Agency Focus: Strawberry Frog wins Emirates contract

Dubai Emirates is launching a major branding and marketing campaign that will promote the airline as a lifestyle proposition. The campaign will help the airline refine its image from just 'service' to a lifestyle brand..

The campaign will be launched next month - when the airline enters its new financial year - replacing its existing 'Keep Discovering' campaign that has been running for nearly a decade. "The new global campaign will focus on how Emirates is connecting people and cultures and creating relevant and meaningful experiences that are shaping the world," Sir Maurice Flanagan, executive vice-chairman of Emirates airline and Group said. "The key message is that through connecting people and cultures we connect people's hopes, dreams and aspirations." Last year Emirates hired Strawberry Frog as its lead communication agency. "Once you have a cultural movement you can do anything.

Previous campaigns have promoted the airline as a means of discovery, with strong links to iconic images of modern Dubai, but the new campaign is likely to extend this concept to a range of other services and goods.

In the fragmenting media scene, Strawberry Frog is an innovative global agency that develops strategic vision and creative solutions that create growth for our clients," the agency says on its website. Emirates spends 3 per cent of its revenue in communications and branding. Within three years Emirates will be the largest airline in the world. 

The campaign developed by the New York team of StrawberryFrog was designed to show Europeans how many 
jobs were created as a result of Emirates' largest orders for aircraft in aviation history. "In addition to creating the campaign created for Emirates, StrawberryFrog is responsible for developing their global brand and a stellar strategy platform and communications for the parent and sibling brands," the agency says. Explaining the shift, Flanagan said, the airline's Keep Discovering campaign has fulfilled its objectives.

Tech: Brand Matchup - iPads and Jetstar

Jetstar launches in-flight iPads

Jetstar has announced the roll-out of 3000 Apple Pad 1 and Pad 2s across its fleet, with more to be released once the tablets are installed throughout the Jetstar Asia network.  The devices will be available on flights longer than two hours for a fee of between SAU1O ($NZ13) and $AU1S ($NZ19.50).  The units will come pre-loaded with music, TV shows and music videos, games, ebooks and magazines, accessible through a custom-built Jetstar app, and will include locally produced content.

The Pads have been modified in several ways to make them suitable for the cabin environment. Each device will come in a custom case that prevents users from accessing the home button and the sync cable, ensuring that Jetstar settings are maintained and users are unable to upload their own content.  

Brands: Latest Shifts (Retail)

Some Brands are winning over consumers, but are they providing real value?

 Everyone agrees that Brand equity is something precious to hold on to and can sometimes help you ride out the rough times, but in times of crisis it is also true that our fickle consumers will become treacherous and turn their backs on their favourite product, in search of a cheaper or fresher looking.alternative.

In a recent Bigger Picture Market survey, some of the shifts in New Zealand's Brand Leaders and Losers have come as somewhat of a surprise in a country that relentlessly adores home brands and shuns outsiders, and does so in a consistent manner - year in, and year out.

Take, for example, The Warehouse - "Where everyone gets a bargain". Back in 2005, when I last visited these shores, The Warehouse was best known for selling "cheap and cheerful" goods (to be polite). Walk into any of their glistening red warehouses today and you'll be met with...yes, you guessed it: "cheap and cheerful" goods again. Surely a successful model that has stood the test of time? 

Well...yes and no. This latest survey actually ranks the country's largest listed retailer well behind many of its competitors when it comes to delivering value. Market Research firm Big Picture surveyed 300 New Zealand consumers last week, asking them to rate 44 well-known brands in terms of their value.

Green Branding Featurette

This is a fine example of screaming about your green & sustainable credentials in a far more subtle and believable way.



Using an almost perfect balance of story-telling and brand association, this short story delivers a message that has been described as bold, delightful and provocative at once. To quote the resident expert and Editor at Idealog, the charming Esther Goh, this is "Marketing that doesn't bash you over the head" which we tend to agree stands a much better chance at going viral.