Qantas Joins Proud to 'Call Australia Home' Campaign with Charlie's Cookies

13th May 2016

Australian carrier Qantas and food company Charlie's Cookies have joined forces for a new campaign entitled "Proud to Call Australia Home" in an effort to provide support for innovative nonprofits.

Qantas will offer the latest in-flight snacks from the cookie company, which includes a new line of "in-flight snack boxes with a heart", said Ken Mahlab, Managing Director of Charlie's Cookies.

Mr Mahlab said:

"Through our ongoing relationship with Qantas we discovered a shared vision for wanting to get behind great Australian organization. Charlie's set about developing a program of philanthropic support via Qantas' complimentary in-flight snack menu, which naturally taps into a huge captive audience. It's a real win-win all round."

Charlie's Cookies Managing Director also added that the campaign is developed in a way that will improve the shared value concept for the community. He said:

"Charlie's will direct five cents from every snack box sold to Qantas to a range of selected Australian initiatives."

This means that Proud to Call Australia Home campaign would see the airline move through 240,000 units in the course of six months and the chosen not-for-profit will potentially generate $12,000 in funds.

He said:

"The first of the new Proud to Call Australia Home snack boxes will highlight the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, Bangarra Dance Theatre. It's the definition of three-way collaboration. As one of Australia's leading performing arts companies Bangarra is well known and incredibly highly regarded but it is certainly not a household name. To have their brand put in front of 250,000 people in a captive audience environment is worth and enormous amount. I would argue it is worth more than the money."

Mahlab continued:

"For Qantas it enhances their relationship with both their inflight customer and also enhances their core values of community responsibility. The fact is Qantas is Australian, Bangarra is Australian and Charlie's is Australian. There is a rub-off effect for the three brands. For Charlie's there is a marketing value in being associated with Bangarra? but who says we can't benefit and do good at the same time.

Philippe Magid, Executive Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre said:

"We're thrilled to be partnering with Charlie's Cookies on their innovative new campaign supporting Australian initiatives and organizations. We've been fortunate to have a long and meaningful association with Qantas, so this is great opportunity for us to deepen our relationship and grow brand awareness with their customers via the Charlie's Cookies snack box."

The "Proud to Call Australia Home" campaign is set to run till September.