&c. Guangzhou wins China Southern Airlines’ digital retainer

Under the digital contract, the agency is charged with brushing up on CSA's international brand image, ahead of a launch of new international routes and the arrival of five new Airbus A380 jets.

CSA will have the largest fleet of the a double-deck, wide-body, four–engine jet airliners, compared with the other two state-owned airlines in China: Air China (which has a close ties with The Boeing Company) and China Eastern Airlines.

CSA will become the seventh operator of the A380 when it begins flying the aircraft later this year. The aircraft is configured with 506 seats in a three-class lay-out with eight first, 70 business and 428 economy class seats.

The first Airbus A380, which is manufactured in Germany, will be arriving to CSA in China this October. It will coincide with new routes to Canada, the US, and Australia.

The new contract marks the first time that CSA has appointed appoint a digital agency partner. The win comes after a pitch in early August, which involved 14 digital agencies, mostly local. It is expected to last till mid-2012.

The client also called a PR pitch, which local PR agency Linksus is believed to have won.

According to a news article in China Daily on 27 August, CSA boosted first-half profit 33 per cent this year, bringing in a net income of US$432 million (RMB2.76 billion) as a result of rising domestic travel and a stronger yuan.

Y&R currently holds CSA’s creative account, while this client does media planning and buying in-house.