The Brief

With awareness of Cathay Pacific’s fanfares’ Tuesday deals relatively limited after a year of low media spend, the first fanfares birthday presented the opportunity to create an exciting city-wide celebration idea that could get the whole of Hong Kong moving. We planned to get back to the grass roots of Hong Kong society – connect physically and emotionally with the man and woman on the street and show them that Cathay Pacific was more than just a premium airline.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We found our creative solution on the streets of Hong Kong, where over 1 million journeys are taken in the city’s 18,000 taxis daily. But what if, instead of hailing a taxi, you could hail a free flight? We introduced the fanfares FanVan - a special vehicle that would tour Hong Kong every Tuesday offering free flights. But if people wanted these free flights - first they had to learn a new move. Through social, print and digital channels - we taught people how to “hail a flight”, and once we hit the road, the city went crazy for FanVan.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The campaign gained extensive exposure across mainstream and niche Print, Online and Broadcast Media, with a total earned media for the 4-week campaign a massive HK$7.5 million*. Traffic to the fanfares site increased by over 100% during the 4-weeks, with average ticket sales increasing over 10%. During the final week of the campaign, all tickets completely sold out in 5 hours, a first in the history of fanfares!

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

As a premium airline, Cathay Pacific has a strong reputation for quality. But in its home market, amongst the lower paid members of society there’s also a perception of unaffordability. We captured the imagination of this audience by taking an everyday behaviour that was a daily routine for them – “hailing a cab”, and turning it into a fun and exciting way to win. The success of this allowed us to change the perception of what Cathay Pacific could offer Hong Kongers as an airline service.