What would you like in the new Qantas safety video?

[docjames]

Great question bossreggie.

I think it's always a difficult balance between :

- making it interesting (!) enough to get everyone watching (even if it's the millionth time you've seen it).

vs

- fitting in the mandatory information required (which i presume is a CASA requirement or similar)

As others have stated, short is important.

I'd favour a "generic" base video with the mandatory information, and have various "versions" with differing pieces interspersed - so those who've "seen it all before" will watch anyway (to see which version it is on the particular flight).


To keep it "QF" themed - they could intersperse shots of their "ambassadors" either performing the safety instructions (eg. Mark Webber donning a life jacket, Miranda Kerr in the Brace position, Alan Joyce fitting the oxygen mask etc.). But vary where in the video they might appear (ie. Webber appears in one version, AJ in another), thus having subtly different versions so it's not entirely predictable. Which balances the cost of producing multiple "full" versions vs being different enough.


I hope i've explained that sufficiently.

 

[sjd]

I do like the current one, but this is relative. both versions of Olympics and the cricket vids were woeful (apart from the synchronised brace position display in the Olympics versions which was unintentionally hilarious).

Other terrible ideas for safety videos that QF may eventually do include:

• Disgraced sports stars (we are about to have more of those), "I may have been banned form my sport for taking prohibited substances, but that's no reason to overlook safety."
• The Masterchef safety video (QF are a sponsor?). George Calombaris and Neil Perry screaming, "we've got three minutes to deliver this safety message team so, go go go!" And then food related puns throughout, you can image. I'll spare overcooking this.
• This I really want to see. Retired politicians with gold passes. Imagine Alexander Downer telling us very smugly how often he flies (at our expense) and how that makes safety important to him. Graeme Richardson adjusting his seatbelt, with difficulty. Kim Beasley applying his oxygen mask before thinking twice about assisting Mark Latham.

 

[Fruitcake]

• Disgraced sports stars (we are about to have more of those), "I may have been banned form my sport for taking prohibited substances, but that's no reason to overlook safety."

Nah that's been done..

 

[drewbles]

I actually like the new one. Having Qantas staff do the demo is great IMO. The only thing i didn't like was the voice over.. sounded to robotic. But the video is clean and straight to the point. I do miss the JT intro though, it was so well delivered.

I might put my thinking cap on.. Problem with doing theme demos is they date (olympics, Bear Gryls etc) so you need to turn them over faster than a generic one.

Of course on the next one I think the passengers should be AFF members .

It's not bad, but it does feel like it's been lifted directly from AA (which launched around 14-15 months ago, world premier of that was on the OneWorld MegaDo).

How about putting some pax into the video? Find some Frequent Flyers, or some well spoken people, and make it more 'mono e mono' or 'flyer to flyer'. Putting more reality into the video isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I appreciate that one size fits all (where all = one variant of aircraft), but how about 2-3 random ones? If the 'talent' was not paid in anything but say FF points or Lounge passes, it could make it quite a reasonable way of keeping things a little mixed up and keeping the attention of pax.

I'm one of the rare FF'ers that actually pays attention to the crew doing demos. I know i've heard it thousands of times, but it's been proven than in an emergency people do have 'brain freeze' and forget things. I'd rather drum it in to me every time, than forget it when I need it.

 

[drewbles]

Nah that's been done..

The even better thing about the 'Absolutely' campaign? all the real celebs that featured in their advertisements were paid in Global Reward points.

Am I doing free advertising? Absolutely.

 

[Fruitcake]

The even better thing about the 'Absolutely' campaign? all the real celebs that featured in their advertisements were paid in Global Reward points.

I never knew that. Great trivia fact, thanks drewbles.

QF's image to me is professionalism, punctuality, seamless service delivery, with a subtle "Australian" angle, and a big focus on their people. The safety briefing I'd like would be reasonably brief (less than two minutes), stick completely to the facts, and stay well away from jokes and patronising language of all kinds. Make the people central element.

 

[vertisol]

I must admit I no longer pay them much attention having done so many legs on the same aircraft type out of Canberra (yes, even though I understand 'subtly every aircraft is different').

Hearing 'today you are flying on a Boeing 737...', glancing down to the safety card in the seat pocket and seeing the number 737-400 and then looking over to see the infernal IFE selector dial in the armrest made me sad after a while..

