This was a long awaited advertising campaign. Due to the pilot strike and the 911 incident, CX stopped advertising for almost 6 months since it launched this new campaign.

Hence this campaign’s key objective is not only to introduce its new 3rd generation Business Class as the best of its kind, but also to create maximum awareness with huge impact after a long off air period.The creative evolves around a traveler attempting to replicate the CX NBC experience on the ground in his office, to illustrate the core message that CX NBC experience is so great that one would like to replicate on the ground The communication objective is - To showcase CX NBC travel experience beyond expectation, riding on the creative concept- To further enhance CX’s “progressive” and “innovative” world class airline image- To build top of mind awareness after a long marketing embargo - To create huge impact and “talk-of-the-town” buzz effect The media planning challenge was to:- Showcase NBC total travel experience with serial new features- Portray CX as world-class, progressive and innovative - Ensure the ads be delivered distinctively in highly cluttered media environmentTo address all mentioned concerns, “Domination & Novelty” became our major planning criteria across all viable channels.OOHProprietary research findings indicated that target customers were highly exposed to outdoor media, especially Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and Airport Express (AEL) – strategic airport transit locations.

“Domination & Novelty” approach was adopted in MTR stations where businessmen frequently gathered. CX NBC cabin was replicated at Central and Admiralty stations’ concourse area (Central Business District stations-CBD) to showcase the total travel experience. Similar approach was applied to the MTR travellators (interchange between MTR and AEL) to remind travelers of NBC features during their passages.The whole MTR concourse area, including the walls and escalator barriers, was painted in CX green. All 4-sheet posters were mocked-up as cabin windows which showcased the new NBC features. This never-been-used media concept created huge impact and “talk-of-the-town” effect.Besides subway advertising, “domination and novelty” media concept also applied to CBD’s bus shelter. Station domination with 12-sheet / 16-sheet consecutive panels plus wraparound end boxes were employed to deliver our message.

PrintMedia placement faces serious environment cluttered problem in both dailies and weeklies. Thus, “Domination and Novelty” ideas were again deployed to grasp the highest attention and impact. CX was the first advertiser to occupy all ad spaces of a business daily’s main section – Hong Kong Economic Times, including the front and back cover. Again, this sole advertising domination media buy was another innovative media idea initiated by UM.

A premium butterfly gatefold insert which featured an impactful DPS with proliferated postcards for readers’ retention was placed in Next Magazine — HK’s most circulated weekly.To enhance the target selectivity in the print aspect, 5x DPS consecutive “motive” with NBC features was employed in some high-end titles including an upscale business monthly – CUP and up-market leisure weekly – Ming Pao Weekly. The overriding goal was to deliver the media planning in a “Novelty” & “Domination” approach. More importantly, the ideas were “NEVER-BEEN-USED BEFORE” which demonstrated the creativity and negotiation power of the media team. Universal McCann utilized Media-In-Mind, MAP (Mediography, Autobiography & Pictography), the proprietary tools to identify media vehicles with intersecting moments highlight between media consumption, consumer mindset and daypart. The combination of consumer insights, proprietary media tools, brilliant use of media negotiation and execution, along with creative and media working seamlessly, led to an initial perceptual change among our key constituencies. All executions were resulted from skillful and tremendous efforts from media pushing the limits of rigid and very conservative thinking media owners and the cooperation from creative team to incorporate messages into special ad units. The slowdown of the worldwide economy led the business environment severely competitive, especially for the airline industry. “Innovation” would be the key driver for business people to strive for. It is expected of them, and therefore it is expected of any of their service providers. To connect with their thinking caps, we needed to be in their space with innovative executions across various media.The extensive use of “Domination” and “Never-been-used” ideas in various media had successfully aroused public curiosity and created huge buzz effect. Many journalists even initiated to interview media owners and clients and wrote special report on the media execution which helped CX to gain additional free PR coverage. After all, we believe this submission deserves to win in the category of “Special events / stunts including ‘never used before’ media”.

The overriding goal was to deliver the media planning in a “Novelty” & “Domination” approach. More importantly, the ideas were “NEVER-BEEN-USED BEFORE” which demonstrated the creativity and negotiation power of the media team. Universal McCann utilized Media-In-Mind, MAP (Mediography, Autobiography & Pictography), the proprietary tools to identify media vehicles with intersecting moments highlight between media consumption, consumer mindset and daypart. The combination of consumer insights, proprietary media tools, brilliant use of media negotiation and execution, along with creative and media working seamlessly, led to an initial perceptual change among our key constituencies. All executions were resulted from skillful and tremendous efforts from media pushing the limits of rigid and very conservative thinking media owners and the cooperation from creative team to incorporate messages into special ad units.