The feeling of home: How Qantas built one of Australia’s most loved brands  

How do you build a brand that transcends product, service or function – and becomes shorthand for home itself?  

For Qantas, it all starts with strong brand values.  

Over the past century, Australia’s flagship airline has produced campaigns centred around identity and connection – stories that reflect who are and where we belong. And it’s helped cement it as one of the country’s most recognisable names.

In this exclusive interview, Qantas Chief Marketing Officer Petra Perry reveals how staying true to brand values can turn a company into a cultural icon.  
 

Emotion: Qantas’ most powerful flight path 

Ask any Aussie to name a brand that evokes a sense of home or national pride, and chances are Qantas will be top of the list. That’s no accident.

‘We know emotion is one of the key drivers of decision making,’ says Qantas Chief Marketing Officer Petra Perry. ‘So we always try to tap into that in our campaigns.

‘Flying isn’t just a mode of transport. It’s a feeling. And we aim to capture that feeling – whether it’s the excitement of travelling to a dream destination, the joy of a reunion or the comfort of coming home.  

‘We intentionally build our brand on moments that matter.’  

And it shows. Over its 104-year history, Qantas has skillfully cultivated a brand identity that’s deeply felt.  

‘Our brand purpose is obviously to be an amazing airline, but it’s also about championing the spirit of Australia,’ says Petra. ‘When Aussies see that unmistakable red tail, they think of home, and they feel a sense of pride and belonging.’

Pride, belonging and progress are more than just marketing buzzwords for Qantas. They’re values embedded into every decision and piece of creative.

‘We call it our brand blueprint,’ explains Petra.  

‘And it’s something we want everyone in the business, from crew to corporate, to be across.  

‘We don’t just fly with ‘the spirit of Australia’ on our planes – we work to embody it at every level of the organisation.’
 

Real people, real moments

Nowhere is that brand blueprint more visible than in Qantas’ campaigns, where they use real people to capture their brand spirit with maximum authenticity.  

‘We never use actors,’ says Petra. ‘Every person you see in a Qantas ad is a real employee or customer. That’s why they’re often so moving. We’re not scripting emotion, we’re capturing it.’

Take the airline’s recent Every Moment campaign, aired in March 2025. Drawing on customer insights that the people are what they value most about Qantas, the ad spotlights genuine, unscripted interactions from across their network.  

With 29 million passengers a year and 23,000 staff, those moments aren’t hard to find. But capturing them naturally takes care.

‘Nothing was staged; we filmed on operating aircraft and at live terminals. And I think audiences can feel that,’ says Petra. ‘It makes a difference.’
 

The research behind the resonance

While Qantas’ messaging trades in feelings, it’s not based on emotional instinct alone. Every creative decision starts with carefully mined insights and solid data.

‘Our campaigns are anchored in both qualitative and quantitative research,’ explains Petra. ‘We’re constantly talking to our people and our customers because we want to know what’s working, what’s not and what really matters to them,’ she says. ‘We also run every campaign through System1 testing, which measures emotional response in different markets.’

It’s a rigorous approach, but for Petra, it’s essential: ‘Between the marketing team and senior management, we’re a only small group. We need to know how the public will feel, not just how we feel.’

Even with a data-backed approach, crafting emotionally resonant campaigns year after year is no easy feat. How do you keep things feeling fresh – without becoming overly sentimental?  

‘It’s all about relevance. We never create in a vacuum,’ says Petra. ‘We track the national mood with regular reports and adjust accordingly. It’s about being contextually relevant, not just nostalgic.’

Post COVID, that meant creating ads that gave Australians hope. One of these, Feels like Home Again, featured a real-life reunion between a Melbourne mother and her son, who had been living in Japan. They hadn’t seen each other in four years. And when she turned to see him for the first time on camera, that moment captured the kind of reunion so many Australians were longing for.

‘That ad gave people a glimpse of the joy that was coming,’ Petra reflects. ‘And I think that made it extra powerful.’
  

When values meet value

Brand marketing can often be seen as fluffy and hard to measure. Or even, to many businesses, a luxury they can’t afford.  

But at Qantas, it’s viewed as a long-term investment in consumer trust, brand warmth and, ultimately, commercial value.

‘Of course we have short-term commercial goals,’. ‘But you don’t build a brand like Qantas through tactical, short-term campaigns alone.’

She describes the strategy as balancing brand and product, emotion and information. And sometimes, a single ad can do both.

‘The Every Moment campaign, for example, is storytelling that showcases our values as a business. But it also highlights our people, which is a core part of our service. Speaking to both across your creative strategy – that’s the sweet spot.’

When evaluating the success of the Qantas brand strategy, Petra says customer feedback plays a large part.

‘We’ve got a robust approach to brand health. We track everything from awareness and preference to pride, love and trust. Those more emotional measures matter a lot to us, naturally.  

‘It’s not instant though. There’s always a bit of a lag between when you release a campaign and when you see its impact reflected in the metrics. You need to give them time to land.

‘NPS scores and customer satisfaction surveys tell us a lot. And RepTrak is a helpful benchmark because it captures how both customers and non-customers feel. And that’s important when you're speaking to the broader public, not just your own audience.

‘Each metric contributes to the overall picture.’  
 

Where to begin with values-led branding

Petra’s advice for marketers who want to tap into values-led brand building?

‘Start with the why,’ she says. ‘What’s the benefit or outcome for your customer? Don’t get stuck in the technicalities.’

She also urges brands to focus on authenticity.

‘If you want to stand out, you need to find your unique voice. Know your competitors, but don’t copy them. Always stay grounded in your own values.’

And of course, never underestimate the power of music.

‘Music is a huge part of our emotional toolkit. I Still Call Australia Home is sort of a brand code for us. It really captures the Qantas spirit.’  

In an age of shrinking attention spans, fragmented channels and AI-generated everything, Qantas shows what steady, values-led brand building can still achieve. And what happens when you lead with heart instead of hype.  

‘People might forget what you said or did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel,’ Petra reflects. ‘That’s what brand is. It’s the feeling.’
 

Want to create emotive brand-led marketing that stands the test of time? ADMA offers a range of courses to help you craft campaigns that resonate.