To kick off the partnership, the AirAsia and UFC creative teams worked in tandem to design the first ever UFC themed livery. Painted on an AirAsiaX Airbus A330 - this plane was utilised across the entire AirAsiaX network and help build visibility of our partnership across the APAC region and beyond.
Prior to its first passenger takeoff, we had a PR launch for the aircraft at the KLIA airports in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We tied this livery launch to the media week of UFC Singapore at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Featured in the photo: Leanne Chu (UFC Partnership and Events Activation Director of Asia), Kevin Lee (UFC Lightweight), myself and Kevin Chang (UFC Senior Vice President for APAC) flanked by AirAsia cabin crew.
Click the picture for the full press release.
When first sitting down to develop content for the partnership - we had to bear in mind that although UFC fans may be well travelled - they might not be familiar with our brand. To solve this problem, we created a brand video that would be broadcasted regionally during UFC events as well as played in-venue at the events we were part of.
Although the content of the video was not UFC or MMA focused, the primary objective was to educate UFC fans on who we are and the network that we cover.
Once fans fully recognised us as partners of the UFC and our social following started to grow with those looking for UFC partner related content - we started running ticket giveaways on our social channels for future events both in APAC and the US.
Here is the AirAsiaX CEO Benyamin Ismail with UFC hall of famer, Uriah Faber at a fan activation in Perth, Australia.
We used content created from previous event activations to tease fans and further build our digital affinity with the UFC. These two creatives were featured on the AirAsia Instagram story in the build up to UFC Beijing.
In addition to engaging with fans on our social channels, on-ground activations were a key driver in building brand affinity and association. Here is a VR activation that was developed with UFC Light Heavyweight, Tyson Pedro - where fans attending UFC Singapore were able to digitally shadow box with the him prior to his fight that night.
One of the largest UFC brand activations that AirAsia was part of was the historic UFC 229: Khabib vs McGregor. With the event landmarked and built up as the largest UFC event in history (the event did set the record for the highest ever mixed martial arts attendance and live gate in Nevada as well the biggest MMA pay-per-view event in history) the UFC granted further branding opportunities to their partners and gave us creative freedom to suggest ideas as to how we'd like to be involved.
Utilising our biggest branding asset, we brought AirAsia cabin crew on stage to accompany the famous UFC ring-girls - capturing plenty of attention both at the event, and on digital. This is the first and only time the UFC have allowed the stage to be shared by a brand in this manner.
Brand association was another objective within this partnership and we acted on this through the messaging of 'Champions' - a common identifier between both brands. With the UFC synonymously known for building champions and AirAsia recognised as the World's Best Low Cost Airline - we built creatives and copy based on this theme.
Here is an example of a full page creative we ran on programme booklets at some of the APAC events.
