ixigo's new ad features Mario-theme video on taking a flight

It's to demonstrate how taking a flight today means prioritising safety first.

What can you achieve in one minute? Not much. But ixigo has cut a 60-second video from the iconic Mario video game's first level to deliver a sharp tutorial on taking a flight.

The video follows Mario's gameplay where, instead of winning mushrooms and stars, we see the COVID-era process of taking a flight. Web check in, temperature checks, boarding pass, maintaining social distancing, hand sanitiser nearby, wearing a face mask and PPE suit, and then boarding the flight.

Coronavirus has hit the travel industry hard. Flights have been grounded for most, if not all, of the last few months. One of India's leading travel portals, ixigo, called this video M.A.R.I.O., an acronym made from the eponymous video game, and it stands for 'Masks Are Really Important Okay?'.

The brand also put out a disclaimer: All visuals have been used in good faith without any intention of infringement; video is used for public health and safety awareness purpose only; copyright remains with respective owners,' remarked the travel brand on Twitter.

In June, ixigo hit the headlines, with its two-minute video, conceptualised and produced in-house, featuring Sanjay Mishra, who reminisced about train journeys in the pre-COVID world.