The three-day pop-up took place Sept. 24-26 at The Grove.Photo: Courtesy of Cathay Pacific
LOS ANGELES—To celebrate its 80th anniversary, Cathay Pacific brought the experience of air travel to the ground in Los Angeles, transforming a space at The Grove into an immersive journey through the airline’s past, present, and future.
The three-day pop-up kicked off Sept. 24 with a VIP preview for loyalty members, partners, media, and other invited guests, then opened to the public Sept. 25 and 26.
Rather than just displaying memorabilia from the Hong Kong-based airline’s eight-decade history, Cathay Pacific designed the experience to unfold like a trip, beginning at check-in and moving through the brand’s heritage, new products, interactive games, personalization, and prizes.
“The event space was designed to evoke the feeling of traveling to Asia and beyond with Cathay Pacific,” explained Cathay Pacific’s head of marketing in the Americas,Ayesha Minty-Jacob.
That conceit began before guests had even fully entered the roped-off space: At a check-in station, attendees received boarding passes, and a sleek departures board-inspired display established the airport aesthetic.
“These details established a sense of adventure and discovery from the outset, encouraging guests to engage with the activation as if they were embarking on a journey to Hong Kong,” Minty-Jacob said.
From there, the experience looked back at Cathay Pacific’s history, which began in 1946 with a single aircraft. Archival memorabilia included a collection of vintage flight attendant uniforms, some created in collaboration with fashion designers and houses including Hermès, Balmain, and Nina Ricci.
But the anniversary activation was designed to look forward as much as back. Guests could climb into Cathay Pacific’s new Aria Suite Business class and Premium Economy seats—the first time the airline has showcased the products outside an aircraft in North America. The seats are currently offered on daily flights between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
The hands-on setup allowed attendees to do more than look at the new cabin products. Guests could test the Aria Suite’s multiple lighting settings, recline the seat into a fully lie-flat bed, and explore its inflight entertainment screen, the largest Cathay Pacific has offered to date.
“By providing the opportunity to sit, explore, and interact with the product themselves, we could bring the onboard experience to life in a tangible and personal way before they even stepped onto an aircraft,” Minty-Jacob said.
Throughout the pop-up, Cathay Pacific layered in interactive moments so that guests were actively engaging with the brand, rather than idly mingling.
Attendees could have travel accessories personalized on site, including custom luggage tags and passport holders. A digital game tested guests’ knowledge of destinations and world trivia, with prizes waiting behind a wall of numbered tags.
Guests could also explore Cathay Pacific’s retail collection and scan a QR code to enter to win a much bigger-ticket prize: two round-trip business class tickets to Hong Kong. Passed food like dan dan noodles and tofu poke inspired by the airline’s onboard offerings further extended the inflight experience into the physical activation.
Importantly, those touchpoints weren’t conceived as unrelated stations: The layout was designed to move guests chronologically and conceptually from the airline’s history into its current and future offerings.
“Rather than presenting these elements as standalone moments, the experience was designed as a journey, allowing guests to move naturally from discovering where Cathay Pacific has been to experiencing where the airline is going next,” Minty-Jacob explained.
Cathay Pacific selected The Grove in part for its ability to reach audiences beyond the invited guests who attended the Sept. 24 preview.
“The Grove provided an ideal setting to bring Cathay Pacific’s 80th anniversary celebration directly to the Los Angeles community,” Minty-Jacob said, citing the shopping destination’s prominent open-air setting and mix of locals and visitors. Following the VIP event, the activation opened to the general public for two days.
Next, Cathay Pacific is taking the experience to New York, beginning with a VIP event at Hudson Yards on Oct. 8, followed by public days Oct. 9 and 10.
The airline’s in-house regional marketing team conceptualized and planned the experience, working with partners across the region to execute it.
“The balance between heritage and innovation was central to the concept,” Minty-Jacob said. “Cathay Pacific’s 80th anniversary is an opportunity not only to celebrate the airline’s rich history, but also to showcase how it continues to evolve and shape the future of the travel experience.”
