2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

In November 2011, flydubai’s communications team looked to its PR Agency to help develop a highly tactical media relations campaign that would leverage its participation at the 2011 Dubai Airshow and position the airline as a pioneer in the low-cost sector and a key player in the region’s aviation industry. The results were exceptional. Despite not making any major announcements and having a relatively low international profile, flydubai achieved the largest share of voice among all airlines during the show, saw impressive key message penetration and secured international coverage The campaign focused on a targeted and phased media relations campaign consisting of press releases, face-to-face interviews with flydubai’s CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith on board a flydubai aircraft, informal networking events and a press conference in conjunction with industry partners. The following submission will demonstrate how flydubai and its PR agency implemented an extremely successful media relations campaign that fulfilled the airline’s objectives and dominated coverage, despite competing against larger airlines all using the event to announce major deals.

The Brief

The key objective was to use the 2011 Dubai Airshow as a platform to update international, regional and local media and industry on flydubai’s achievements since the 2009 Airshow, raise awareness of new routes and further build flydubai’s profile and credibility as a pioneering, reliable and low cost airline. The campaign’s success would be based upon flydubai’s share of voice during the Airshow, and the quality of coverage generated. An international and regional media audit helped segment the relevant audiences and identify the most impactful tactics for each media.

Results

Despite not making any major announcements during the Airshow, flydubai had the largest share of voice, a huge achievement given that there were a number of much larger airlines present and flydubai’s international profile is relatively small. flydubai also succeeded in communicating its key messages (every article contained at least one of the three key messages – pioneering, low cost and reliable) to position itself as a pioneer in the low-cost sector and key player in the region’s aviation industry: • 15 top tier international press attended dinner • 42 media attended press conference from 35 publications • 32 interviews with international, regional and local media • 92 clippings (24 print and 62 online and 6 broadcast) • PR Value: US$ 1,558,200.68 • Ad Value: US$ 365,347.27 • Total reach: 100,000,000 • Largest share of voice: flydubai (32%), Qatar Airways (24%), Etihad (22%), Emirates (16%), Jazeera Airways (3%), Air Arabia (3%)

Execution

A structured activity timeline with a clear three-phased approach was outlined and agreed by flydubai and the PR agency, resulting in the smooth execution of the following activities: 1. September:  Identifying key messages and defining media relations strategy 2. October:  Forging partnerships: Dubai Airshow organisers, press office and show daily editors  Research amongst international and regional media  Development of spokesperson briefing documents  Development of press collateral: News releases, background documents and images  Distribution of ‘save the date’ invitations to media  Scheduling interviews  Development of written Q&As for Show Dailies 3. November 2011:  Interviews on flydubai aircraft with Ghaith Al Ghaith (Days One and Two)  International media dinner at Margaux Restaurant & Lounge (Day One)  Press conference (Day Three) to announce new partnerships  Press Office management throughout  Media monitoring  Campaign measurement

The Situation

flydubai is Dubai’s pioneering low-cost airline and in just under three years has changed the face of low-cost aviation in the Middle East to become the world’s fastest growing start-up airline and the second largest carrier operating out of Dubai International Airport. The foremost aerospace event in the Middle East, the Dubai Airshow draws tens of thousands of international trade visitors and media, not to mention aviation heavyweights all making major multi-million dollar announcements at the event. flydubai recognised the need for a strong PR campaign to ensure that it stood out from the crowd and dominated coverage

The Strategy

The planning stages established that there would be a number of different types of media attending the Airshow and that every participating company would be battling for their attention. A strategic plan was then prepared that included research amongst international and regional media to understand how they liked to be engaged and the types of information they wanted to receive, in order to be as targeted as possible. Secondly, the strategy had to identify the appropriate platforms to engage and inform the media about flydubai by formulating a media relations campaign in keeping with the agreed audience groups. The third consideration was to identify the best way to leverage the flydubai aircraft on display at the event and use it to communicate flydubai’s key messages, and to maximise CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith’s limited availability.