Etihad Airways is launching its biggest international TV advertising campaign as Middle East carriers boost their global presence.
“The World is Our Home, You are Our Guest”, created by M&C Saatchi and filmed across four countries by the London-based Rogue Films, is the local airline’s biggest marketing advertisement, said Peter Baumgartner, the chief commercial officer at Etihad.
The Etihad launch coincides with a similar push by Turkish Airlines, which plans to spend up to US$120 million (Dh440.7m) on advertising this year. Etihad’s campaign, which starts on Sunday, is set to air across television networks in the carrier’s key markets – the UAE, Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingom, the United States and Nigeria.
He declined to disclose figures of the total investment, but said the campaign would also be supported by print, outdoor and social media advertising.
Middle East carriers, such as Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have been spending heavily on advertising as they carve out a larger market share amid consolidation in the global aviation industry.
In December, Turkish Airlines appointed the Barcelona and Argentina football star Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador, who was in a commercial advertisement alongside the basketball superstar Kobe Bryant. The commercial has received more than 102 million hits on YouTube.
The Turkish carrier plans to increase its passenger headcount from 46 million this year to 90 million by 2020, amid plans to increase its destinations from 221 to 250 by end of this year as it routes trips from Europe, the US, Africa and the Middle East through its hub in Istanbul.
“Our target is to have the strongest network in the world, with more destinations than anybody else,” said the chief executive Temel Kotil in an interview from Istanbul last week. “We offer the best of both worlds – efficiency from the West and hospitality from the East”.
Global airlines have been hit with a decline in demand for air travel, forcing an era of mergers and consolidation in an effort to cut costs rather than struggle alone.
“2013 will not be a banner year for profitability, but we should see some improvement on 2012,” said Tony Tyler, the chief executive at Iata, whose members include major airlines such as Air France-KLM, British Airways and Delta.
[ halsayegh@thenational.ae ]
