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Lufthansa Group, the global airline headquartered in Cologne, Germany, has awarded its North America creative business to Washington, D.C.-based indie agency This January. The agency will focus on strengthening the brand’s salience with U.S. and Canadian audiences.
The brand and agency declined to reveal the incumbent agency, or the other agencies it invited to the internally led pitch. However, Lufthansa also works with DDB Tribal Hamburg, based in Germany, on a retained basis. DDB confirmed it did not take part in a pitch and continues its work with the brand abroad.
Lufthansa and This January are building on three years of existing work, which the agency executed on a project basis. “[Lufthansa’s] partnership really pushes us,” This January partner and executive creative director Maggie Winters told Adweek.
Airlines, travel and traction with new clients
The Lufthansa win is one example of the agency’s recent growth and traction with large brands. It’s completed projects for other well-known brands like Nike and The Motley Fool.
Work on airlines is part of the founders’ careers within the industry. Winters and co-founder Zach Goodwin, years ago at another agency, worked on the Air Canada account together. More recently, This January expanded its airline relationships with a recent assignment for American Airlines.
The shop’s travel expertise goes further. It was agency of record for Destination DC highlighting the agency’s ability to encourage travel to an American destination before the travel brand took work in-house.
This January and Lufthansa’s relationship goes back to 2020. The companies partnered on a pop-up for Lufthansa brand Austrian Air, which wound up getting canceled when the pandemic shut down air travel. The following year, they executed a campaign called “Dear Tampa” for another Lufthansa subsidiary, Eurowings Discover, to increase awareness of the carrier’s new U.S. routes, targeting growing markets like Tampa, Salt Lake City and Southwest Florida.
Most recently, This January worked with the client on its 2022 “Generation Fly” social campaign. Soon thereafter, in late February this year, it received the brand’s RFP.
By early April, the team pitched Lufthansa via Zoom, and then in person the following week. Lufthansa awarded This January its business quickly after that.
“Even though we had worked together for years, we had never met physically—only over Zoom,” said Winters. “So it was nice to have that process of getting to know each other a little bit better before they made their final decision.”