Qatar Airways reveals football-fuelled video as Barcelona players put safety first

Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Pique, Mascherano and Rakitic, all feature in the unique, new on-board video

Qatar Airways has unveiled a fun and football-fuelled safety video to engage and entertain passengers as they travel with the airline. A break from industry norms, this fresh and unique take on the traditional safety video aims to engage customers whilst communicating essential information. The unique four-minute video stars six of FC Barcelona’s La Liga players – Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Pique, Rakitic and Mascherano – alongside fans and Qatar Airways crew as they demonstrate important safety information to passengers.

Scenes from the new video show the players bringing important safety messages to life in a uniquely FC Barcelona way, including Suarez taking to the pitch in a life vest, Pique causing a stir as he arrives and  also demonstrates the ‘brace position’. Filmed mainly at Camp Nou Stadium, the home of FC Barcelona, the video features many familiar sights for fans such as the pitch, the stands, the changing rooms and even the team bus.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways is renowned for being an award-winning and ambitious airline consistently delivering a superior experience for our passengers. But we are also a young company and as such we understand the need to stay fresh, relevant, and to have fun. With people travelling more frequently we saw a need to reinvigorate the safety video moment and by inviting our partners at FC Barcelona to join us we have something truly unique and attention-grabbing. I believe that having FC Barcelona global superstars as our safety ambassadors reinforces our commitment to operational excellence.”

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications Salam Al Shawa added: “This new safety video gives us an opportunity to show another side to our brand personality, a fun and humorous side. We took into account our passengers’ experience with standard safety videos, how important it is to be informed, and so we designed the video to be engaging as well as informative. By leveraging our strategic partnership with FC Barcelona and taking our passengers to the Camp Nou Stadium, we’ve brought to life our brand promise of ‘Going Places Together’ while enhancing our passengers’ on-board experience.”

The addition of global sports personalities, the unexpected environment of the football pitch and the entertaining style of the video have all been carefully considered to create a moment that captures the attention of passengers and conveys the important content within.

The announcement adds another facet to the official sponsor relationship between FC Barcelona and the airline but it is not the first time the FCB players have taken to the big screen for Qatar Airways. Previously they could be seen in the FCB and Qatar Airways videos from 2015 and 2014. The new safety video is expected to further strengthen brand awareness by not only engaging with the passengers that travel with Qatar Airways but also, within the FCB global fan base that exceeds 80 million people on Facebook alone.

The new video will be shown on Qatar Airways state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system, airing on aircraft from December 2015. The timely launch date ensures that passengers going places during the busy holiday season will get to enjoy the FCB Team as they take-off. If you’re not travelling in the near future the video can also be viewed here: https://youtu.be/WS2CQQfQzEM

FC Barcelona players also star in the airline’s new Wi-Fi video, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqT5cApJFK4&feature=youtu.be. Qatar Airways offers passengers on connected flights special package deals for getting online while in the air.

The new videos tops off an supremely successful year for the airline with significant growth in both frequency and capacity on a number of routes in the airline’s global network in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. 

During 2015, Qatar Airways has extended its route network to 154 destinations including flights to Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Nagpur (India) and Durban (South Africa). In the next few months the airline is further expanding its network to Los Angeles (USA), Atlanta (USA), Boston (USA), Sydney (Australia), Adelaide (Australia) and Ras Al Khaimah (UAE).