United's local Super Bowl ad pokes at rival Southwest in Denver market

United Airlines won’t have a national ad buy in this Sunday’s Big Game. But it does plan to take advantage of Super Bowl viewership to take aim at rival Southwest Airlines, following the latter’s disastrous holiday travel season. On Sunday, Chicago-based United will air a local 30-second spot in Denver and the Colorado Springs, Colorado, markets that highlights the carrier’s holiday performance. Called “United—An airline built for Denver,” the ad shows a family enjoying a meal at a dining room table. Text reads, “This is just the story of a family from Denver. Who got to be together for the holidays.” The ad drives the point home with more text, “United got more families in and out of Denver this holiday than any other airline. Despite the weather.” While Southwest is not named directly in the commercial, the point is clear. Denver International Airport saw the most cancellations across airlines on Dec. 27, and the bulk of them came from Southwest. “We developed this Denver-specific creative after noticing we had a unique opportunity to highlight our strong operational performance in this market compared to our competitors,” a United spokeswoman wrote via email. United bought the airtime at the end of 2022 and had planned to run its “Good Leads the Way” campaign, but after noticing the challenges many travelers faced over the holidays, it reversed course to draw attention to the proactive steps it has taken, she said. The family in the spot is a “representative one” based on the stories from United customers who were traveling over the holidays, the spokeswoman said. Southwest is still reeling from the aftereffects of its holiday snafus. In the weeks after the December chaos, consumers still thought negatively of the carrier, an Ad Age-Harris Poll found. In late January, the brand was spoofed on “Saturday Night Live,” underscoring the work Southwest still has to do to repair its image. Southwest confirmed to Ad Age earlier this year that it does not plan to run a Super Bowl spot. It recently posted a net loss of $226 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, alongside operating revenue of $6.2 billion. By contrast, United, a much larger carrier, posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 billion alongside operating revenue of $12.4 billion. On Wednesday, a Southwest spokesman noted the brand’s 51-year history of serving customers as well as its more recent performance following the holiday problems. “We have a long, and proud, track record of safe and reliable operations—in fact, we are proud to be one of the top three carriers in on-time performance for January, ahead of United, and this month we hold the number two spot (also ahead of United),” he wrote in a statement. “We are intensely focused on taking care of our customers and delivering hospitality each and every day—not allowing one really bad week to define us.” Ad Age events Sign up for events and awards Learn more here United worked with its creative agency 72andSunny Los Angeles on the new work, which it developed in the 10 days between Jan. 26 and Feb. 6. The airline will also run local TV commercials for its “Good Leads the Way” campaign during the Super Bowl in Kansas City, Missouri; Oklahoma City and Omaha, Nebraska. This is not the first time United has poked at its rival. Two years ago, the airline ran its first ads in Denver, comparing its operations to those of Southwest. Then in November 2022, just prior to the busy holiday travel season, United released a series of digital ads poking fun at the fact that Southwest does not assign seats. The ads included a hotline that travelers could dial for a reminder to check in for Southwest’s dreaded C group—or consider switching to United, which does provide seat assignments. Given Southwest’s holiday cancellations and delays, United’s ads now seem oddly prescient.

United's local Super Bowl ad pokes at rival Southwest in Denver market

Featured Stories