2010 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Six months later, passenger traffic was up 7% (source: Airports Council International), making Dubai only one of two airports in the world’s top 20 to register positive numbers. This led CNN’s Richard Quest to proclaim on air: “While other airlines cut capacity, Emirates swims against the tide – an airline and an airport designed for growth.” Behind this success was a media campaign that delivered on its two objectives: awareness of T3 increased 10% and more than half (56%) of respondents said T3 was likely to influence their choice of airline.

Creative Execution

We validated T3’s claim as one of the world’s best airports through first-hand experience of a travel blogger. But static text and images would not be enough to convey the enormity and grandeur of T3 – it had to be video. Working with CNN, the leading news source for international travelers and de facto programming for global terminals and lounges, we brought blogging from online to on-air. Two bloggers were documented through T3 (leisure and business) and the resulting vignettes ran on TV and as a video pre-roll online. Additional creative divided T3 features into themes (Shopping, Dining, Lounge, Zen Garden & Business) and were synchronized to parallel with TV content.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

By the time Emirates was ready to open Terminal 3, passenger growth had stalled due to the economic crisis. Our objectives were to raise awareness of T3 and convince frequent international travelers that T3 was reason enough to choose Emirates & Dubai over more traditional hubs like London or Paris. The insight: travel is about convenience, speed and reputation. Airports are graded by objective online forums and blogs where the opinions of seasoned travelers carry considerable weight.