Cathay and Leo Burnett HK shine bright at Marketing Events Awards HK 2025

Cathay and Leo Burnett Hong Kong have won big at the Marketing Events Awards Hong Kong 2025, being crowned Event Marketer of the Year and Event Agency of the Year, respectively.

Designed to recognise outstanding event marketing initiatives that have transformed the marketing landscape in North Asia, the awards drew a crowd of enthusiastic industry experts to the Kowloon Shangri-La on 18 July, where they competed for recognition for their exceptional work. All entries were carefully evaluated by an independent panel of 25 senior and brand-side marketers.

See the full list of winners here.

See the full jury here. 

Standing out from the crowd and impressing the jury was Cathay, which took home 10 trophies, including six golds, three silvers, and one bronze. The campaign that wowed the judges and helped secure the golds was “Nothing beats being there”.

The campaign was done in partnership with the Event Agency of the Year winner, Leo Burnett Hong Kong, along with PR agency MSL, Luminous, and Digitas. 

Running from October 2024 to March 2025, the campaign aimed to leverage Cathay’s sponsorship of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, held for the first time in the new Kai Tak stadium - the former site of Hong Kong’s International Airport and coincidentally Cathay’s old “home”.

After more than four decades at Hong Kong Stadium, the Sevens moved to Kai Tak Stadium, which some Hongkongers may be skeptical about. As the lead sponsor, Cathay believed it had a role in ensuring the success of the 2025 event while also promoting inbound tourism and showcasing Hong Kong on the world stage.

At the event, Cathay provided additional fun at every turn, from fan-cam activations for the best dressed, to getting the crowd to do the wave to its creative mascots and merchandise seen throughout the stadium, as well as generating excitement in the Fan Village and the VIP Suite.

On the final day of the event, Cathay launched a special flight demonstration featuring a Cathay Pacific A350 that flew near Kai Tak Stadium, passing through Victoria Harbour. This event, introducing CX8100 – homecoming, celebrated the 100th anniversary of Kai Tak Airport and marked Cathay's role as title sponsor in the first year of the Sevens at the newly opened stadium. It also recreated the famed "low-altitude fly-past" for the first time since the airport closed 27 years ago.

To facilitate this special flight demonstration, Cathay partnered with the Hong Kong government to establish a temporary restricted flying zone in and around Victoria Harbour. The initiative was announced mere days before, and was announced and broadcast live in the stadium after a behind-the-scenes video, with the captain speaking to the entire stadium.

Done in partnership with the Event Agency of the Year winner, Leo Burnett Hong Kong, the campaign’s creative strategy tapped into the mindset of rugby fans who are also partygoers: you have to be there to know the excitement. Inspired by the “FOMO” (fear of missing out) that anyone missing the event will feel, a film was launched in the pre-event stage to show that only attendees of the upcoming Hong Kong Sevens will experience the real excitement.

Furthermore, the campaign took over key MTR stations and utilised its concourse digital motion network, partnering with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to create visitor centres throughout the city. It aimed to achieve high-impact media exposure targeting the most diehard party-goers and rugby fans in England, Australia, and Hong Kong.

This year, the competition was incredibly tight with over 530 entries across 36 categories and a total of 115 trophies awarded to the leading brands and agencies across the regions at the ceremony. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE would like to thank the esteemed panel of judges for their time in judging the entries. 

We would also like to congratulate all the finalists who have achieved remarkable success. We are confident that this year's awards have set the stage for exciting and innovative initiatives within the industry in the years to come.

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