We turned holiday travel stress into an airport-wide kindness economy.
The 2025 holiday travel season was a pressure cooker: severe winter weather, the looming threat of a government shutdown and mounting traveler anxiety had the aviation industry trapped in a negative media loop.
Overview
What if the best gift Delta could give this holiday season was kindness?
Our approach
Delta introduced limited-edition "Holiday Medallions" that couldn't be bought or earned with miles. Instead, Delta looked out for customers and fellow employees performing random acts of airport kindness and rewarded them on the spot with cards redeemable for gift cards and premium Delta merch. Simultaneously, select Medallion Members were given "Job Well Done" certificates to reward outstanding employees, turning the terminal into a two-way gratitude loop.
The results
Delta became the only major airline with more positive than negative holiday coverage, earning 289 placements and 1.6B+ media reach, including a Newsweek exclusive and a viral PEOPLE story about a toddler "joining" the flight crew.
