Official Trip Report (part 1)
THE OFFICIAL CURIOSITY MARKETING CAMPAIGN LAUNCH TRIP REPORT (part 1 of 2)
Initially, myself along with
Catweazle and
straitman were meant to travel together on QF434 , the 1pm MEL-SYD service. As
straitman noted at the time, this service was cancelled with SMSes going out at just after 10am. Amadeus globally went down which no doubt made things difficult for the QF staff. Thankfully, I avoided straitman's experience of spending 20 minutes waiting on the phone to arrange an alternative flight - after a few minutes on hold, I received a call on my other phone from a Qantas lady asking me if the 2pm service was OK. This turned out well as I was running behind schedule, and unable to meet the others in the MEL J lounge early.
QF438 was delayed slightly due to mechanical issues, but the engineers quickly resolved those problems. Received the customary 'welcome back Mr Isochronous' at the gate and when first boarding the plane. However, I was most surprised when during snack service the lady who handed me my apple addressed me by name; clearly someone had done her homework and read the WP list pre-flight. This partly made up for my experience on the Tuesday QF30 HKG-MEL where no greeting of any kind was received.
Made my way to the Sofitel from SYD via public transport, using the bus to Mascot Station trick to avoid paying the station access fee at Domestic. A pleasant walk was had from St James Station down Macquarie St to the Sofitel Wentworth. Check-in went seamlessly and had a few moments to catch up on phone calls and other work before realising it was after 5pm, and soon time for the function. Contact was made with straitman, who was with the whole group of AFF guests (minus
AirKat) at the bar outside Customs House. I understand that
JessicaTam was there earlier before heading back to SYD to take a flight to
DRW to position for a DRW-SYD-PER-KTH JASA. After walking down to Circular Quay and realising I had left my phone in the room, I dashed back to retrieve it before being able to meet the rest, not wanting to be running around Circular Quay shouting forum handles at strangers.
Once we all met at Customs House, it was off to the Museum of Contemporary Art for the launch function.
Batesy as the one Sydney local in the group of Melburnians waiting (
significance excepted, who hails from CBR) led the way.
One of the new marketing posters with Coober Pedy providing the Martian backdrop.
After a short while of mingling and eventually meeting
AirKat, QFF CEO Lesley Grant addressed the evening, and then hit the button to play three versions of the TVC: a 60-second full version, and two 15-second short versions. QFF partners such as Woolworths, the banks, David Jones, Sofitel, etcetera benefit from exposure in the ad.
A close up shot of the NASA Mars Rover, Curiosity:
We were also fortunate to hear from the head of Droog5, the advertising agency who came up with the concept for the campaign. Apparently the idea was the same as the one they had at the beginning with few if any changes, a rarity in the industry.
A unique rendition of 'I Still Call Australia Home' from Kirk Pengilly and someone else, who's name I do not recall:
It wasn't just AFFers along with Red Roo and Qantas executives in attendance. Some of Qantas' celebrity friends attended too:
That's Miss Laura Csortan on the left, a former Miss Congeniality in Miss Universe, Miss Australia, and a semi-finalist at Miss World. Perhaps most famously, the girl from Adelaide who turned down The Donald. On the right is world champion surfer, Layne Beachley.
