Qantas throws its brand behind Australia's troubled vaccination rollout

A new Qantas ad uses some of the airline's best-loved brand qualities and travel incentives to push Australians to vaccinate.

Qantas has taken the lead for Australia's battered travel and tourism industry, in the country's troubled vaccination campaign. The launch this week of a powerful new ad and travel incentives, make vaccination the ticket to future travel.

Australia’s national carrier has already announced that all staff must be vaccinated by 2022 with front-line staff to be vaccinated sooner.

Watch the new Qantas vaccination ad

Back in 2020 CEO Alan Joyce said he believed vaccination would ultimately become mandatory for travel, as it now is in some jurisdictions.

The Fly Away ad picks up nicely some of the visual themes from the carrier's moving Home Again campaign from 2015. It’s proving especially resonant in a country that hasn’t enjoyed international travel for 18 months. Australia has some of the world’s strictest COVID border controls restricting inbound and outbound travel.

With a population of 25 million, Australia has recorded fewer than 1000 deaths, making it one of the most successful countries in containing the pandemic to date.

Past success is now in question following a bungled vaccine rollout and a growing outbreak of the Delta variant in Sydney and Melbourne. Some areas are experiencing the worst outbreaks and tightest lockdowns of the entire pandemic. The nation is scrambling to lift its vaccination game.

Many have noted that the Qantas ad is likely to be more effective than the government’s official vaccination campaign messaging.

The new ad uses the music and vocals of local sensation Toni Watson from Tones and I. It was created by Sydney agency Brand + Story and is part of a wider campaign of travel rewards for the vaccinated from the airline.

Australia's success in fighting COVID with harsh lockdowns and closed borders, has hit Qantas and international travel businesses hard. As borders open around the world, Qantas will be hoping Australia's hermit kingdom status can be reversed and heavy losses can be stemmed.