Eva Air begins global branding campaign featuring Takeshi Kaneshiro

The branding campaign was launched on 18 June, when Eva Air announced it was joining the Star Alliance. The campaign includes a 90-second TVC, OOH and print ads, as well as a new design for the airline’s check-in counters.

The TV spot is running on international media channels such as Fox, CNBC, CNN, BBC Worldwide and Discovery Channel, as well as the Sony Fox Screen in New York’s Times Square. The campaign will use Chinese, Japanese and English for its key international markets in the US, Europe, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Bates CHI & David chairman Tyson Deng talked to Campaign Asia-Pacific about the campaign and its creative rationale. Eva Air did its first branding campaign some 20 years ago when the airline was mainly a domestic carrier. The work therefore focused on returning home to Taiwan. Today, Eva Air has become a more international airline.

Deng said this is why Kaneshiro was chosen as brand ambassador. He is not only half Taiwanese and half Japanese, but also has been spokesperson for many premium brands.

“We fly to different places for business or holiday, taking snapshots and rushing here and there," Deng said. "But we seldom really put our heart into appreciating the cultures and beauty in different countries."

The agency avoided airline ad clichés such as beautiful flight attendents, close-ups of in-flight meals and demonstrations of how comfortable the airplane seats are. Instead, the 90-second TVC looks more like a poetic travelogue, showing Kaneshiro in a Shakespeare Bookstore in Paris, a Buddhist temple and manicured Japanese zen garden in Nara Japan, and amid natural scenery in Taitung, Taiwan.

Deng explained that the tagline ‘I see you’ has double meaning: in Chinese it means "seeing art, dialogue, determination and a happy home".

Production took 37 days, with location shoots in Paris, Japan and Taiwan by award-winning film director Wayne Peng (彭文淳) and music director Ricky Ho (何国杰).

Bates won the two-year Eva contract after a pitch late last year, and the new campaign will be running for at least a year.

A Taiwanese agency head said the TVC's "production is good, but it doesn’t really have a core idea. It's a typical video clip kind of commercial—absolutely predictable shots and it's a generic claim for any travel business."

The spot makes one want to travel but not necessarily with Eva Air, the source added. "Generic claims do not bring you business, and the Eva air commercial is generic," the source said. "Any airline can offer you exactly what Takeshi is saying in the commercial. Hence this commercial is promoting 'travel more', not promoting Eva Air."

CREDITS:
Executive creative director - Kenny Chien
Creative director - Zen Chuang
Copy - Marc Liu
Art - Edward Lin, Poyi Sung
Account Directors - Maggie Chao, Amy Lu, Val Chang
Account Servicing - Kyra Fang, Hippo Chien, Harry Su