Turkish Airlines Brings Ridley Scott to Super Bowl LIII with #THEJOURNEY
Turkish Airlines' #THEJOURNEY is a February 2019 cinematic advertising campaign that debuted a 30-second film during Super Bowl LIII in the United States, making it the first Super Bowl advertisement ever placed by a Turkish brand, with a six-minute director's cut released simultaneously on digital platforms and directed by Ridley Scott.
The campaign launched on February 3, 2019, the date of Super Bowl LIII, and operated across several distinct formats simultaneously. A 30-second commercial aired during the game itself, reaching the United States television audience at one of the highest-cost, highest-viewership media moments of the year. At the same moment, a six-minute short film appeared on Turkish Airlines' YouTube channel and social media platforms, giving viewers who encountered the broadcast spot a destination for a fuller narrative experience. A 90-second version was additionally distributed in Turkish cinemas, according to research compiled across sources including Paddleyourownkanoo.com and Daily Sabah, broadening the campaign's theatrical reach beyond any single market or format.
In terms of production scale, the campaign involved approximately 500 actors, as reported by sources including Little Black Book and Shots.net. Principal locations included Istanbul Airport — notably the newly opened facility that the campaign was partly designed to celebrate — alongside Çırağan Palace, the Basilica Cistern, and Ortaköy Square. Istanbul itself functions as both narrative setting and brand argument throughout the film, positioning the city's landmarks as the centrepiece of Turkish Airlines' identity in the United States and globally. The campaign was produced by Anomaly Amsterdam and RSA Films. Clapboard rates #THEJOURNEY 79 out of 100, recognising its exceptional production ambition and cultural landmark status as the airline's most cinematically authored work to date.
Turkish Airlines entered the 2019 United States Super Bowl advertising environment with a strategic objective that differed from simple route promotion. The airline used #THEJOURNEY to reframe its brand positioning around Istanbul, its primary hub, and the newly inaugurated Istanbul Airport, shifting away from the destination-breadth messaging that had characterised earlier campaigns. This represented a meaningful evolution from the airline's 2016 Super Bowl 50 campaign, which had leaned on Batman v Superman licensed properties and Ben Affleck as a celebrity vehicle, according to Brand Equity by The Economic Times.
The competitive context in the United States travel market in 2019 was demanding. American Airlines led global airlines by scheduled passenger-kilometres with 324 billion passenger-kilometres, according to the International Air Transport Association, while Delta Air Lines ranked second with 316.3 billion passenger-kilometres, per IATA data. Both carriers dominate the domestic United States market and carry substantial brand recognition among American consumers. Against this landscape, Turkish Airlines' decision to invest in Super Bowl placement — a media buy aimed squarely at the United States audience — signals a clear intent to build awareness and consideration among travellers for whom the airline would not be a default choice. Globally, the airline industry generated approximately US$865 billion in revenue in 2019, according to IATA, within a year when passenger demand growth slowed to 4.2 percent year over year, down from 7.3 percent in 2018, also per IATA. In that slower-growth environment, share-of-mind advertising carried greater strategic weight than in expansion years.
The choice of a six-minute cinematic format, running in parallel with the broadcast spot, reflects a broader industry shift toward content marketing that earns attention rather than simply purchasing it. In the United States, where streaming consumption was already reshaping how audiences engaged with brand content by 2019, a long-form YouTube release attached to a Super Bowl moment created a dual-channel architecture: broadcast reach combined with depth of engagement for self-selected viewers.
Ridley Scott directed #THEJOURNEY, marking his return to advertising after nearly 20 years away from commercial work, as reported by Ad Age and The Drum. The film follows a woman pursuing a mysterious figure through Istanbul, using the city's architecture and the newly opened Istanbul Airport as integral narrative environments rather than incidental backdrops. Scott's approach treats the advertisement as a short film in the fullest sense, applying the visual grammar and pacing of feature production to a brand brief.
Director of photography Dariusz Wolski, ASC — a long-term Scott collaborator whose feature credits span the Alien and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises — served as cinematographer, according to credits documented by Winners Webbyawards and Shots.net. His involvement established a continuity of visual language between Scott's theatrical work and the Turkish Airlines commission, lending the production a cinematic texture that distinguishes it from conventional airline advertising. Marc Homes served as production designer, and Janty Yates — Scott's regular costume designer across numerous feature films — handled costuming, per credits listed by LBBonline.com. RSA Films served as the production company, with Mark Huffam as supervising producer and David Mitchell, Tracie Norfleet, Mark Walejko, and Zeynep Santiroglu Sutherland as producers, according to credits documented by Shots.net and LBBonline.com.
