Pete the kiwi is “the face” of Air New Zealand new advertising campaign
Air New Zealand today launched its first-ever global brand campaign in Singapore, with the help of Pete, a flightless bird native to New Zealand.
The airline’s new campaign is led by Pete the kiwi, which wants to travel but is hampered by his inability to fly. But the flightless bird has now been given the chance to explore the globe by taking flight with Air New Zealand, and hopes to take travellers on an experiential journey to show them the best of the carrier’s inflight offerings and classic Kiwi hospitality.
On why Singapore was chosen for the launch, Air New Zealand’s head of South & South East Asia, Jenni Martin, revealed: “Singapore is among the top 10 countries of visitor arrivals to New Zealand and one of our most important markets. As of October 2018, we recorded a seven per cent year-on-year increase in visitor arrivals from Singapore.”
But Singapore’s outbound market is not the only segment Air New Zealand is keen on.
Martin told TTG Asia: “Singapore also acts as a hub for travellers in the South-east Asia region into New Zealand. While we are very focused on growing Singapore traffic to New Zealand in its own right, we also recognise the growing interest in New Zealand from other South-east Asian markets, and India.”
“(In the South-east Asian region), Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are our priority markets. These markets were identified as the biggest opportunity for (the Singapore Airlines (SIA)-Air New Zealand joint venture) based on the traffic numbers that were going into New Zealand when we first signed it. We will continue to focus our resources on these markets.”
Earlier in October 2018, SIA and Air New Zealand’s joint venture received renewed approval from the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, which enabled the two flag carriers to extend their alliance a further five years until March 2024, reinforcing the potential the South-east Asian region has to offer. This alliance has been a key part of Air New Zealand’s market strategy in this region, and both carriers together offer 25 flights per week.
To meet the “very high demand” from Singapore, capacity was increased on the Singapore-Auckland route in October last year, plus an upcoming seasonal service that will fly between Singapore and Christchurch five-times weekly beginning December 1, 2019 to February 22, 2020.
However, when asked if any more direct routes to major airports in South-east Asia such as Kuala Lumpur would be formed in the future, Martin stated: “At this point in time, the alliance with SIA is serving everything that we need for the market.”
Elsewhere in Asia, Air New Zealand started direct flights between Auckland and Taipei last November.
source: TTG Asia
