Designing a way to ease the fear of flying among air passengers has landed a group of QUT international students in the global spotlight for the world’s top advertising awards.
The four students, studying QUT’s Masters in Creative Advertising, are finalists in the Future Lions competition for researching, writing and creating a campaign they’ve called DreamFlight by Google.
The brief for the Future Lions competition was to connect a brand to its audience in a way not possible three years ago due to technological change.
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French student Chloé Reynaud, 24, joined fellow students Nicolai Henriksen, 30, of Denmark, Enrique Caballero, 29, of Mexico and Shashin Weeratunga 26, of Sri Lanka.
They found they shared a love of travel but not of long air flights.
“We also wanted to highlight how long haul flights can be a real problem for people who suffer from aerophobia and I have friends who have this debilitating condition,” Ms Reynaud said.
The group found a simple solution by providing fearful flyers with a "virtual reality" to help remove their anxieties by immersing them on a journey of their own choosing.
“We all connected as world travellers and it was a problem right in front of our noses so we drew upon our collected creativity to design DreamFlight in just 11 days,” Mr Weeratunga (pictured left above) said.
"It effectively hands back control to these passengers rather than being stuck for long hours without control so they get to feel more grounded, literally."
The award forms part of the seven-day Lions Festival of Creativity held in Cannes in June which is considered the largest gathering worldwide of advertising professionals, designers and marketers.
Mr Henriksen (pictured above second left) who visited the event while working in the industry in Denmark likened the event to a “golden passport to the world”.
“Getting into an event like this gives you an enormous boost to pitch your idea to the best brands in the world,” he said.
Enrique Caballero and Ms Reynaud (pictured above right) worked on the storytelling for the DreamFlight campaign, carefully selecting key messages.
“Let’s hope the airlines and Google pick the concept up so air travel becomes a more enjoyable experience for everyone,” Mr Caballero said.
QUT Lecturer Michael Klaehn said competitions like the Future Lions exposed students to the latest in advertising and social media campaigns and to issues not just in Brisbane but global commercial problems to develop ideas that work.
“DreamFlight is a great idea and would definitely help those with a fear of flying and also those who would want a better immersive entertainment experience,” Mr Klaehn said.
“This is the first time our students have got as far as the finals in this competition but our graduates are no strangers to winning awards.”
The winners of the Future Lions will be announced on June 21 in the Debussy Theatre in Cannes.
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