Post-production and visual effects were handled by MPC London, according to credits cited by LBBonline.com and Shots.net. Editors Cheryl Potter, Jim Weedon, and Govert Janse shaped the film across its multiple format versions, including the 30-second broadcast cut, the six-minute digital film, and the 90-second cinema edit. The production involved approximately 500 actors on location across Istanbul, according to Daily Sabah and Paddleyourownkanoo.com, a logistical scale consistent with feature film rather than advertising production norms. Anomaly Amsterdam served as the advertising agency responsible for the campaign concept and production oversight.
Turkish Airlines' #THEJOURNEY achieved a landmark result that is independently verifiable: it became the first Super Bowl advertisement ever placed by a Turkish brand, a distinction reported by Daily Sabah and corroborated by coverage in Ad Age and One Mile at a Time. That milestone alone constitutes a measurable form of cultural impact, generating earned media coverage in the United States and internationally that extended the campaign's effective reach well beyond the media buy itself.
No verified box-office-equivalent or brand-lift figures for #THEJOURNEY are publicly available from the airline or agency in audited form. What the structural evidence does support is a campaign designed for multiplied impact: the simultaneous broadcast, YouTube, social, and cinema releases created multiple points of entry for audiences in the United States and beyond, while the six-minute format invited a depth of engagement uncommon for airline advertising. The involvement of Ridley Scott — returning to commercial work after nearly 20 years, per Ad Age — and the documented production scale of approximately 500 actors across Istanbul's landmark locations, as reported by Daily Sabah, generated substantial trade press coverage across outlets including LBBonline.com, Shots.net, and The Drum, extending the campaign's visibility within the creative and advertising industry. The campaign's 2019 positioning around Istanbul Airport also aligned with the airport's commercial launch narrative, suggesting dual objectives of consumer brand-building and strategic destination marketing. Clapboard scores #THEJOURNEY 79 out of 100, reflecting the campaign's exceptional creative ambition, landmark production credentials, and historically significant placement, offset by the absence of publicly verified audience performance data.
#THEJOURNEY is a 2019 Turkish Airlines advertising campaign directed by Ridley Scott. It debuted a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl LIII in the United States on February 3, 2019, making it the first Super Bowl ad by a Turkish brand, with a six-minute film released simultaneously on YouTube and social platforms.
Ridley Scott directed #THEJOURNEY for Turkish Airlines. According to Ad Age and The Drum, the campaign marked Scott's return to commercial advertising after nearly 20 years. Dariusz Wolski, ASC, his frequent feature-film collaborator, served as director of photography, and RSA Films acted as the production company.
Anomaly Amsterdam served as the advertising agency for #THEJOURNEY. RSA Films handled production, with Mark Huffam as supervising producer, according to credits documented by LBBonline.com and Shots.net. Post-production and visual effects were completed by MPC London. The campaign aired during Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
Principal photography took place across Istanbul, Turkey. Locations included Istanbul Airport, Çırağan Palace, the Basilica Cistern, and Ortaköy Square, according to Daily Sabah and Paddleyourownkanoo.com. The production involved approximately 500 actors, a scale consistent with feature film rather than standard advertising production practice.
Turkish Airlines became the first Turkish brand to advertise during the Super Bowl. The 30-second spot aired on February 3, 2019, during Super Bowl LIII in the United States, as reported by Daily Sabah and Ad Age. The campaign also included a six-minute director's cut released simultaneously on digital platforms.
Clapboard rates #THEJOURNEY 79 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's cinematic production ambition, its landmark status as the first Super Bowl ad by a Turkish brand, and the involvement of Ridley Scott and Dariusz Wolski, ASC, offset by the absence of publicly verified audience performance metrics.
.webp)
Creative Collaboration Platform: The Backbone of Modern Creative WorkWhat is a creative collaboration platform?Clapboard defines a creative collaboration platform as the operational core for today’s distributed creative teams. This is not a collection of digital collaboration tools stitched together; Clapboard’s system
Understanding the Creative Production MarketplaceWhat is a Creative Production Marketplace?Clapboard defines a creative production marketplace as a structured ecosystem where brands, agencies, and production talent converge to execute video, advertising, and branded content at scale. Unlike the legacy agency or freelanREAD FULL ARTICLE
The Urgent Need for a Creative Production Operating SystemWhy Traditional Creative Production Models Break DownClapboard sees the creative production landscape shifting under pressure. Content velocity is no longer a buzzword—it’s a mandate. Modern advertising demands relentless output across dozens of channels, each wREAD FULL ARTICLE
.jpg&w=256&q=75)
