Independent full-service agency T&Pm Australia has joined forces with Rex Airlines with the launch of ‘Your Rex’ campaign, ‘An Airfare to Remember’.
Rex wants travellers to rethink their relationship with rival airlines.
Running over a month, the upper-funnel digital campaign aims to build brand awareness of Rex and its expanding domestic network to major cities, which now includes flights to Perth.
Through a series of double-entendre tactical ads, Rex hopes the campaign’s playfulness will improve consumer brand recall and recognition.
“Rex is a brand perfectly suited to wit and satire because it is the quintessential underdog – a scrapper from the bush who moved into big jets and brought competition,” T&Pm Australia’s GM Britt Lippett said.
“Until Rex came along, fares between Melbourne and Perth for example, hadn’t shifted in 10 years and there was little incentive for the major airlines to change, or to improve services.
“But building up a brand when the big two hold a 95% market share – dwarfing the banks and supermarkets – requires a powerful tool, and we think humour is the best one.”
Studies have shown that humour in advertising improves brand connection, with a 2022 Oracle report revealing more than 90% of people want their brands to be funny.
Researchers found amusement in ads crosses generations, improves memory and receptivity, but Lippett said society's cancel culture had spooked many agencies and marketers from using it.
“It’s been well documented that the industry had seen a decline in irreverent ads over the past decade, with brands less willing to take a comedic risk for fear of a pile-on,” she said.
“Thankfully, post pandemic, we are seeing a resurgence of humour with the Cannes Lions Awards introducing a humour category this year, recognising its importance and impact.
“And to its credit Rex has got on board with us - embracing a little mischief to try and encourage disaffected travellers to dump the bigger airlines that took all of us for granted for so long.”
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