How to Make a Narrative Fly?

Abstract: The airline industry has been heavily affected by crises that have occurred in the last years. By using the theory of brand legitimacy and storytelling, a multimodal critical discourse analysis was conducted. 2020 is a year by many seen as a paradigm shift, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the study will examine marketing communication from 2018 and 2022 to get pre- and post-pandemic perspectives. The investigated organization in this study is SAS. By comparing the years 2018 and 2022, the study aims to find fruitful understanding in how the brand legitimizing story has changed. Two commercials, one from 2018 and one from 2022, together with selected Instagram posts have been the material under investigation. The conclusion that was drawn is that there has been a shift in the way the organization builds brand legitimacy. The focus has shifted from communicating the good the organization contributes to, creating moral brand legitimacy, to creating pragmatic brand legitimacy by depicting the real essence of traveling, the journey itself. The first time period was influenced by deep emotions and highlighted the arrival back home. The later period is rather filled with humor and motives for traveling. The airline’s marketing position has changed from being an inspirational life changing actor to depicting themselves for what they are, an airline. This is seen as a product of the critical external factors that have surrounded the airline throughout the last years. Several brand legitimizing types were also found in their Instagram posts, however not to the same extent. In addition to this, the result shows that an organization strongly troubled by an environmental crisis, performing in a criticized industry, seeks to ignore the environmental discourse in their marketing communication. The focus is rather put on other narratives to create legitimacy.