McCann Worldgroup Helps Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon Host Wedding At 35,000 Feet

McCann Worldgroup hosted a wedding last week, which took place at 35,000 feet, for their client, Cathay Pacific. This was the culmination of ‘Marriage in the Air’, a campaign designed to symbolise the closer relationship between Cathay Pacific and the newly rebranded Cathay Dragon.

Last year, the campaign launched with three teaser videos of couples dressed in wedding gowns and suits running through the streets and airports in China. The campaign invited the public to vote for one of three travel influencer couples who were competing to win a wedding in the air.

In December, the campaign website announced the winning couple, along with 40 of their voters, who won tickets to attend the January 6th wedding. Since then, the site has been regularly refreshed with content that includes behind-the-scenes of the couple preparing for the wedding together with the airlines – the food they are considering for their wedding, the wedding gown and decorations for the in-flight programme. The website also features soundbites from the voters explaining why they are interested in the wedding. Since its launch, the campaign has achieved 138 million impressions and 1 million clicks to visit the website. 

The wedding took place on 6 January on a chartered Cathay Dragon flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong and included everything you see at a wedding on the ground -- the bride walking down the aisle(s), the exchange of vows, toasting, etc. This was followed by a reception at Cathay Pacific's The Pier Lounge at the Hong Kong airport.

The entire wedding day was live streamed. Like many weddings in Asia, a wedding video capturing the special moments from the day will be available on the campaign website later this month.     

And what happened to the couple after the wedding day? Off to the honeymoon, on a Cathay Pacific flight, of course, also to be featured on the campaign website. 

Planning a wedding is no easy matter, let alone a wedding at 35,000 feet with more than 100 guests. Grace Cheung, Manager Global Marketing Communications, Cathay Pacific, said: “This has indeed been a truly integrated team effort; not just with our partners at McCann Worldgroup, but also externally and internally, from the ground to the air! From the airport authorities and security companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong, to various internal teams like cockpit and cabin crews, airport and lounge teams, to catering, engineering, and ground transportation teams, we really have all hands on deck to create this memorable wedding flight. With this unique content, we hope to build our brand and generate conversations around our brand in more unexpected ways.”

"Together with our partners at Cathay, and network agencies MRM//McCann Shanghai, Jack Morton and Weber Shandwick, we are excited to bring this challenging campaign to life. Cathay Pacific/Cathay Dragon enabling this day to happen is testament to what we do best at McCann – helping our client’s brand play a meaningful role on the most important day in this couple’s life”, commented Managing Partner, Brandon Cheung, Cathay Pacific team, McCann Worldgroup.