"Get the tissues ready": Qantas reveals ad kept on shelf for two years
After sitting on it for two years, Qantas has revealed its new Spirit of Australia ad that promises to be a tear-jerker.
CEO Alan Joyce admitted the ad wasn’t technically new, with most of the footage shot in 2019 - before the COVID-19 pandemic saw international travel grind to a standstill.
“Get the tissues ready,” he said from Qantas’ HQ just before the ad was screened for the first time.
“We have kept it in the can for over two years because the time has never been quite right … it was filmed when things were very different but now is the right time.
“We couldn’t do it until the whole country was together again because as the song says, ‘one day we’ll all be together once more’.”
The ad includes a contemporary version of Peter Allan’s I Still Call Australia Home, which has been an iconic part of Qantas ads since 1987, with vocals from Kylie Minogue, Hugh Jackman, Troye Sivan, and the Australian Girls Choir, National Boys Choir and Gondwana Choir.
It also includes a nod to the toll of the pandemic, with emotional footage of families reuniting at Australian airports added in the final version.
“The last major Qantas advert came as the country was rolling up its sleeves to be vaccinated so we could all reconnect, and it really struck a chord,” Joyce said in a statement.
“Now that borders are finally open, and staying open, this is the perfect time to relaunch this Peter Allan classic as the national carrier’s anthem.”
Other stars that make an appearance include sporting icons Ash Barty, Adam Goodes, Bronte Campbell and Ellie Cole, as well as Indigenous artist and Elder Rene Kulitja, members of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, and children form Longreach.
The ad also showed off some of Australia’s most jaw-dropping locations, from the pink-hued Hutt Lagoon in WA and the outback town of Longreach to the jagged cliffs of Tasmania’s Cape Raoul and Sydney Harbour.
Meanwhile, Jackman, Minogue and Sivan were filmed in London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.
The ad will be displayed on TV screens, billboards, social media and on international flights returning to Australia for the rest of the year, starting on Sunday.
Image: @qantas (Instagram)