World Economic Forum
Case studyTravel & Aviation
British Airways: Metrotwin
Metrotwin: two cities, one place
In 2007 the Open Skies agreement opened transatlantic flying to free competition, and British Airways’ most important route, London to New York, was suddenly up for grabs. Through BBH, the airline asked for something that would defend it.
The problem
Travellers were starting to plan trips through blogs and social recommendations rather than guidebooks and advertising, and BA wanted to explore what that shift meant for an airline. The answer was a service rather than a campaign: a social platform built around London and New York, good enough to satisfy the locals of two cities that are demanding about themselves.
What we did
Cities are often twinned with each other. None are greater twins, or greater rivals, than London and New York. The idea came from noticing how people often explain one city through the other: “the Upper East Side around Fifth Avenue is the Mayfair of New York”; “Shoreditch is the Williamsburg of London”. Metrotwin expanded that idea and turned it into a social discovery experience for both: use what you know about one to find your way around the other.
The site launched in September 2008, built by a hybrid team across BBH, Made by Many and Agency.com. This was the heyday of blogging, and rather than hire an editorial team, Made by Many recruited local bloggers, independent publishers and partners such as Mr & Mrs Smith, Visit London and NYCVisit.com. A contributor contract with British Airways paid them in BA Miles for twinning places and posting reviews and articles. Visitors could ‘like’, add reviews and suggest a twin, and an algorithm turned all that activity into a live index of each city and personal recommendations. For BA it was a run of firsts: blogging, user-generated content, Twitter, and the moderation, legal and PR processes an airline needs before it opens its website to its customers’ words.
The result
By April 2010 Metrotwin held 2,124 recommended places and 296,790 ‘I love this place’ votes from 25,559 registered members, 3,480 of whom declared themselves citizens of both cities. A third city, Mumbai, was twinned with London in October 2009. BA wound the service down in 2011, and the content and data went back to the airline.
Metrotwin has always felt like the one that got away: too early, before app stores and mobile would have allowed you to take it into the streets as a companion. Maybe it’s time to try again?
“Both Mumbai and London are big cities with a lot going on and hidden gems that can be discovered with the right local knowledge. Metrotwin Mumbai will help a Londoner get the Mumbaiker experience and vice versa.”
