Etihad and the multi screen experience

Connected screens are the topic of the day, so as I was at home watching TV I saw the Etihad latest commercial and at the end I saw the super directing me to go to www.etihad.com/why 

Obviously i was also using my iPhone at the time, so I immediately typed in the URL to my browser. (but i really wanted to scan the TV screen with my RedLaser app)

The URL redirected to the main website 

http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/etihad/AE/en/home/pages/home.aspx 

Here’s what it looks like:

So then I clicked on the big WHY in the main banner. 

I ended up on the actual microsite http://www.whyetihad.com/global/en/ 

Which looks like this:

Then I clicked the tiny link on the top left, “Win free flights” and I end up on the Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/etihad.airways which looks like this:

Then i click on the WHY - win free flights box and it takes me to the app which looks like this

Notice it has the original URL etihad.com/why which will take you to the normal booking website. 

I press enter and then I get this screen:

The text gives me the same info as I already saw on the WHY microsite, and then gives me that URL again, back to Etihad.com/why which will take me to the booking site.  I feel as if the brand is trying to make it really difficult for me to actually win a free flight. 

To enter the competition i simply register and tell them why I have switched to Etihad or what aspects of travel are important to me on the form.  I would have liked to fill this in on the actual page where there is all the numbers and exciting visuals. 


I felt like i did a whole lot of clicking there with not much in return. On the other hand i discovered 2 cool things from the facebook page:


1) Shopping: You can send your duty free request to Etihad at the email: dutyfree@etihad.ae together with name, flight number  and date of travel at least 72 hours before you fly and they’ll deliver the shopping to you directly onboard

The problem with this is that they link to an inside page of the main website from the facebook post

This is how it looks:

Then you have to click again on the image on that page to get to the online magazine which can be found here:

http://resources.etihadairways.com/etihadairways/images/emagazines/dutyfree/

This is how the magazine looks:

Now i opened this on a desktop and the writing is just far too small.  I have no idea how i’m supposed to send an email to dutyfree @ etihad.  What do i tell them? I’d like the white pen please on page 4, or the roberto cavalli perfume? 

The good news is, the magazine opens on the iphone, but its even smaller!

I would love for the facebook link to take me directly to an online store where i can simply “add to cart” and then fill in my flight details etc at the end. 

2. The second cool thing i discovered was that for July and August, Etihad has “positioned some great movie and television titles on the inflight entertainment system called E-Box”

The link takes me to the same inside page on the main website and then to the same magazine style format for the movies, see below:

Again, rather difficult to read.  But wouldn’t it be cool if you could pre select the entertainment you wanted, and then it would be all there, programmed to your seat when you got onboard, just like the duty free? Talk about personalized experience. 

So going back to the whole multi screen experience, we have a few issues and user journeys to consider:

I subscribe to Du for my landline phone, my broadband and my cable tv.  Du has quite a lot of information about me. I even have a mobile subscription with them. Du could know that i’m watching a particular channel and then I search for the Etihad URL given at the end of the TV ad. 

Once I’m on the microsite and i’ve entered to win free flights, I hang around the Etihad properties to see what other cool stuff there is.  I haven’t booked a flight yet, but i’m about to. 

A couple of weeks later, i’m watching TV again, whilst on my tablet, cookies have been placed that feed me ads for destinations i was interested in because i was surfing them earlier.  The Etihad commercial appears on TV and this time I go to the URL and book my flights.  

Later on i’m watching an old arabic movie on www.cinemoz.com on my tablet and i see a pre roll ad for Etihad’s “E-Box” system with short clips of the latest films they have on board.  I click on it and i get taken to a mobile optimized site where i can pre select what i want to watch and fill in my flight details.  

From there i link to the online shopfront (again optimized for mobile) for the Etihad Duty free shop, and, as an added bonus, I get to purchase my goods using operator billing by Du. I don’t even have to type in my credit card details. 

Voila. One seamless experience for me, lots of data for all the partners. 

Disclaimer: 

Last time i made some comments about an FMCG brand, they were taken out of context by their agency, therefore i should mention that with this post i am not looking to criticize either brand or agency, i am not looking to be hired by the brand either, i’m just a consumer who stays up late at night fiddling with her mobile a lot.