CATHAY PACIFIC LAUNCHES POSTPONED TV ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

Cathay Pacific Airways today kicked off a long-awaited advertising campaign for its New Business Class product. The campaign was delayed from an original planned late-September 2001 launch date by the events in the USA. Introduction of the brand new cabin on Cathay Pacific's modern fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft has continued unabated however - despite the global recession - and the airline's marketing team was finally spurred to begin promoting the progressive new product.

Cathay Pacific's General Manager Marketing Charlie Stewart-Cox said: "We obviously had to delay launching this campaign last year, and though the world economy is still pretty flat right now we have a fast growing fleet of aircraft with the New Business Class product and the time has come to let more passengers know about it. The message with this new campaign is simple and straightforward: 'You used to wish you could do in the air what you did on the ground. Since Cathay Pacific introduced their New Business Class, it's the other way round!'"

The campaign - featuring print, television, online and some one-of-a-kind outdoor sites - is probably the airline's most comprehensive integrated media buy ever. Filming began almost a year ago at a still-secret mockup of the new cabin in the UK, and was finally completed back in Hong Kong in September. Cathay Pacific's advertising agency McCann Erickson assembled an international creative team to film a television commercial conceived by Executive Creative Director Allan Crew. Allan's past work for clients including Coca Cola, Levis and General Motors has won a string of international awards. He has also judged at the prestigious Cannes Advertising Festival.

The television commercial revolves around a traveller attempting to recreate the experience of Cathay Pacific's New Business Class, back at his high-rise office. Despite amassing a small army of caterers and technicians to deliver an extraordinary array of innovative food and technology he is still pressed to match the airline's inflight service. The New Business Class is being progressively introduced and features a new stretch-flat seat with an infinite number of adjustable settings, Audio and Video on Demand (AVOD) entertainment, a private dressing room and even a sleek modern bar.

The television commercial was directed by Australian Rob Dupear whose portfolio includes work for Mitsubishi, Suzuki, IBM, Motorola, Samsung, American Express, and MTV. Rob is well known for his quirky style and special effects skills. The opening shot - an atmospheric nightflight along the Hong Kong skyline complete with shimmering lights - was created purely from still photography by Australian digital media experts Garner MacLennan Design. The company was also responsible for creating the film's futuristic apartment interior using cutting-edge 3D computer graphics.