You Can’t Smell A City From A Coach

But you can on a bicycle…

Having chewed peoples ears for too long now about the virtues of cycle travel, one of them being that from the saddle of a bicycle you not only see but also smell and feel the country you are traveling through, (something the good folk tucked up in air conditioned coaches sadly miss out on), a multinational mega-company has surprisingly come to my aid.

British airways new advert 

While cycling to the East End of London this afternoon, for a Friday fix of pie 'n' mash and jellied eels, I spied this advert from the high flyer's at British Airways. With a little more digging once home, I discovered that the airline have been rolling out an advertising campaign encouraging travelers to visit new destinations and experience different cultures since October and although the aviation giant are often seen primarily as a business carrier, they are now seeking a greater association with leisure tourism through an integrated press, poster, on line and radio campaign, created by cBartle Bogle Hegarty and digital consultancy Agency.com. Teaming up with photography agency Magnum (i would have done it for half the price) the ads show gritty shots of locations across the globe with each photo being accompanied by a different strap-line; that include 'Ask a local where to go for dinner, 'Get Wonderfully Lost' and 'You can't smell a city from a coach'. Clever Huh!

But before I rub too much praise onto B.A for this imaginative campaign is that not the the scent of aviation fuel wafting into my nostrils?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 18:33 and is filed under Cycling in London. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 comment

  1. harrie

    are you angling for free air tickets?!?!
    i quite like the ads though, my favourite one is “see a city while it’s asleep” or something like that.
    it reminded me of my favourite ad from a while ago which i think was for oyster or something that said “be a tourist in your own city” – i love that idea :)

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