Lynx, the male grooming brand sold by Unilever, is sold on the basis of sex appeal. Australian television viewers are being introduced by a new ‘sex appeal’ stunt: the launch of a fictitious airline. Seven airline hostesses walk towards us on the tarmac, each wearing yellow sunglasses. The voice over: “Imagine a level of comfort never experienced before in air travel”. We move to a shot of a sky bed, big enough for the a hostess to snuggle up to the sleeping male passenger. “With in-flight entertainment (Spanking, Hula Hoop and Pillow Fighting) that is second to none”.
Two hostesses stand on a revolving pad brawling with feather pillows. “And for our exclusive mile high club members luxury that other airlines can only dream of”. Men enjoy the spa, the massage table and the portable bar, with the personal attention of attentive stewardesses. Two pilots return their attention back to the flight deck. “Introducing the future of air travel. Lynx Jet”. We see the yellow underarm deodorant bottle flanked with two hostesses, the phrase, “Get on. Get off” and the web site www.lynxjet.com.
Click on the image below to play the Lynx Jet video.
Background
Obviously the Lynx appeal is wearing off for Australian guys. Unilever, to up the ante on sex appeal, has decided the sky is the limit. In a spoof of Virgin’s approach to sexy flying we have the launch of Lynx Jet, linked with a TV ad first screened during the Australian World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay on Wednesday 16 November.
The press release from Unilever tells us that the Lynx Jet, a Boeing 717, will initially fly routes along Australia’s eastern seaboard and will be competitively priced against local carriers such as Jetstar and Virgin Blue. A frequent flyer programme – the Lynx Jet Mile High Club – is also planned.
“Lynx Jet” was a collaborative effort between Unilever and its Lynx communication agencies Lowe Hunt, Draft and Universal McCann. The airline’s launch is seen by Unilever management as a way of strengthening the brand’s relationship with its core young male target audience through unconventional media channels.
Lowe Hunt group managing director Ben Colman told Australian advertising magazine B&T that Lynx Jet reflects the trend for brands to create real world experiences “so people can have a sense of touch and feel of the brand in a unique Lynx sort of way”.
The lynxjet.com website went live on Sunday, enabling visitors to sign up in the Mile High club and try to book trips online. Of course all flights are booked out already.
A commemorative special edition Lynx deodorant, called Lynx Jet, will soon be available on supermarket shelves to mark the arrival of the new airline. Aha! The product!
Lynx is the UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ version of Unilever’s ‘male grooming’ product Axe.
Postscript November 29
Unilever arranged to have one of Jetstar’s planes painted in the yellow colours of the Lynx campaign. Hostesses on the designated flights between Victoria and Queensland were not expected to dress or behave like the ‘mostesses’ in the Lynx TV ads. All the same, Jetstar has thought again and withdrawn from the deal. The plane has gone back to normal colours in the light of complaints from airline stewards, Jetstar marketing consultants and the general public.
Lynx Jet Airline Fantasy Credits
The Lowe Hunt team included Adam Lance, Dejan Rasic, Simone Brandse, Howard Collinge, Michael Canning and Darren Bailey.
Filming was shot by Nicholas Reynolds via Plaza Films with producer Cathy Rechichi, and director of photography Daniel Ardilley. Editing was done at The Tait Gallery by Danny Tait.
Music was composed by Kevin Kehoe and sound was designed by Paul Taylor at Sound Reservoir.
Post production, design and special effects were done at Postmodern Sydney.
Photography was by Stephen Stewart.
Cannes Awards
See my post on June 21, 2006, on the Grand Prix and Gold awards won by Lynx Jet at Cannes. LynxJet, Demo (instructions for removing a bra) and Blanket (a mostess solution to cold male passengers) won Bronze Lions in the Film section.
I saw the ads during the soccer – really funny – and the girls are hot. I’d fly it over qantas and the others. So is it real or not?
Haha checkout http://www.youtube.com/LakkaAs
It’s going to give Jetstar a run for their money. I’m never flying them again.
I just flew LynxJet from Sydney to Melbourne. I was a bit disappointed with the service – although the girls we’re pretty hot and stuff they didn’t quite live up to what I saw them do in the commercial. I think the in-flight pillow fighting entertainment is only available on long haul flights. We only got to watch a video of the same thing which was a let down.
