In this ad, British Airways gives us a simple, beautiful story about falling in love with India.
England and India have always had a complicated relationship, but British Airways just sent a love letter to India on Britain's behalf. It's the simple, true story of flight attendant Helena Flynn, whose generous nature led to a connection with an even more generous Indian grandmother.
The beautiful recounting comes courtesy of SapientNitro and Indian director Neeraj Ghaywan, whose debut film Masaan won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year. The ad is full of small moments of human kindness—from helping an old woman put on her socks to inviting a stewardess in a strange land into your home and heart.
Some methods, like finding a good story and giving it to a good director, always yield results. Certainly, this approach inspires more emotional consumer responses than talking about vegetarian options or the fact that you fly non-stop to Hyderabad (although they cleverly worked both in, too!).
We look forward to future lovely—and love-fueled—spots from British Airways.