SWISS has just unveiled its newest safety video, which is the carrier’s first new safety video in many years. I’d say it’s an improvement over the old one, but it’s oh-so-predictable.
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SWISS safety video shows off Switzerland landscape
SWISS is introducing a new safety video, which will debut onboard the carrier’s brand new Airbus A350s, entering service in the coming weeks.
In the new safety video, all the safety relevant information is embedded in a story of a journey through Switzerland. Real people and Swiss landscapes are used to attract the attention of passengers, and create a direct communication that should ensure that the instructions provided are effectively retained. Or at least that’s the carrier’s claim.
The airline highlights how the new safety video also features original graphics of icons and aircraft safety cards, to ensure that the messages communicated are as clear as can be. Furthermore, all instructions are given by uniformed SWISS crew members.
Here’s how Oliver Buchhofer, SWISS Chief Operating Officer, describes this new safety video:
“We want our passengers to not just see and hear our inflight safety instructions. We want to ensure that they really understand them, too, and can recall them should they need to. Whether we’re telling them how to use their seat belt, when to stow their electronic devices, where the emergency exits are located or how to put on the life vest or the oxygen mask, we want to convey all this key information clearly, understandably and as impactfully as possible. And our new video’s real-life scenes that appeal strongly to the emotions will really help us do so.”
You can see the new video for yourself below.
SWISS’ new safety video is good but unoriginal
On the plus side, I think SWISS’ new safety video feels a lot more modern than the carrier’s previous safety video, which was definitely in need of a refresh.
That being said, I still find it kind of wild how the default new safety video format nowadays includes roaming around a country, with no signs of an aircraft anywhere. I thought this concept was creative when we first saw it introduced, but in the meantime, it’s the most common type of safety video.
I actually find SWISS’ new safety video be one of the more well done versions of this, with the calming instructions, nice music, and pretty scenery. But also, why did airlines become so allergic to just, you know, showing the safety instructions on a plane?
Last year we saw Emirates unveil its new “no-nonsense” safety video, and I’ve gotta say, I really like it. How nice to just stick with the basics. When everyone else tries to be different, there’s something nice about just being the same.R
Bottom line
SWISS is introducing a new safety video, coinciding with the launch of the carrier’s new A350s. SWISS’ new safety video features real people across Switzerland, demonstrating safety instructions in an abstract way.
This has basically become the standard new safety video format nowadays, and I think it has gone from creative to overused. Still, I’d say this is one of the more pleasant and less offensive versions we’ve seen.
What do you make of SWISS’ new safety video?
I prefer this any day over the annoying latest Qatar Airways video with Kevin Hart.
Their People of Swiss video from a few years back was one of the best airline brand videos I've seen. Too bad they couldn't incorporate that aesthetic into a safety video (of course, the goals for each video are different).
A row boat full of kids and not a cell phone in sight. Yeah sure.
In the event of an emergency leave all personal belongings behind. Hahahaha.
Counterpoint - the safety videos set outside of the cabin are not random enough. I want to see FAs in space, I want to see them in the cast of the Fast and the Furious, I want to see them go the center of the earth to "hack the planet", I want to see them dangling from a wire over a pressure sensitive floor, I want to see them during the summer they turned pretty, or working in Paris and finding themselves, or even eat=pray-loving.
Go nuts or go home
I believe in terms of comprehension and retention, there’s a lot to be said for showing things in their actual surroundings. The countryside and away-from-an-aircraft approach is actually counter-productive. The old LX video was much better than the new one. The EK video could have been the best, had they not dwelled so much on their would-be moral superiority for not producing a „nonsense“ safety video in the beginning.
Soothing and crisp, and very Swiss. Predictable is actually good, given the ever increasing rate of incidents involving near misses, climate-induced heavy turbulence, disruptive passengers, and fools who insist on taking their carry on bags when evacuating a plane in an emergency, and taking selfies along the way.