I gotta say – it’s cooler than my usual flight to melbourne. Love those uniforms.
Hi,
I found your site while navigating blogger’s bar at the top… anyways… I noticed your logo is just a text logo so I thought I’d offer to do a free one, via my blog http://freelogo.blogspot.com … if you’d like, post a comment there and request a logo and describe what you’d like.
Cheers,
Franco
I saw the hosties from Lynx Jet walking through the city the other day. Man they look hot. They had the shortest skirts you’ve ever seen.
what a plane!!!! man i’d be flying all the time on an airline like that!!!
ok ok is it a deoderant or a plane or both? what is it??????????????????? I saw the Lynx Jet deoderant in the supermarket but how do i book flights?
If only all flight attendants looked that hot. Most of the time they’re grumpy old jaded women. Here’s to LynxJet!
OK guys. It’s just a stunt. Lynx hasn’t started an airline really. Personally I’m not swayed to buy the product. But I’m not in the target market – single guys.
Clearly the ethics of such advertising campaigns should be questioned when they reinforce the treatment of women as sex objects.
And sorry to commenters who’ve had their entries deleted. This site loses its advertising when people use offensive language.
Are you sure it’s not a real airline? I saw some ads in the Sundsy Telegraph for it with places it flies to and prices on it? It said for more deals to go to the website?????
There are two new ads for Lynxjet – I saw them the other day. One has a hostie on top of a passenger in the seat!
I can’t wait to get off the ground with the Lynx Jet girls! Finally, an airlines that knows what business men really want when they travel. Who cares about the under arm products… Fly me to the moon!
amazing how gullible men become when hot chicks are involved… and in the states men only fly Hooter’s Air for the chicken wings too!
sad sad puppies….espceially the bloke who said that he atually flew!!!!!
y dont they have qantas doing this in-flight entertainment.i always travel and i have never ever seen this. I Hope Lynx Creates This Airline!!!!!
Stealth Maestro M1n1 Dazzle
If only it was real. They could charge whatever they liked pretty much and most men would probably pay. Great business model
Hey does becoming a mile high club member actually mean anything, i have a card that got sent to me, is it pointless???
Thought you might be interested to know that this campaign is in the running to win awards at both One Show and D&AD – where it is already a Silver Nomination. I must say that the entire campaign is one of the most impressive efforts i have seen in a long while. Hats off to the agency.
I work in marketing and our firm (a multinational)( uses it as a case study in great marketing. Another friend of mine is also using it at Uni in her marketing class. Seems to have really made an impact. I’m amazed at how well its done in terms of generating sales.
I’m love this great website. Many thanks guy
Looks like LYNXjet cleaned up at Cannes this year. Just read that it picked up NINE lions. A record amount I believe. I personally loved it.
“Due to blatant and repeated breaches of the Aviation Code of Conduct, LYNXjet has been permanently grounded. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our many customers who joined our exclusive LYNXjet Mile High Club.”
BEST ADS IN THE WORLD
Looks like they may be coming back…!!! Maybe Tokyo?? http://www.myspace.com/lolalynxjet
Wat is the site for linx jet where u can dowload all the screensavers and stuff? They are sooo hot
this is cool very cool
i like it a lot
no i am not illegal in this country i am a true ammariccano me speakee englesh
i jumped the fence and now i am leagal cause i said so and you cant tell men that im not because the border control is very inefective except for the mexicans that they took out of willmar minnesota so dont come anywhere around willmar and benson is close to willmar so dont come to benson
good by
and learn how to speak english
is lynx jet actually real guys??
its unbelievable how, something so discriminating and showing women as sex slaves or whatever, can influence gullible men to buy the deodorant. as a female, i’d say the only way you’re irresistable (if that) to girls is if you are well mannered, good looking, smart, funny. scent may take out a majority of appeal but it doesnt take out the whole majority…unless, of course, the partners or singles are too active to care about the real characteristics.
Fantastic commercial video clip 🙂
Amila @ http://sl-models.blogspot.com team
I wish to obtain information about fast ships Lynx-Jet-Cat. thank you
This is awesome!!! Imagine every aircraft has this service, lol
Princess MiMi
This is disgusting and degrading to women. The in flight entertainment is revolting. Sure, I can take a joke, but is this the kind of thing we should be promoting on tv??