Four Wings, Three Lions, Two Airlines and One Iconic Marketing Ploy
The 2026 World Cup is causing all sorts of friendly competition between nations, but the best action might just be that off the pitch. We’re talking of course, about the rivalry between Norwegian Air and British Airways.
Ahead of England’s quarter-final tie against Norway, Norwegian Air invited British Airways to a playful social media showdown: whichever nation lost would see its airline change its profile picture on Instagram to the others’ logo.
This engagement between the two social media accounts is an example of daring community management, which would usually make lawyers quake in their boots. However, in an increasingly saturated social media landscape, taking risks is needed to ensure your brand is heard. By playfully going against each other, Norwegian Air and British Airways actually achieved the opposite; they cut through the noise and enabled one another to be the most talked about brands of the week.
Not only were the public eagerly watching from the sidelines, within minutes the wider aviation industry contributed to the conversation. Flyswiss joined in, saying there was "no time for popcorn" because it had to prepare for Lionel Messi, a nod to Switzerland’s quarter-final against Argentina. Planemaker Airbus chimed in with popcorn GIFs, Riyadh Air pulled up a virtual seat, and Qatar Airways cheekily offered to send both airlines live updates from the pitch.
As a true sport, when England stormed to a 2-1 victory, Norwegian Air changed its Instagram profile picture to British Airways' logo on Sunday for 24 hours. The company wrote: "While the tournament is over for us, this friendly bet will forever live in all our hearts. We wish England and British Airways all the best in the semi-final, and we sincerely hope you'll get to bring football home!". Reciprocating the new shared love, British airlines gifted flights to London for the Norwegian Airlines social media team so that they can enjoy a taste of British hospitality.
The attention garnered was no accident, being reactive is a part of brand strategy. The brands winning in the marketing space always have a finger on the pulse with what’s happening in culture, sport and news and jump in if there a place for them. Jumping on a trend that doesn’t align with your brand can be worse than staying quiet, but when it’s a fit, reacting quickly is key. This is a great demonstration of how collaborative brand banter can boost engagement well beyond the original participants and make it to headline news.
As well as bolstering brand awareness, a beautiful bromance reflective of that of our own Brummie gem Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland has now flourished with the two brands. Let's see what other brands on socials will replicate this friendly collaborative technique...