Emirates Airline is a leading brand in the UAE. We wanted to continue engaging our audience here in our home market by launching a special project uniquely relevant to them.

However, the UAE is a challenging market, because it’s home to many different audiences including locals, Arab expats, a vast Asian community, Western expats and beyond. Brands sometimes resort to creating different executions for different audiences. We needed an idea that would resonate with everyone.

The Emirates product always needs to be central to the execution, and so the idea of placing an aircraft and the Emirates onboard service at the centre of our thinking came very naturally.

With the core objective of connecting with the more than 200 nationalities that call the UAE home, the idea was simple: We created EK2019, a once-in-a-lifetime flight, aiming to gather all 200+ nationalities living in the UAE on the most multicultural flight in aviation history to mark The Year of Tolerance. The flight coincided with UAE National Day and followed a special path across all 7 Emirates of the country in a symbolic flight that also celebrated the union of the individual Emirates into one country in 1971.

2019 became the perfect time to connect with the more than 200 nationalities that lived in the UAE, when the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, proclaimed it to be the Year of Tolerance – a tribute to the country’s openness to different cultures.

As the airline that proudly carries the flag of the UAE and connects the world every day, Emirates Airline was perfectly placed to share this message of tolerance with the world.

On average, each Emirates flight carries 50 different nationalities. Now we would go further and create the most multicultural flight in history.

We united our diverse audience behind a single cause with a simple message: Be part of history.

Across a period of 5 weeks we distributed 3 press releases and ample social content. We also engaged with shortlisted passengers through digital means and developed assets for the actual event.

The 5-week multi-channel campaign was centered on one key media execution: Flight EK2019.

In the run-up to the flight, people could apply for a seat at Emirates.com. We sustained hype on our social channels, and media organically spread our story.

This culminated in more than 540 passengers from 145 nationalities living in the UAE uniting on a historic flight across all 7 Emirates of the UAE. The aircraft was specially branded for the event and onboard entertainment included curated Year of Tolerance content and lunch.

Midflight, EK2019 went on to set a new Guinness World Record and each passenger received a certificate as keepsake.

After the flight, the UAE Police Band welcomed EK2019 and its passengers back with a rendition of the UAE national anthem. Media organically reported on our event, the world record and the positive message of diversity and tolerance. We and influencers released video highlights on social.

• More than 30,000 people applied for seats.

• 540 passengers from 145 nationalities were on board EK2019, setting a Guinness World Record for the most multicultural flight in history.

• More than 280 pieces of coverage in local, regional and international media outlets.

• 8.8 Million users reached on Emirates social channels.

• 5.2 Million Instagram story views.

• 4.4 Million video views.

• 420,000 interactions on Emirates social channels.

• 250,000 views across 3 GIPHY stickers.

• #EK2019 received 27 million impressions.

• 25% rise in sales compared to the same period last year.