 

[anat0l]

No humour! It's pretty obvious Qantas can't pull it off, and frankly I don't want them to try. It is better to have a simple, positive yet serious and professional message, than to have an attempt at humour and fail miserably (or even half-and-half).

The current safety video I find OK. It would be nice if there was a heading at the top that changed to show what was being demonstrated (e.g. seat belt, brace position, oxygen, evacuation). It could be in the top left or so, not much bigger than the captioning in the bottom.

Bring back the music from the John Travolta video. Maybe don't bring back John Travolta (seems to be enough people who hated him to make that video not so good... oh, and also don't bring back the "team" thing, in the interests of many members here).

Getting passengers to demonstrate some of the safety aspects would be kind of cool.

I don't know why it's so hard to put together a simple to follow script for the life jacket part. So here's my script for the life jacket section:

<from preceding section on oxygen>
If you need to use your life jacket... <branch based on aircraft type, e.g. B767>
...you'll find it under your seat in Economy;
or under your arm rest in Business.
Remove your life jacket from the pouch and slip it over your head. Pass the tapes around your waist, clip together at the front, and tighten by pulling the loose end of the tape.
Only inflate your life jacket as you leave the aircraft. You inflate your life jacket by pulling on the red tag. [show a clip of someone pulling down the red tag and the jacket actually inflating] You can also inflate your life jacket by blowing into the red tube.
Your life jacket has a whistle and a light for attracting attention.
<next section on smoking>

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Actually anat0l's post on lifejackets reminds me, I think not enough point is made that the lifejacket should only be opened on exiting the aircraft. I guess if that situation were ever to be encountered the crew would have enough time to make the point firmly to passengers, but we do know what happens when you don't follow that very important yet often over looked instruction...

 

[Pushka]

Given that most domestic flights are over land I'm thinking the life jacket info is kinda redundant.

 

[JohnPhelan]

Wonder if it would be worth having RdC doing part of the video for the A380? He's very well known and it might add some gravitas to the message.

"If one of our engines should suddenly explode, please lower your window shade."

 

[Fruitcake]

Given that most domestic flights are over land I'm thinking the life jacket info is kinda redundant.

The route from New York La Guardia to Charleston SC doesn't cover much water but I suspect most pax on US1549 were happy they knew how to use their life jackets. If you have a double bird strike just out of SYD or BNE you might end up in the drink at very​ short notice.

 

[Pushka]

The route from LGA-CLT doesn't cover much water but I suspect most pax on US1549 were happy they knew how to use their life jackets. If you have a double bird strike just out of SYD or BNE you might end up in the drink at very​ short notice.

I dont even know what places LGA and CLT are!

 

[Fruitcake]

I dont even know what places LGA and CLT are!

Sorry. That's La Guardia (New York) to Charleston SC in the US - the intended route of US1549 which ended up in the Hudson.

 

[Pushka]

Sorry. That's La Guardia (New York) to Charleston SC in the US - the intended route of US1549 which ended up in the Hudson.

Ok, but I did mention domestic.

 

[kevrosmith]

Ok, but I did mention domestic.

Yeah, it was a domestic flight in US. The point being, there's plenty of flights that fly over water, even domestic flights in Australia... BNE-CNS, you are often travelling over water once you hit north of ROK or TSV.

 

[Pushka]

Yeah, it was a domestic flight in US. The point being, there's plenty of flights that fly over water, even domestic flights in Australia... BNE-CNS, you are often travelling over water once you hit north of ROK or TSV.

And I did say most, not all, sigh.

 

[wingspan]

And I did say most, not all, sigh.

Given that most accidents occur around take off and landing, and that most Australian capital cities are by the water, I'd say that most flights would need life jacket information!

 

[Pushka]

Given that most accidents occur around take off and landing, and that most Australian capital cities are by the water, I'd say that most flights would need life jacket information!

So I'm Adelaide centric. Rarely see the sea. Same with Melbourne too.

 

[serfty]

And I did say most, not all, sigh.

Actually, you would be surprised to know that more Oz domestic flights pass over (salt)water (sea/bay) at some stage of their travel more than those that don't..

FWIW, most of my ADL departures travel over the bay after takeoff (Glenelg).