Emirates earns its stripes with Cape Town launch

Part of an exciting, multi-media blitz to promote the airline's new non-stop service from Cape Town to Dubai, the cabs painted with zebra lines fittingly mirror the campaign's central theme: 'Crossover to Dubai, non-stop'.

Creating both a buzz and intrigue amongst Cape Tonians, the dozen or more cabs have been spotted criss-crossing the streets of Cape Town in the past few weeks. Advancing the message that Cape Town's travellers have one less stop to make on their way to Dubai and the rest of the world, the campaign runs until the end of April 2008.

The first phase of this highly-integrated communications campaign was created to educate the local market on the Emirates offering. The airline's impressive route network spanning over 90 destinations in six continents was a key message: Emirates does not just take you to Dubai………it takes you to the world! Radio, print, outdoor and online media were targetted in this phase.

Emirates is also dominating two of Cape Town's most popular shopping centres - Tyger Valley and Cavendish Square - with attention-grabbing lift and escalator branding as well as posters. Both centres have annual foot falls of almost 20,000,000.

Fouad Caunhye, Regional Manager, Southern Africa noted: 'The objective of our launch campaign was to communicate that travellers from Cape Town do not have to travel via Johannesburg and hence have one less stop to make when accessing the world.'

He added:

'Emirates' branded taxis continue to be spotted in and around popular Cape Town sites, such as the V & A Waterfront, and serve the purpose of breaking through existing advertising clutter, grabbing attention and speaking directly to a desired target market.'

The campaign's second phase, which is currently underway, continues to carry through the 'non-stop' message, while highlighting the onboard products such as Emirates' award-winning Crew, Cuisine, Chauffeur Drive Services, Lie Flat seats, and inflight entertainment systems.

Fouad added: 'The use of 'non-stop service', 'non-stop indulgence' and 'non-stop relaxation' in our advertising ensures that the key message of 'non-stop' runs throughout the campaign to communicate the experience of travelling on Emirates.'

Media used for phase two include radio, print including a wrap around in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section, and online support.

Emirates launched daily services between Cape Town and Dubai on 30th March 2008.