Norwegian Air installation provides personalized travel recommendations based on pulse and temperature
To promote its dozens of flights that fly between the United States and Europe, Norwegian Air has launched an interactive installation in LA and Florida that it hopes will make Americans realize that the airline flies to more places than its name might suggest.
Norwegian
Taking a cue from Norway’s iconic northern lights, Norwegian’s “Aura Reader” will read a person’s temperature and pulse to determine the color of his or her aura. A “ticket” will then print on the spot that shows what that aura means and which travel destination it best coincides with – for example, those with a pink aura are “passionate beings that embrace romance in everything they do” and will therefore be advised to visit Paris.
Launching at Santa Monica Place in LA today and Fort Lauderdale’s Aventura Mall next month, some players will actually have a chance to visit their destination recommendations since five pairs of tickets will be up for grabs at each location. Online, people can upload a photo to Norwegian’s Aura website to have their aura read via facial point detection technology for a chance to win a pair of free flights to Europe.
Ben Kaufman, Norwegian’s marketing and public relations manager, said that Norwegian wanted to create a physical and interactive experience in the US to show people that the airline is “more than Norway” and can take people from a number of American cities to European destinations including London, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
“Even though Norwegian has been around for quite a while as a low-cost carrier in Europe, as an airline that serves North America, our airline is still new and growing,” Kaufman said. “The physical experience is sort of the manifestation of getting people to engage with the brand and understand just how far it can take them. We can put that into a website and press releases and put it on our own channels, but having something really unique like this kind of just drives it home.”
He also noted that experiences like these give the airline some much-needed brand exposure in the US since many people do not realize that Norwegian Air is in no way affiliated with Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line.
“We right now are about telling the story of the Norwegian brand,” he said. “That we’re all about nice flights at a low price and that there is this balance to be struck between having a really high quality experience without paying through the nose to do it.”
The aura machine was created by McKinney and is the first work the agency has done for the brand. Kerry Fitzmaurice, McKinney’s New York managing director, said that the agency wanted to create an experience that would highlight many of the factors that make Norwegian unique, like its heritage and ties to Norway, the airline’s growing number of routes, and its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
“Norwegian has just afforded us the opportunity to really have fun, and we hope that people who play with it feel the joy and fun that we had creating it,” she said.