Cathay Pacific

CHINA SERIES

SUMMARY

Cathay Pacific wanted to promote China as a destination for Western travellers
We needed to create content that showcased an unknown China as the modern diverse destination it is
We integrated China into the ANYDOKO Original Series
We create a diverse array of content topics ranging from food to adventure and nightlife
We cast quality influencer talent to improve production quality and leverage their following
Our team spent 2.5 weeks filming in Beijing and Shanghai

INTRODUCTION

Cathay Pacific flies to many destinations around the world from its hub in Hong Kong. Many travellers use the airline to fly to Hong Kong or to connect to Europe, North America and Australia. However, few take advantage of the airline’s widespread China network. Cathay Pacific flies hundreds of flights a day between mainland China and Hong Kong. The airline wanted to entice Western travellers to take advantage of the network and slot in a China trip when they travel through Hong Kong. The airline asked us to create content to promote China as a travel destination.

CHALLENGE

While China has recently opened up to tourism it is still seen as a second-tier destination to many Westerners. Many people don’t know China beyond the major landmarks and have an often misguided view of the country. We needed to show that China is a great place to travel to for any type of traveller and that Cathay is the airline to get you there. One of the biggest challenges with this production came from a location perspective. While we have filmed all over the world China is one of the more difficult places to film due to Government regulations. What made the situation trickier was that we were scheduled to film in Beijing during the Communist Party congress which meant a crackdown on foreign media.

SOLUTION: THE BEST OF BEIJING AND SHANGHAI

We integrated Beijing and Shanghai into our ANYDOKO series. Our production team spent several weeks in pre-production to organise all the venues to be featured in the video. Since a lot of the spots featured in the videos are local gems the production team flew in earlier to China to lock down the final venues which simply didn’t have telephones. We then spent 2.5 weeks filming all over Beijing and Shanghai. From finding the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing to the hippest hidden bars in Shanghai and even a 5 AM hike on one of the best sections of the Great Wall. We captured a wide variety of travel experiences to make sure we created content that would inspire most travellers. While working with a small crew we got big results in production quality with some great looking content.

SOLUTION: ENGAGING TALENT

As talent, we cast Hong Kong influencer and content creator J Lou. We used her flair on camera to spice up the videos and ensured we got additional eyeballs on the content thanks to her extensive following.