Etihad-The 48 Hour Stopover Challenge

ETIHAD - THE 48 HOUR STOPOVER CHALLENGE

Dubai is well known as an East-West transit point, with many Emirates passengers stopping off to take a short break enroute from Australia or the Far East to Europe (and the other way around).

Though Dubai’s neighbour, Abu Dhabi, offers similar connections with Etihad, many passengers have overlooked the fact that they can also break up their journey by enjoying a short holiday in the Emirate.

A new Etihad campaign featuring Kaiser Chiefs frontman and UK TV star Ricky Wilson seeks to address that.

In a short film produced by advertising agency Cheil London, Wilson arrives in Abu Dhabi with the challenge of taking part in 24 activities over 48 hours.

The video follows Wilson around as he completes his challenge ticking off items on an Abu Dhabi bucket list from racing around the Formula One race track to spending a night under the stars in the desert.

The challenges also feature Etihad cabin crew at various stages, for example a cabin crew member waits for Wilson at the bottom of a Water Slide with a towel. The challenge ends, with a minute to spare, with a stay at the Yas Viceroy Hotel.

The overall message that the video is trying to convey comes from the following quote by Ricky Wilson: “For me a stopover meant sitting in the airport, or visiting duty free. It should be flying falcons across the desert, kayaking, visiting water parks – imbibing the culture of the place. Abu Dhabi has taught me

that stopovers can be as relaxing as they are exhilarating. There is something incredibly refreshing about pushing yourself, getting out of your comfort zone and fully immersing yourself in a new city. I will never stay in the airport again during a stopover.”

The campaign is being supported by a social media campaign, encouraging Instagram and Twitter users to snap a selfie at any of the 24 attractions visited by Ricky Wilson and use the hashtag #EtihadChallenge.

Doing so puts you in the draw for one of 500 prizes, including flights and experiences. The Instagram element of Etihad’s 48 Hour Stopover challenge comes as the social network has passed the 700 million user mark, with some estimating that it could reach one billion users this year.

So far almost 900 images have been tagged #EtihadChallenge. The quality of many of the fan-generated images is very high, giving Etihad a bank of user generated content that they can draw on to promote Abu Dhabi stopovers.

Other airlines have of course also promoted their home destination as a place for a stopover.

For example, in previous reports we have featured campaigns such as Finnair’s work with Chinese celebrity chef Steven Liu as a way of targeting Chinese travellers, and Icelandair’s ‘Stopover Buddy’ programme where a member of staff (who could even be the CEO) took you on a tour of the island.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

Stopover campaigns aren’t new, but Etihad has executed this one extremely well. As a natural showman, Ricky Wilson adds character and personality to the promotional video.

By running through the 24 activities in quick fire style in three minutes, Etihad successfully manages to convey the range of things there are to do in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile the social media element gets fans involved, while giving Etihad a bank of content and images that it can in turn repost, giving the whole campaign an added push.