Sao Paulo rant lands Emirates with prestigious digital award

Emirates and London-based online advertising agency, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, have won a gold award at the prestigious Creative Circle advertising awards in London.

The prize was presented for their Non-stop Fernando digital advertising campaign that promoted the launch of the airline's non-stop Dubai-Sao Paulo service.

Despite a record number of entries in the digital marketing categories, Non-stop Fernando was the only recipient of a gold award at a gala dinner, held recently at London's The Brewery.

The advert, which many thought would never fly, is based around a character called Non-stop Fernando, who hoped to set a new world record by talking non-stop about his home city of Sao Paulo.

Filmed at his house in the city, the marathon natter continues for the time it would take to fly Emirates from Dubai to Sao Paulo - 14 hours and 40 minutes. The cameras keep rolling; there are no breaks, no cuts and no edits.

Viewers can watch Fernando wake, eat, lie in a hammock, dance and play guitar, whilst talking about Brazilian restaurants, art, architecture, literature, food, football, Formula 1 drivers, music, museums, cities, shopping, soap operas, coffee, culture, cocktails, carnival, Portuguese, politics, banknotes and holidays, amongst many other things.

While Fernando has more than plenty to share about Brazil's largest city, he is perhaps not someone you'd want to be sitting next to on a long haul flight.

When contacted, Fernando was reluctant to talk up his achievement, but it's clear from his mammoth rant that he is able to provide viewers with information about Emirates' 94th destination on an Amazonian scale. So much so, in fact, the advert is being reviewed by Guinness World Records, formerly known as The Guinness Book of Records.

For those who may have originally given the film lip service, it can be watched in its entirety at www.nonstopfernando.com. It speaks volumes about the airline's global aspirations, however, we would suggest that if you do want to view the talk of the town - all 14 hours 40 minutes of it - you sit in a very comfortable seat.