing all those things … it was very difficult."
The first step Fallon took was to run a full-page newspaper ad, written by Fallon copywriter Greg Hahn and art directed by Steve Sage. While many companies offered full-page condolence ads, United’s was atypical. It was an original poem, titled "Tuesday," that talked about how the everyday annoyances of Mon., Sept. 10, became utterly trivial the following day—how in an instant, everything about life as you knew it had changed.
The print ad resonated with the public and became a measuring stick with which Fallon could gauge the direction to take United’s television effort. In the months leading up to Sept. 11, Fallon had been running some lighthearted spots depicting a "funnier, younger United," according to Moore; and on the day of the tragedy, the agency had been shooting another humorous United campaign, at San Francisco International Airport. Now funny ads about the airlines were irrelevant, and whatever Fallon did next for United would have to come from the heart.
United asked Fallon to do something that involved its employees, and the agency agreed that this was the way to go. On Sept. 18, Moore went to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to talk to United workers. "We didn’t know if they were going to be all dejected and bummed and worried about their jobs," he relates. "Instead we found these people extremely upbeat, and their response to the whole thing was, ‘We’re going to come out of this stronger than ever.’ "
With that in mind, the resulting campaign, which was directed by Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical.media, succeeded in capturing the can-do spirit of United’s employees. It also helped to put a face on a global corporation, and acknowledged what couldn’t be ignored. "Passion," "Family" and "Welcome," all :60s, feature documentary-style footage of pilots, flight attendants, maintenance workers and customer service representatives, standing against a gray background talking about why they love their jobs, while "Rhapsody In Blue," a soundtrack used by United in recent years, plays in the background.
In "Passion," pilots talk about the first time they knew they wanted to fly. Some are second-, third-, even fourth-generation pilots. It is also revealed that many of United’s employees have been with the company for over 20 years.
"Welcome" features a customer service agent talking about newlyweds whom she upgraded to first class when she found out the groom was a New York City firefighter. As the story goes, during the flight, the captain announced over the PA system, "There is a hero on board." At its conclusion, a supered message reads, "To the two million people who have gotten back on board, welcome back."
And "Family" offers perhaps one of the most moving and honest moments in the series when a pilot named Dennis Tate says, "We took the blow, but we’re going to get up. We might’ve gotten knocked to our knees even, but we’re going to get up, stand up and press on." Each ad ends with the tagline, "We Are United."
A series of :30s—all helmed by Morris—comprising the spots "Ben," "Karen," "Dennis" and "Paul," puts the spotlight on individuals who talk about their personal feelings towards their jobs. These ads are slightly more uplifting, reinforcing United’s message of renewal.
Straight Talk
From the beginning, the creative team, which consisted of Moore and art director Steve Driggs, wanted the spots to comprise interviews with the employees of United Airlines. The agency creatives wrote a script to present the general message of the spots to the client, and called on Morris, who is known for his documentary filmmaking.
An open casting call for United employees was held, and of the 350 people that came, 30 were chosen to appear in the spots. Driggs notes that after seeing the first casting tape interviews, it became clear that the agency needed to scrap its script altogether.
"There was a totally different feeling when they read the script versus when they just said what they wanted to say," recalls Driggs. "Once the actual shooting started, everyone felt like we should just get out of the way. These spots had to come straight from United."
Fallon wrote a series of questions for the employees to address, such as: "How has United changed?" "How have you felt since Sept. 11?" and "How has it affected you?" "Do you feel confident flying yourself?" "In your own words, what would you tell America?"
Morris used a gadget he developed for interviewing people on camera that operates like a teleprompter. Instead of seeing text, the person sees a live video feed of Morris asking questions. That way, the interviewee feels as though he is talking to a real person.
While Morris had intended to shoot the spots at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a last-minute security measure prohibited the production from entering the location. As a quick alternative, Morris shepherded his crew to a nearby studio in Chicago—Essanay Studio and Lighting—painted the stage gray overnight, and commenced shooting the following day.
According to Driggs, the mood on the set was somber. "They’d tell their story and people would just listen, totally quiet," he says. "And it wasn’t the quiet like on other sets, where you’re quiet because you have to be. It was quiet because everyone was listening. And sometimes people would cry, and when the person was finished, everyone would stand up and clap."
Moore adds, "We’d talk to these people for any length of time and afterwards you’d go, ‘I would get on a plane with you tomorrow, I am so confident in your abilities and your confidence.’"
One thing Fallon has been sensitive to throughout the campaign is making sure that the ads don’t feel like United is capitalizing on the situation in order to sell something. "I don’t think we are shy about saying, ‘Come back,’ and that we want you to fly with us, but it’s more than that," explains Driggs. "[The United employees] suffered too, and I think people realize that."
For the most part, the ads have been well received since they started airing in mid-October. But a few critics claim that the campaign only reminds people of something they would just as soon like to forget. Moore feels that the people who have responded favorably to the ads far outnumber any negative criticism. "I think what people have been so positive about is [that the spots] walk that fine line between acknowledging what happened, but not dwelling on it," he states. "[The ads are] about moving forward."
Looking ahead, Moore and his team face the daunting challenge of where United will go next. To address the airline’s international customers, four spots have already been edited from the same footage for the Latin American market, and seven more for Asian markets. "The spots talk more about routes and networks and they’re more about taking care of its customers," notes Moore.
As for the next step, Moore anticipates a level of humanity. "We’re not going to take a drastic one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn from where we’ve been over the past two months," he relates. "I think what you’ll see is a natural evolution from where we’ve been."
