Hong Kong is an amazing city. But it’s not high on the list of destinations for Americans to visit. Cathay Pacific is headquartered in Hong Kong with many of its routes intersecting through the city to main land China and well beyond. As a result, Hong Kong is of high strategic importance to the brand. Our job number one was to bring the city to life to generate interest in it and the world-class airline that can bring you there. The brand lacked a comprehensive photo library of their home base so we remedied that by shooting 6,000+ photos over the course of a 4 day period in over 100 locations to capture a candid and real vision of the city as a whole.

We wanted to show the world the city as viewed through “fresh eyes” so we sent two first time visitors and had them document their trip. But a trip is more than just a memory or a collection of images. It’s the visceral feelings the experiences give you. We knew we needed a better way to make that happen beyond just a static experience. And beyond just creating a photo library, we wanted to create a platform and a method of bringing the photos to life through soundscapes, animation techniques and minimal post-processing to maintain the authenticity of the experience. So we reimagined the notion of a photo guidebook/travel log into a fully immersive and interactive eBook. The photos that were taken are being used worldwide in communications ranging from digital banners and video to out-of-home and websites. To download the eBook visit hongkong.cathaypacific.com

The effort just launched so we’re still gathering analytics on engagement, but the preliminary metrics looks promising with thousands of books being downloaded and millions of digital media impressions. The work has been picked up by several publications generating important earned media for the brand. Additionally, select photos have won international photography awards and will continue to support the brand marketing efforts for years to come.