Delta Air Lines

Agency: Zero Collective

Client: Delta Air Lines

In early 2000’s as Head of Design for Turnbull Ripley, I worked with a small London-based Delta Air Lines Marketing team. Despite being one of the largest airlines in the World, they had a very small number of flights operating out of London Gatwick flying to Atlanta, New York and Cincinnati. We produced some nice ad-hoc marketing material including some Award-winning brochures and a suite of lifestyle imagery that I art-directed with UK photographer, Joe Windsor-Williams.

Fast forward a few years and Delta had taken a much larger grasp of the Transatlantic market, and the EMEA Marketing Director for Delta got in contact with me and asked if my agency, Zero Collective, would be interested in tendering for the entire EMEA account for Delta Air Lines? The tender was against W+K in Amsterdam and Digitas in London. Both huge agencies - Zero Collective had four staff at the time. Against the odds, we won the account and immediately had to staff up to service the account - and open a second studio in London, on Bedford Square, WC1.

With a small, yet dynamic team, we were able to provide an excellent level of creativity, account management, and service that the bigger agencies couldn’t compete with. It was an incredibly exciting time, handling every aspect from advertising to events; activations to the Chelsea FC sponsorship.

One area of huge growth was embracing modern technology to offer virtual reality activations and produce photography assets for advertising using green-screen studios with CGi aircraft interiors. Below you will see some of the highlights, including the design and creation of the exclusive Delta 360° Lounge at Chelsea Football Club.

  • Handling all advertising, above-and below-the line fr Delta Air Lines in EMEA. One major issue we had was creating image assets onboard due to aircraft availability. We overcame that hurdle, working with Trick 3D in Atlanta to create imagery using green screen technology and CGi aircraft interiors. If we needed a 767 interior versus an A380, no problem. I worked with UK photographer, Julian Calverly to create these images.

  • Sample Delta Air Lines billboard ad.

  • We managed the partnership between Delta Air Lines and Chelsea Football Club. This included a pitch side VIP Lounge, pitchside advertising, private box in the stadium, activations, parties, and all stadium branding. One major project was creating the ‘VIP’ Delta 360° Lounge at Stamford Bridge. It incorporated a polished concrete ‘runway’ that ran from th roadside up to the doors and into the lounge. This seamless visual cue intended the feeling of size and linked back to the fact that Delta are an airline. Inside, a faceted design for the mirrors and bar also complimented the Delta logo.

  • Part of the Chelsea FC partnership included creating imagery with the players. We created a scale 767 interior in a studio near the Cobham training facility and one-by-one, players came in to have their images taken. Shooting players in different seats meant we could create any number of images in any configurations – African players for African marketing; European for Europe material etc. It also gave the flexibility to swap players out should the leave for another Club!

  • As well as creating photographic imagery assets for the onboard experience with Delta, I was also responsible for the 'vacation' imagery with photoshoots in Miami, New York, Cincinnati and Atlanta. This is a small selection of beach holiday shots from Miami showing couples and families. All images complement each other in terms of tone, styling and colour grading.

  • Following on from the previous slide, shot on location in Miami, these images were shot at the same time in New York. The tone, styling and colour grading once again chosen to complement the location. New York had far warmer tones with more recognisable locations and sights. Photography by Joe Windsor-Williams.

  • A fun activation for Delta Air Lines to promote the glass of Prosecco given to passenger prior to take-off. The activation was done in London with the hashtag #Skysecco which gathered shared content for a completion prize.