Qatar Airways was looking for an unique way to engage its customers beyond just a straightforward advertisement.  It scaled new heights when it chose to partner The Sunday Times in an exclusive promotion.

The theme “The Qatar Airways Great Origami Adventure” had the centrespread advertisement created as a piece of water colour artwork incorporating the cut-out lines of a three-dimensional Qatar Airways A350 plane.

Readers were invited to fold the plane, snap a photo of it against anything that represents the destination they wish to travel to, and submit their entries for a chance to win free air tickets to their destination of choice as well as tickets to KidZania Singapore.

The response was overwhelming, with more than 1,000 entries.  Readers were engaged in a fun and interactive manner through the newspaper as they thought of ideas to present the destinations.

Ms Chanel Lee, one of the winners of a pair of Qatar Airways economy class return tickets, chose London as her destination. She said: "My friend spotted the ad in The Sunday Times and came up with the great idea of using SPH Newspapers and magazines to create origami sculptures of London’s famous icons.  We spent almost a weekend working on the plane and the entire masterpiece.  We can't wait for our London trip in February next year!  Thank you Qatar Airways and SPH!”

Ms Caroline Mayappen, who won tickets to KidZania Singapore, said: “The Sunday Times ad caught the attention of my husband and he got us all excited.  I found it really cool as it not only involved the kids in folding the plane and brainstorming of ideas, but also brought the whole family together.  It really got us all excited about where we would want to travel to.  We had a fun weekend.  Thank you SPH.”

The campaign delivered the Qatar Airways brand, through the 3-D origami aircraft, into the living room of readers, thus greatly extending the retention value of the Qatar airways advertisement and enhanced top-of-mind recall for the brand.

For Qatar Airways, this innovative newspaper platform added mileage to its vision to engage readers in unique, meaningful and rewarding ways.  For SPH Newspapers, it represented another exciting breakthrough in its quest to help make brands larger than life!

For more information on partnership opportunities with The Sunday Times, contact Niccolle Lum at 6319-4029 or e-mail nlum@sph.com.sg.

Click here for event sponsorship opportunities in SPH Newspapers.