Cathay Pacific promises sensory experience in enhanced Business Class offerings

Cathay Pacific has launched an?integrated campaign to showcase its enhanced Business?Class experience. Conceptualised by VCCP Singapore, the new campaign is titled "Let Your Senses Guide You".

The film will feature Cathay Pacific's culinary offerings and elevated inflight experience. Riding on its recently unveiled "Move Beyond" brand promise, the spot takes viewers through the sensory experience a traveller undergoes when flying with Cathay Pacific.

The campaign will run until February 2020, and will be rolled out via digital, in-flight, print and?social media globally. The ads will be across the US,?Europe, Southeast Asia, North East Asia and Hong Kong. The media agency behind the campaign was Digitas Hong Kong.

Edward Bell, general manager of brand, insights and marketing communications at Cathay Pacific said the campaign is about how Cathay Pacific has moved beyond expectations to delight its customers with an enhanced Business Class offering that has been selected to create a holistic sensory experience.

"At Cathay Pacific, we believe each journey doesn't just begin once you arrive at your destination. Instead, we feel these sensory experiences should be an intrinsic part of every aspect of the journey, right from the moment you step onboard," he added.

Meanwhile, Andrew Hook, executive creative director APAC at VCCP said for this campaign, the team set out to try to challenge the standard Business Class codes. "Rather than focusing on the archetypal corporate road warrior, the sensory approach was designed as a fresh take on the category bridging the experiences of both leisure and business travellers, while delivering on the new Move Beyond brand promise," he explained.

The airline however, have not had the smoothest of times recently. In the midst of Hong Kong's ongoing protests, Cathay Pacific came under scrutiny from Hong Kong netizens for a patriotic post on its official Weibo account in advance of China National Day.

The post published on 29 September read "Recently when you are ready to board the aircraft, have you noticed that there is a little red flag near the boarding gate? While National Day is approaching, Cathay Pacific invites you to join in a photo-taking campaign (??????) launched by CCTV."

The oddly-timed post saw reactions running the gamut from pity to outrage, with some users sympathising that Cathay Pacific has little choice but to comply with requests by the mainland to (in this case literally) wave the flag.