All Tahiti, All the Time - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, Nov 9, 1998 by Mike Beirne

Upstart Air Tahiti Nui has budgeted slightly over $1 million for trade and consumer ads to tout what starting Nov. 22 will be the only dedicated air carrier to the tropical vacation paradise.

The airline will team with hotel and tour operators like Accor, Club Med and Pleasant Holidays for ads that break in February in such consumer books as Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic, Modern Bride and Travel & Leisure, and in USA Today.

Creative from partners' agencies will sport the airline's logo, a white tiare flower, and will also include cable TV, billboards and perhaps radio.

Trade ads running now through year-end via Phelps Group, Santa Monica, Calif., depict the mountain island of Bora Bora and an ascending plane, with the promise, "Our islands are legendary and our airline will be too."

The company's single plane will depart three times weekly and feature on-board service with a Polynesian flair: Tahitian punch, and flight attendants dressed in colorful purutu dresses and Tahitian shirts.