Helsinki Airport (HEL), home base for oneworld member Finnair, has a marketing campaign, Match Made in HEL.
It’s their 3-letter airport code, but I’m not sure it’s how I’d market any travel experience. Here’s the campaign description:
Match made in HEL is a campaign that celebrates Nordic uniqueness of Helsinki as the midway point between Asia and Europe. This is the hub where the world’s most fascinating events take place, connecting the brightest talents of two continents.
And they’ve just hosted a fashion show that was held on the runway. (Get it? Airport. Fashion Show. Runway.)
Something extraordinary happened at Helsinki Airport on May 2016, when the top of the fashion world came together. Bora Aksu from UK, Shangguan Zhe from China, Henrik Vibskov from Denmark, Anders Haal from Sweden, Heikki Salonen from Finland, Hyein Seo from Korea and Arashi Yanagawa from Japan showcased their creations in a fashion show unlike any other – a runway show on an actual runway at Helsinki Airport in Finland.
Having models walk in and out of airplanes is probably the only way I’d ever watch a fashion show, so there’s that. I’d be more inclined to connect in Helsinki if the fare was right and the routing convenient. It’s a pretty efficient airport and more than one Finnair lounge features a sauna.
As far as airport promotional stunts, though, I don’t think it even comes close to the entire Munich airport turning into a lip sync music video.
If a fashion show is not enough reason, here’s another one: where else can you take – flight# 666 to HEL and connect to SIN 🙂
AY 666 – CPH-HEL
AY 81 – HEL-SIN