Skyscanner – #WeWill

Supporting our users through the pandemic

When Coronavirus first hit, lockdowns left travellers anxious and the industry paralysed. With confidence collapsing and most brands silent, Skyscanner faced a critical question: how do you stay relevant when promoting travel feels inappropriate?

Client

Skyscanner

Services

Creative Direction Script writing Video editing Design

Industries

Travel

Date

2020

Results

  • The 'We Will' video was the biggest ever organic video to date.

  • The campaign has reached 284k organic impressions, 100k views and 16k Engagements 5-7% ER

  • Skyscanner ranked #1 for brand engagement in social - outperforming all competitors

  • Global rebound: fastest-growing flight meta in 2022

  • Widely recognised in the press as a brand that handled the crisis with empathy and agility with #WeWill campaign and Where’s Open map cited as best practice


The challenge

In early 2020, Skyscanner entered the year at a high point, with over 100 million monthly users and continued global growth. Then travel stopped. Overnight, borders closed, uncertainty spread, and fear reshaped the world. Internally, the company faced redundancies, furloughs, and shaken morale; externally, travellers were stranded, confused, and anxious. Marketing could no longer sell travel - instead, our challenge was to stay relevant when our core product had suddenly become irrelevant. Our initial response focused on providing essential information on rights, cancellations, and travel status. But user research revealed something deeper: people didn’t just need facts, they needed to feel seen. Anxiety, isolation, grief, and longing were rising. And in that moment of crisis, we had the opportunity to show our human side, and to connect with travellers on a deeper, more emotional level.

Extracted currency modules
Extracted currency modules
Extracted currency modules

How #WeWill came to life?

The #WeWill campaign wasn’t born from a traditional brief — it emerged from listening with empathy. Through research and lived experience, we uncovered what travellers really needed during the pandemic: not just information, but recognition, reassurance, and hope.

From there, I developed the script grounded in emotional truth, capturing a shared human longing to connect and travel again. Working closely with the Head of Voice, Head of Marketing, and later the Brand team, we moved fast — prioritising agility over polish to meet the moment with authenticity. I led the creative direction and execution, shaping a campaign that could evolve as we learned from real-time feedback.

The video resonated deeply, quickly expanding into all key markets across EMEA, the US, and APAC. It became Skyscanner’s most impactful campaign of the time, striking an emotional chord when travellers needed it most.

Following its release, we built on this momentum by continuing the conversation on social - asking users where they would go once travel resumed. This set the tone for subsequent engagement, establishing a more human, empathetic voice for Skyscanner’s social media presence.

Final results

We will was the biggest ever organic video to date, outperforming all past video content.

  • The UK campaign reached 284k organic impressions

  • 100k views

  • 16k engagements

  • Engagement rate of 5-7%, way above the industry benchmark

But most importantly:
This campaign set the tone, repositioned Skyscanner, and opened the line of communication between us and our users.