Air India has rolled out the next phase of its brand platform, ‘There is an Air About India’, ahead of the Asian Games. The new digital film, created with McCann, features young cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and reframes the airline’s story around the people who help a dream take flight.
From national momentum to a more personal story
When the platform first launched in 2025, it leaned into the confidence, ambition and momentum of a rising India. This year, the campaign shifts inward. Instead of only celebrating individual success, the film follows Sooryavanshi’s journey from a young boy with a dream to a rising sports star, while weaving in moments from the wider world of Indian sport.
The central idea sits in the soundtrack refrain, ‘Together We Fly’. It is a deliberate move from one person’s achievement to the community behind it – a message that works as well for an airline as it does for a national team. Air India says the film reflects the idea that when India rallies behind its people, extraordinary things happen. The soundtrack blends contemporary Indian rap and fusion sounds to match the energy of the campaign.
Why this launch is a real-time brand case study
The campaign arrives at a sensitive moment. Air India appointed Tewolde Gebremariam as CEO and MD on August 5, and he has been clear-eyed about the airline’s potential. In an employee address alongside Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and outgoing CEO Campbell Wilson, Gebremariam said the carrier has a powerful heritage, a strong brand and significant potential. He framed the next phase as a collective effort: ‘If we do the right things at the right time, the sky is the limit.’
But the brand is also facing tough questions. After the June 2025 Ahmedabad crash involving Air India flight AI171, which killed 260 people, the airline has faced renewed scrutiny over operational and safety standards. In August, a Phuket-Delhi flight reportedly experienced a sudden loss of altitude; the pilot-in-command was dismissed on September 4 after testing positive for a psychoactive substance, according to the report.
That context makes this more than a campaign launch. It is a test of whether an emotional brand promise can hold attention while the business works to rebuild operational credibility.
What marketers can take away
For marketing leaders, the lesson is not to avoid ambitious storytelling in regulated or high-risk categories. It is to pair that story with proof. A framework that helps:
- Emotion drives memory: Community-first narratives create a stronger recall than feature-led airline advertising.
- Proof sustains trust: Travel brands earn long-term loyalty through safety, punctuality and service consistency.
- Timing carries risk and reward: A cultural moment like the Asian Games can amplify visibility, but it also puts the brand under a brighter spotlight.
- Consistency compounds: Evolving an existing platform is more effective than launching a new campaign every season.
Air India’s ‘Together We Fly’ chapter is a useful example of storytelling with scale. Whether it strengthens the brand will depend as much on operational follow-through as on the film itself.
Source: Storyboard18
