Risky game for British Airways

I love a good commercial, and with viewers flocking to their screens for events such as the Euros and the Olympics this summer, it's gonna be a bumper year for advertising agencies. Companies are putting big amounts of money on the table to get a slice of the precious minutes of screen time available for advertisers.

Which is why I was a little confused at the new British Airways advert released this week, which urges the British public to stay at home this summer and enjoy what's on in their local area and in London.

The one minute long ad sees a British Airways plane 'drive' around London, passing all the iconic sites, before reaching a halt outside the Olympic stadium.

Ultimately, the motive behind the campaign must lie behind the sponsorship deal British Airways has for the Olympics. It's an Official Partner for the London 2012 Games, and will heavily benefit from the games, one presumes.

Maybe then, one could presume that British Airways are benefiting from new advertising campaign, maybe from the government? They would have paid millions of pounds into the London 2012 Olympic Games, so why would they risk losing more money by promoting families to stay at home and not use their planes? I'm not suggesting what they're doing is wrong, in fact I think it's right of them to promote the UK during this special year. But British Airways is a business, and business doesn't play nice - which makes me think they're getting something in return for this deal.

Who knows, all I know is that the advert and the intense advertising campaign surrounding it (British Airways is using both Facebook and Twitter to promote their new campaign) must have cost them a lot of money to pull off. Time will tell when they release their end-of-year revenue figures early next year.

You can watch the advertising campaign here. You can also check out their Facebook page and Twitter too.

Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia