Advertising during the Super Bowl isn’t cheap, and the companies that do typically focus on making ads interesting, rather than focusing purely on “selling” their products.
Turkish Airlines was one of the companies that took out an ad during yesterday’s Super Bowl (I was asleep — my personal Super Bowl was the “LaLaPaRUza” episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race a couple of weeks ago #TeamTrinity). The 30 second clip shows what almost looks like a trailer for a spy movie, with a woman chasing someone else around the world.
So at the same time, Turkish Airlines released the short film that this ad is in reference to through their social channels, called “The Journey.” I’d say the trailer was pretty effective, given that Turkish already has millions of views for this short film across their social platforms.
Here’s the six minute short film (I’ll share my thoughts below, so if you don’t want any spoilers, watch this now and then keep reading below):
This short film was really, really well done, in my opinion… ish.
I spent the first 90% of the film just marveling at the airplanes, the airport, the scenery, etc. Istanbul is such a gorgeous city that has fallen off the radar for so many Americans in recent years, and as I saw this I said “OMG I need to go back this summer.”
So in terms of the shots and scenery, this is one of the most well done short films I’ve seen in a long time, and it does a brilliant job promoting the airline and destination, which is really what Turkish Airlines and Turkey need right about now.
Then I got to the end of the film, and was of course left with the job of drawing my own conclusions. So many short films end this way, and it reminds me very much of 10th grade English class, where my teacher would always make us read into stuff that wasn’t there, in my opinion. “Well what did the author really mean?” “I dunno, why couldn’t the author just tell us?”
I’m curious what you guys take away from this film. Here are my conclusions:
- Turkish Airlines flies everywhere (since she can chase the other lady around the world on them), and they’re a good airline, Istanbul is a beautiful city, etc.
- I think the biggest takeaway is that this spy is actually enjoying following her “target” around the world, presumably given that she gets to fly Turkish Airlines everywhere, since she smiles when she asks her boss at the end “do you think this is fun for me?”
But of course that still leaves a lot of questions. How serious of a target is she following? Why does the target tell her where she’s going next? Why does she even follow her from place to place if she has no intention of catching her? Is there collusion here?!
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ “The Journey” short film?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.