Southwest promotes civility with Netflix's 'The Kindness Diaries'

Dive Brief:

Southwest Airlines has partnered with the Netflix series "The Kindness Diaries" on a campaign that includes a sweepstakes, custom on-board content and the sharing of heartfelt stories from travelers and employees, per a press release. The reality series, now in its second season, follows optimist Leon Logothetis as he travels the world with no money, food or place to stay, only relying on the generosity of others and repaying that generosity with life-changing gifts.
As part of the campaign, Southwest ran a "kindness-based" sweepstakes that asked followers to share acts of kindness that they encountered using the hashtag #gobekind on social media. Winners will receive round-trip air travel for themselves and a guest, along with the chance to offer round-trip airfare to a charity of their choice.
Travelers can watch the full first season of "The Kindness Diaries" via the Southwest mobile app's Inflight Entertainment Portal or through the airline's Wi-Fi service. The show is additionally featured as an exclusive TV series channel that offers behind-the-scenes content from season two.

Dive Insight:

Southwest's campaign centered on promoting civility is likely an appeal to consumer exhaustion over the current state of political divisiveness in the U.S. Two-thirds of people, referred to as the Exhausted Majority, feel disengaged and despaired over the divisions rather than actually feeling divided, according to More in Common research reported in The New York Times.

Encouraging consumers to share their acts of kindness on social media plays into the growing expectation for brands to do more to help drive societal change. Rather than take a stance on a particular issue, Southwest is aiming for broad positive sentiment and leveraging a powerful partner in Netflix to do so.

Airlines have for years offered TV shows and movies as part of their in-flight entertainment services, but "The Kindness Diaries" content integrations are interesting. As cord-cutting continues to rise, travelers might be more frequently seeking out programs that are original to over-the-top and digital streaming services, which presents an opportunity for both airlines and entertainment providers.

Southwest has perviously worked with popular series to provide more memorable experiences. The airline collaborated with Discovery Channel for several years on a "Shark Week" promotion. For the 30th anniversary of the programming last year, Southwest unveiled a Shark Week Fleet with original artwork of different shark species, along with an onboard Shark Week TV Series Channel and exclusive episode.