Over the next few months, the BAA-owned airport will create events that focus on the UK's calendar of cultural and sporting events. However, details are yet to be confirmed.
Last week, Heathrow staged an unannounced performance by pop group McFly outside the Terminal 5 arrivals area. The band then switched on the airport's Christmas lights.
An audience of more than 300 attended the concert, and Heathrow is looking to host more events that can be allied to its 'Welcome to the UK' tagline.
The airport's marketers will also attempt to tie in with cultural events from the countries to which people can fly from Heathrow, such as Brazil and China.
'It goes without saying that we're a long-term business, so the young people of today are our business customers of the future,' said Malcolm Robertson, director of communications for Heathrow. 'We want them to feel affection for Heathrow and are looking specifically at young people as well as across our customer base.'
Robertson added that any future events, including concerts, will also have to link back to Heathrow's central concept of 'connecting people around the world and making every passenger's journey better than the last one'.
The airport has previously used sports events such as The Wimbledon Championships to engage with consumers. This year, during the tournament fortnight, promotional staff wearing tennis whites handed out strawberries and cream to passengers.
BAA has already experimented with commercial customer engagement at its airports, allowing the latest T-Mobile 'flash-mob' ad to be filmed in Terminal 5. The ad shows passengers walking out of the arrivals gate into a crowd of professional singers and members of the public.
T-Mobile will be staging another event in Edinburgh Airport later this month, although it will not be filmed for a TV ad.
Heathrow broke away from BAA branding in June last year, supported by an ad campaign created by incumbent agency Masius and overseen by BAA's marketing and insight director, Nick Adderley.
The branding on all communications for the airport has since been Heathrow rather than BAA, with the strapline 'Making every journey better.'
The rebrand was completed while BAA faced action from the Competition Commission that forced it to sell Gatwick Airport.
BAA is no longer used as a consumer brand.
HEATHROW AIRPORT TRAFFIC
Passenger numbers (m) and year-on-year % change
October 2010 6.1
% change 7.2
Jan-Oct 2010 55.7
% change 0.2
Source: BAA
.jpg)
.jpg)