Southwest Recreates an Airport in the Great Outdoors for a Regional Big Game Flight

Because airline seating shouldn't be so wild

Southwest Airlines takes viewers on a strange journey complete with an escalator rising out of the grassy earth and flight information displays suspended from the trees.

There’s a plane, too, sitting in an open field. Well, rows of seats are there, anyway.

GSD&M developed this Twilight Zone approach for a Super Bowl spot running in select markets during the game and streaming nationally on Peacock.

Amid all manner of airport paraphernalia, folks rush through brambles and bushes to catch a flight.

It’s a disorientating to be sure, a big visual metaphor about Southwest’s efforts to tame the “wild” nature of passenger seating.

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Brian Billow from O Positive directs with a strong sense of movement and mystery.

This approach might prove too odd for some. Still, the compelling imagery might lure eyeballs. At least those travelers got some fresh air. Surely preferable to the stench of fast-food and panic that permeates some departure terminals. (Not Southwest’s, surely.)