Etihad Airways launches international campaign

4 Jun 2012

To promote its rapid growth over the past eight years, Etihad Airways premiered a new television commercial and supporting digital media campaign to a global audience on 1 June 2012. Titled 'Why', the campaign focuses on why more than 40 million people have chosen to fly with Etihad Airways. (video)

The television commercial, featuring one of its wide-body aircraft performing a spectacular low-altitude fly-past filmed from locations at the beaches of Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, will be shown on pan-regional television media across Africa, Europe and the Middle East and in addition to country specific stations in the UAE, France, Germany, Ireland, UK, the United States, India, Pakistan and Australia.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways' chief commercial officer, said, "The airline's success story is a phenomenal one that will probably never be repeated and is therefore relevant for the history of commercial aviation. The airline has evolved from an initial vision, to a fledgling start-up, to the award-winning airline that it is today.

"Secrets of success"

"The marketing campaign shares some of the secrets of our success with a worldwide audience and shows how, in less than nine years of operations, we have carried more than 40 million passengers and become synonymous with providing customers with the highest levels of hospitality and service available on the ground and in the sky.

Etihad Airways launches international campaign

"Our home-base of Abu Dhabi has also experienced tremendous development during this period and we were thrilled to conduct the filming for the commercial at beach locations on the Saadiyat Island."

It is the first commercial written by its recently appointed global agency, M&C Saatchi. Renowned film director, Chris Hartwill, from Ridley Scott's film production company, RSA Films, directed it.

Synopsis

The synopsis of the commercial, which will be translated into Arabic, French, German and Chinese, shows people enjoying a day at the beach who are surprised to see an branded A340 fly past, trailing a giant message.

The tail fin message and interest driven by the commercial, invites viewers to visit the specially developed online microsite and other digital platforms in order to find out more.

Special approval was given to Etihad Airways to allow the aircraft to fly at such a low level near the Saadiyat Island coastline. Crowds gathered to see the aircraft complete two fly-past sessions on 21 May.

For more, go to www.etihad.com/why.