We created this unreleased video to present the idea to our clients at American. They bought the entire campaign — but amid the confusion of their merger with US Airways, they decided not to bring back the name Mercury.
American Airlines. The legend is back.
Restoring the faded glamour of transcontinental flying
There’s a reason American calls it flight 1. The transcontinental route from New York to Los Angeles has always been close to American’s soul, the choice of Hollywood stars, business leaders, and tomorrow’s innovators. In recent years, some of that lustre had faded. But in 2014, American introduced all-new airplanes that offer an international standard of service.
We looked in the archives and discovered that American actually pioneered nonstop flights from coast to coast. Not only that: American had commissioned an advertising campaign featuring the stars of that era shot by the legendary Milton Greene. They had pictures of Audrey Hepburn. Alfred Hitchcock. Martin and Lewis. Marilyn Monroe. Gregory Peck. Grace Kelly.
American finally had transcontinental service that lived up to its incredible legacy. We created a campaign to match.
- ACD/Copywriter
- Cameron Fleming
- ACD/Art Director
- Alex Yoo
- Executive Creative Director
- Vann Graves
- Agency
- McCann New York
- Photographer
- Patrick Demarchelier
- Director
- Daron Keet
To reach entertainment and business leaders who treat flying coast‑to‑coast like a daily commute, we created high-impact print that ran in publications such as the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Billboard just in time for the Oscars. The booklet pictured here is one example.
True story: my proudest moment in advertising was the day I saw someone honest-to-God reading this on the subway.
“Luxuries”
“Arrived”
Digital
Short prerolls narrated by Jon Hamm compared the service of 1953 with the luxuries of today using archival footage from the original Mercury service.
Rich media
This rich unit took over the homepages of entertainment Web sites including Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline.
- ACD/Copywriters
- Cameron Fleming and Stephen Winston
- ACD/Art Directors
- Alex Yoo and Calvin Lyte
- Executive Creative Director
- Vann Graves
- Agency
- McCann New York