Mona Lisa takes a break in new EasyJet European blitz

British tourists may be fleeing wild fires across the Greek islands in their thousands but EasyJet is aiming to lighten the mood with a new fully integrated campaign designed to encapsulate the emotion of travel.

Devised by VCCP London, the “Get Out There” pan-European campaign features “crowd-drawing” objects of tourism as the tourists themselves, including the Mona Lisa, Girl with the Pearl Earring, David, The Thinker and even a couple of cherubs.

Instead of creating the protagonists in digital form or using AI, easyJet and VCCP London opted to hold castings across Europe to find real people to capture the humanity and unbounded spirit of these historic icons experiencing travel for the first time.

Their story unfolds in a 30″ film directed by Patrick Daughters. The spot opens in Le Louvre in Paris, with Mona Lisa having left her frame. We cut to see her, passport in hand, checking in for an EasyJet flight to Athens with a boarding pass.

Over the next few scenes, other familiar faces are seen, experiencing the best that Europe has to offer, from sunbathing on the beach to taking a road trip up the coast. A sentiment that is also captured in stills that support the campaign and which will run across digital channels.

The activity is running for 8 weeks across multiple platforms including TV, BVOD, online, DOOH, display and social and across easyJet’s key markets in the UK, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal.

EasyJet customer and marketing director Gabriella Neudecker said: “With this campaign we have redefined the role of advertising at easyJet and taken it back to fundamental marketing principles. We know travel is a category where distinctiveness is a challenge, and we think this work makes easyJet more emotional and memorable than we’ve ever been before.”

VCCP deputy executive creative director David Masterman added: “Who better than someone who’s been stuck in one place for 500 years to demonstrate the powerful benefits of travel. We’ve freed them and turned them into travel influencers.”