AWSI: Great Idea — Stories for Every Journey…

We are getting caught up on our email newsletters and found this truly wonderful idea.

Quantas, an Aussie airline, has developed a series of novels for their passengers called “Stories For Every Journey.” Each book varies in length and is meant to last only as long as the duration of your flight, based on the average reading speed.

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Qantas Stories For Every Journey from Paper Moose Creative/Production on Vimeo.

Each novel was written by an Australian author. And the covers are classy too — created by award-winning art director/designer Paul Belford, who was behind memorable campaigns for The Economist, Sony Playstation and Waterstones.

An especially nice touch is the personal note from Qantas Frequent Flyer CEO Lesley Grant.

The intent is to attract a more upscale customer to the airline. We think its great because the pampering via food and beverage only takes you so far. But a good book (a wonderful new discovery) from a local author, in a nice package definitely has legs.

But here’s the curious question. How did Quantas figure out which books would work for certain flights?

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Apparently they had some help from Droga5 Sydney, a local agency who teamed with publishing house Hachette.

— The themes chosen were especially suited to Qantas Platinum Flyers, who skew male. Based on research, that means non-fiction, thrillers and crime-based short stories are the most popular choices.

— Per Hachette, the average reader consumes between 200 and 300 words per minute, which equates to about a page per minute. While that idea was truly relevant for shorter flights (short novels), when it came to longer hauls, they allotted for breaks from reading to eat or just chill.

hateQuantas

No doubt, the “I hate Qantas!” koala bear will have another reason to be upset. He never liked the fact that Quantas was responsible for disturbing his solitude by bringing a large number of tourists to Australia.

This is truly a wonderful idea that should be considered by other airlines with a credit to Quantas.  Think of the exposure for authors. Better yet, think about a world where its okay to turn off your electronic device and just settle into a nice book (with pages and that fresh ink smell!).

St. X said he’s warming to Kindles because they are easier to balance on his leg while piloting long flights, but understands where “Stories for Every Journey” makes sense. By the way, he also said that he favors card tricks and would happily put together a program where flight attendants can administer some beyond F&B joy for the rest of the cabin.

Not sure about that one, but we needed to give X some equal time in our posts.

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