Alaska Airlines has unveiled a sneak peek of its upcoming Superbowl commercials featuring Tan France, Nick Cho and several airline employees. The ads will begin airing on February 12th before the big game later that day.

Alaska Airlines 2023 Superbowl ads

With the traditional Superbowl commercial period almost upon us, the Seattle-based carrier released a series of shorts built around the ideas of care and value for the customer. The two stars of the commercials, fashion designer Tan France and social media personality Nick Cho, were joined by members of the Alaska Airlines team for the series of Big Game ads.

Tan France said,

"As someone who has worked as a flight attendant, I know how difficult the job can be and have been so impressed with the Alaska Airlines team. Working with their employees was a joy. They are so attentive, thoughtful and were everything I have come to expect from Alaska."

The theme of this year's advertising campaign is 'Care' - the airline highlighted its sustainability practices, including eliminating onboard plastics, whilst offering the "most generous loyalty program in the skies" and more nonstop flights from the West Coast than any other carrier.

Photo: Alaska Airlines/Ingrid Barrentine

Checking out the ads

The 'Options' commercial above highlights the airline's wide-reaching network whilst playing on designer France's love for fashion, while the airline's 'Jacket' ad shows off Alaska's $99 Companion Fare deal with an Alaska Airlines Visa card to any destination in its network with no blackout dates.

Interestingly, the carrier released an AI-generated video last week - the clip showed a script for a commercial apparently written using OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, with Alaska adding it "has a few notes" on the decidedly generic and cliché advert idea. The airline also unveiled two new Visa credit card adverts, featuring Tan France, highlighting the card's many perks, such as priority boarding, 2x miles and first checked bag free.

Behind the scenes

Alaska Airlines wanted to incorporate members of its team alongside more recognizable faces like Cho and France. To that end, the carrier launched a "real-life Hollywood casting call" with open auditions and call-backs, while selected employees showed up on the day of filming at Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) for hair, makeup and wardrobe. One of the Alaska employees involved, customer service agent Sunny S., said,

"I think it’s great that Alaska asked us to be part of something so amazing. We are employees, we are frontliners, we understand the airline industry. To have that moment to be in a commercial and to be asked by Alaska to do so, it was a warm feeling."

Photo: Alaska Airlines/Ingrid Barrentine

Eric Edge, managing director for marketing and advertising at Alaska Airlines, added,

"Our employees are at the heart of our brand and it’s their remarkable, caring service that makes Alaska so special. We’re thrilled to have them be such a core part of our new commercials."

What are your thoughts on Alaska Airlines' latest Superbowl commercials? What is the best airline Superbowl commercial you can remember? Let us know in the comments.