Unique weddings are big business in China – couples constantly try to outdo each other with outlandish weddings.

This insight led to our idea: Marriage in the air – China’s first premium wedding at 35,000ft! Designed to symbolise the union of 2 airline brands and create excitement across the whole of China. We searched for 3 travel influencers who were engaged to be married, from China’s most popular travel platforms. We then invited them to compete for a chance to be married onboard a Cathay Dragon plane from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Next we co-created original branded content with the influencers for the 3 main phases of the campaign: The Invite, The Venue and The Wedding – to engage fans from across China to watch, share and vote in each of the phases – with the chance to attend the wedding as added incentive.

We searched for 3 engaged-to-be-married travel influencers from China’s most popular travel platforms. We invited them to compete for a chance to be married onboard a Cathay Dragon plane. We co-created branded content with the influencers for 3 phases of the campaign:

1. The invite

Influencers invited the whole of China to vote through a series of “invitation videos” seeded across a variety of social and travel platforms, driving followers to the campaign site.

2. The venue

Participants who voted on the campaign had a chance to attend the wedding and could explore the Cathay product world through each couples’ wedding plan videos – from food and drinks to the seats and decorations.

3. The wedding

The winning couple were married onboard a Cathay Dragon flight with their reception in Cathay Pacific’s award-winning business class lounge. Followed by a honeymoon to Europe with Cathay Pacific

The results show marriage in the air to be one of the most successful social engagement content campaigns China has ever seen.

- 638 million hashtag impressions

- Hashtag #1 Weibo travel category

- 1.77 million positive interactions

- 372 million total impressions

- Over 1 million site visits

- $2,577,473 earned media

- Package sales 47% above target

- Brand awareness increased 123% (bat survey)

- Brand consideration increased 117% (bat survey)