The thinking behind Cathay Pacific's new motto

Cathay Pacific has unveiled a "complete rebranding" under the tagline 'Move beyond'.

The effort kicks off with a new brand film by Jake Scott (son of Ridley) featuring Hong Kong Olympic cyclist Sarah Lee and Canto-rock band Supper Moment. While Cathay is not changing its logo type or the 'brushwing' mark it has had in place since 1994, it has added a new font for the tagline and a dash of new energy with a new visual element referred to as a 'vapour trail' (seen at the end of the video and in the stills below).

The rebranding campaign, which will roll out in all of the airline's major hubs in Asia, Europe and North America, involves several Publicis Groupe agencies: Leo Burnett for creative, Digitas and Publicis Media for media, MSL for PR and social media, and experiential-marketing consultancy Luminous. Publicis, along with VCCP, won the Cathay business last summer, after a five-month pitch process ended the airline's 25-year tenure with McCann.

Speaking at a press preview of the campaign yesterday in Hong Kong, Edward Bell, general manager of brand, insights and marketing communications for the airline, explicitly likened 'Move beyond' to 'Just do it'.

While the phrase obviously alludes to travel and implies a "new chapter", Bell asserted that it's deeper than that. "It's a call to action," he said. "It's asking you to do something. It's asking us all as human beings to take a leadership mindset in our lives and challenge the expectations. It's relevant to how we operate as an airline, but I also believe it's relevant to every human being."

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific after the preview, Bell said that Cathay Pacific has been re-engineering itself from top to bottom, so it's only fitting to have an expression of purpose that represents how the airline is moving into the future. "We're not going to wait and see what happens," he said. "We're not going to wait for things to come. We're going to go and attack it."

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Bell contrasted 'Move beyond' against the former tagline, 'Life well travelled'. "We just felt that with what we need to do in the future, we want something a bit bolder," he said. "Something that brings a bit more power. And also we wanted something that can be as meaningful internally as it would be for our customers."

Asked whether 'Move beyond' might be seen by some as the airline's way of asking the world to forget about its massive data breach, Bell responded with some passion.

"We've had our challenges," he said. "And 'Move beyond' is absolutely relevant to those kinds of things. I think every company has its ups and downs, as every person has their ups and downs. This idea is about the triumph of the human spirit. That nothing is ever always easy, and there are going to be tough times. But it's about what you do when you have a knock... Do you lie down, or do you get up and kind of kick on?" Lee was chosen for the film not only because she is beloved in Hong Kong, but because her story mirrors that kind of resilience.

Carol Lam, president and chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Greater China, said 'Move beyond' developed out of the idea that we are all travellers in different senses. The campaign seeks to tell a story of collective journey. "Through this, we see that it's really not just a ticket from point A to point B," Lam told Campaign. "It's really a journey in between where we've been and where we're going. And along the way, Cathay Pacific is always part of the journey, because we share the same spirit."

Visually, the new film literally follows people through life journeys, and Publicis purposely chose a "more honest, down-to-earth visual presentation to bring this higher level spirit to life", Lam added.

Words and deeds

One way Cathay Pacific will be putting its new motto into action is in terms of media spend, which will increase significantly, especially above the line. The brand will spend "tens of millions more" than it has commonly spent in the recent past in order to drive the "anthemic" new message out to the world, Bell said.

For its part, Publicis will live the slogan in coming months by asking its shops in Cathay's key markets to move beyond simple adaptation. "We encourage our regions, the key markets, to really activate this idea," Lam said, "whether by using the celebrities they want or using another way to really bring this alive that is most relevant to their local market."

Partners for the long haul?

As Cathay Pacific and Publicis Groupe are still in the honeymoon phase common to most new client-agency relationships, it comes as no surprise that both parties express how thrilled they are with the new partnership.  

Bell said that two years ago when he joined, Cathay was changing its whole structure. He examined every piece of the marketing machine, and decided to change a lot of it.

While the brand still has nothing but respect, affection and gratitude for McCann, the change has been positive, he said. "We wanted to have a single P&L relationship. We wanted media and creative under one roof. And we wanted to have that seamlessness between programmatic and search strategies right the way through to creative, and dynamic creative, and all the future developments. We wanted all that to sit in one strategic hub, and not have to go off and work with hundreds of different people to do that, because we think that fragments the approach, and you don't get the synergies."

Edward Bell and Carol Lam

For her part, Lam believes the Cathay win came at just the right time for Publicis. While the company's 'Power of one' strategy was in place, taking on a huge, complex client challenge provided a chance to put it into action. In fact, she said, the company could not have met the challenge without being unified both physically (in its new all-together-now Hong Kong offices) and in spirit. "It's a vivid demonstration that 'Power of one' is not only a slogan."

Lam added that it's an agency's dream to have an explicit commitment from a client to move past the ordinary. "I'm happy we have the guiding principle, the blessing, to really go beyond and do bolder things in the future," she said. "Now, we set the tone, we make a statement. But actually, what we are going to do in the future matters more."

CAMPAIGN CREDITS

Client: Cathay Pacific
General Manager of Brand, Insights, and Communications: Edward Bell
Brand and Marketing team: Vivian Chan, Ruaraidh Smeaton, Prudence Lau, Ricardo Lo

Agency: Publicis Groupe Hong Kong
Creative Agency: Leo Burnett
Chief Creative Officer: Carol Lam
Executive Creative Director: William Li
Copy: Richard Tunbridge, Jessie Fung, Shiyi Wang
Art: Bobby Chiu, Jeanie Leung, Ryan Chan
Agency Producer: Anita Chan
Project Manager: Pelie Kwok, Shirley Chan
Print Production Manager: Imon Lee

Film Director: Jake Scott of RSA

Media Agency: Digitas
Managing Director: Antony Yiu
Integrated Media Planning and Buying: Urica Wong, Chris Leung, Hilda Ng, Priscilla Li, Gerri Mak, Martha So, Vivian Wong

Event and Experiential Marketing Agency: Luminous
General Manager: Chowpo Kong
Creative: Jay Lee, Anastasia Simone, Rio Lam, Lionel Maung, Nicole Lui
Project Management: Kelly Yeung, Ami Chan, Evelyn Wei

PR and Social Media Agency: MSL
Project Management: Miuson Chi, Karina Cheng, Ewen Cheuk, Ian Yee

Client Management:
Global Client Lead: Angie Wong
Client Management: Victor Lam, Ashley Wong, Lydia Wong, Leon Pat, Kelvin Chan, Headman Lai, Jenny Huen, Selena Leung, Mavis Kwok