With the apparent aim of raising its profile and increasing its engagement with the public, ITA Airways is launching a social media survey to name one of its planes. The naming will be limited to Italian sports champions, with the campaign being run in conjunction with Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

“The first names for the Airbuses were decided by the company, but now the ball is in the court of our supporters, who will have to name the Italian female and male sports champions to whom the next ITA Airways aircraft will be dedicated” -Giovanni Perosino, Marketing Director, ITA Airways

“Name Azzuri”

Going with the campaign name ‘Naming Azzuri’, ITA Airways’ new social media-based initiative will see participants vote on the name of a future aircraft. With azzuri meaning “blue” in Italian, the name of the campaign is based on the fact that blue is the color of all Italian national sports teams.

Of course, if you remember the 2016 competition to nominate a vessel for the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, it won’t be a repeat of “Boaty McBoatface”. Instead, the airline says users will be asked to name the plane after an Italian sports champion. With the main setting in place, the idea is simple, explains the airline: “The names with the most votes will be on the new livery of the aircraft which will soon join the ITA Airways fleet.”

A brand partnership

According to the airline, the “Naming Azzurri” initiative will be a collaboration with La Gazzetta Dello Sport, an Italian sports news brand. This will see La Gazzetta Dello Sport supporting the campaign through its own Instagram and Facebook channels, creating a series of posts to invite followers to submit their nominations in the comments.

“By answering the question: ‘Who made the history of Italian sport?’ on the official Facebook and Instagram pages of ITA Airways and on the Instagram and Facebook profiles of La Gazzetta dello Sport, each user will be able to express a nominee…” -ITA Airways

ITA Airways Naming Theme

For just over a month now, since December 24, ITA Airways has been inducting its aircraft in its relatively distinct new all-blue livery. And while KLM might name its planes after destinations, and Lufthansa’s planes are named after German cities, ITA Airways’ plane names theme is Italian sporting champions.

It is these great Italian sportsmen that ITA Airways calls “ambassadors in the world of professionalism, determination, strength and passion, all the values ​​that have hoisted the Italian flag high.” Currently, the airline’s two Airbus A320s are named after Paolo Rossi and Fausto Coppi, while one Airbus A319 is dedicated to Pietro Mennea. So far the plane has been named after male athletes, but participants in the naming contest will be able to name their favorite male or female Italian champion, although it looks like they must be retired and “are no longer active in their respective disciplines.”

The airline’s marketing manager, Giovanni Perosino, notes that one of the fundamental pillars of ITA Airways’ plan is to “putting the customer at the center of all efforts. Obviously, this initiative is in line with this customer-centric philosophy.

It looks like the contest will last around two weeks, with the voting process expected to wrap up around mid-February.

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