A Study on Airlines’ Marketing Messages in the Middle of Covid-19

Abstract

This thesis investigates Covid-19-related marketing messages published by four European airlines: Finnair, Norwegian, KLM, and Lufthansa. This thesis aims to study and analyze the marketing messages published on Instagram by four selected airlines from March 2020 until March 2021, to get an answer to the research question: How have airlines communicated on Instagram during a global pandemic? The scope of this thesis is limited to analyzing the marketing messages on Instagram only. The qualitative research method was chosen to get an in-depth understanding of the results, as well as the criterion sampling method. This way, the author could analyze four specific airlines set in Europe. The material was categorized into five different themes, which allowed for analyses of their activeness, the pace of posting, and the differences and similarities between the published Covid-19-related Instagram posts. The main findings were that the airlines focused chiefly on safety on board and at the airport. Lufthansa was the most active, with its 78 Instagram posts related to Covid-19, while Norwegian was the least active, with its three Instagram posts related to Covid-19. A significant trend was noticed when analyzing these marketing messages. Most of these airlines attempted to create different situations and memories that were familiar to the passenger. The airlines were using a sort of brand activation in their marketing messages to keep in touch with their customers.