Bozoma Saint John guides contestants through Southwest Airlines’ marketing challenge on On Brand with Jimmy Fallon

On Brand With Jimmy Fallon aired its second episode on Friday, Oct. 3, featuring the season’s first team challenge built around Southwest Airlines.

The NBC marketing competition show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, challenges contestants to create campaigns for major brands.

In Episode 2, ten competitors worked to highlight Southwest’s two new cabin upgrades: three extra inches of legroom and assigned seating.

The task followed the Dunkin’ challenge from the premiere, which focused on a physical product and shifted the focus to promoting amenities and features.

Southwest’s Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, Whitney Eichinger, joined Fallon and On Brand’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bozoma Saint John, to introduce the challenge.

Contestants were asked to design “playful and innovative” concepts and slogans to excite customers. At an airplane hangar, they presented a wide range of ideas, from romantic gestures to humorous visual gags.

By the end of the episode, three contestants’ ideas were chosen for the plane wrap phase, while one competitor was eliminated. 

Contestants’ initial pitches for Southwest Airlines in On Brand With Jimmy Fallon

At the start of On Brand With Jimmy Fallon Episode 2, the contestants heard from Whitney Eichinger about Southwest’s brand image and how it had “cultivated a self-aware and fun reputation.”

She requested a “playful and innovative” campaign and a corresponding tagline.

Sabrina Burke opened the presentations with chocolates and flowers, saying her campaign was

“all about the love of Southwest Airlines: ‘you had me at more legroom. Assigned seating is icing on the cake.’”

Pyper Bleu dressed as a flower and stepped into a pot, later explaining that she had outgrown the pot and revealing her tagline, “we’ve got that growth mindset.”

Mahiri Takai framed the customer as a superhero who had defeated “no legroom,” describing how when he travels, he feels like a hero for carrying his family’s bags.

Lauren Karwoski pitched that each flight is a kingdom where “your seat is your throne.” Dr. Raj Srivastava kept his message direct with “more legroom, more space, more Southwest.”

Bianca Fernandez used three side-by-side stories of three larger-than-life personalities needing “a little extra,” while BT Hale promoted “big pitch energy.” Azhelle Wade, Elijah Bennett and Ryan Winn each featured disembodied legs in their concepts, with Ryan taking the risk of removing his pants during his pitch.

Plane wrap challenge results and elimination in On Brand With Jimmy Fallon

Once the three winning ideas were chosen, Ryan, Bianca and Mahiri became project leaders for the group plane wrap challenge.

Ryan decorated his plane with a variety of legs placed under the windows to emphasize legroom.

Mahiri and his team used comic book imagery from his superhero concept. Bianca tried to convert her “extra” idea into a wrap, but focused so strongly on the word “space” that she turned the aircraft into a rocket, complete with astronaut images.

Bozoma Saint John pointed out that this could confuse customers.

Mahiri’s team won the challenge, sparing his group from elimination. Fallon and Saint John then turned to the bottom performers.

They told BT Hale that although everyone liked him personally, he had underperformed in the Dunkin’ challenge and had not kept up during the Southwest pitch either. He became the first contestant to be sent home.

The episode closed by reminding viewers that On Brand With Jimmy Fallon airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC, with next-day streaming on Peacock and Episode 3 will air on Oct. 7.
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