Spafax Stories

• Spafax selected as Official Honouree
• Webby Awards Travel & Adventure category
• Over 215,000 video views including 150,000+ on Vimeo and 60,000+ on YouTube

LONDON, TORONTO, NEW YORK – April 16, 2013

Global content agency Spafax has been selected as an Official Honouree in the 17th Annual Webby Awards, the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet.

The Webby accolade is in the Travel & Adventure category, for a series of videos created to promote Air Canada’s rich heritage on its 75th anniversary.  The video series was viewed over 215,000 times online.
Niall McBain, CEO Spafax, said:

“Being recognised by an award as prestigious as the Webbys is a great honour.  It is proof positive of Spafax’s leading approach to provision of high quality content.  It is particularly gratifying to be selected for our work for a brand that we have worked with closely for nearly two decades.”
Raymond Girard, President, Content Marketing, said:

“Our team knew it was important to shine a spotlight on the brand’s three core “pillars”: heritage, innovation and people. It was crucial to demonstrate not only Air Canada’s historical impact on aviation history, but to show Canadians how their own personal history is inextricably linked to the airline.”

MONTREAL – April 11, 2013 – Spafax, one of Canada’s leading content marketing agencies has been selected as a double Official Honouree in the 17th Annual Webby Awards, the Internet’s most respected international symbol of success.

Spafax was acclaimed as an Official Honouree in the Travel & Adventure category for a series of videos created to promote Air Canada’s rich heritage on its 75th anniversary. The video series was viewed over 215,000 times online including 150,000+ on Vimeo and 60,000+ on YouTube.

Sparksheet, Spafax’s multiplatform media and marketing magazine, received an Official Honouree distinction in the Best Email Newsletter category. This is the second Webby commendation for Sparksheet, which was recognized as an Official Webby Honouree in the Business Blog category in 2011.

“These honours highlight Spafax at its best,” says Arjun Basu, Content Director, Spafax. “The 75th anniversary project was the result of seamless collaboration between Spafax and Air Canada to produce tremendous multi platform content. And Sparksheet is an example of our thought leadership in the fields of travel, marketing, media and content. We’re extremely proud of both these honours.”

• PR News Social Media Icon Awards, New York
• Facebook game attracted 355,497 entries in four weeks
• Gained client Air Canada 60,000 new Facebook “Likes”
• 195,000 video views including 2,000 Vimeo/ YouTube “Likes”

NEW YORK, TORONTO, LONDON 13TH MARCH 2013 Global content agency Spafax has been nominated for PR News’ inaugural Social Media Icon Awards.  The nomination is for the Facebook Contests/ Games category, for a game devised to promote Air Canada’s rich heritage on its 75th anniversary.

The game, which ran over four weeks, resulted in 355,497 competition entries, 60,000 new Likes to Air Canada’s main page and a 1000% increase in month-on-month likes.

In addition to the game Spafax created a dedicated website archiving the history of the airline, four fun-facts history videos, a limited edition book, and collector’s edition of enRoute, Air Canada’s in-flight magazine. The videos secured over 195,000 viewers and over 2,000 Vimeo and YouTube “Likes”.

Niall McBain, CEO Spafax, said: “This nomination recognizes that we are breaking new ground in the social media landscape for a brand that we have worked with closely for nearly two decades.

“Our team knew it was important to shine a spotlight on the brand’s three core “pillars”: heritage, innovation and people. It was crucial to demonstrate not only Air Canada’s historical impact on aviation history, but to show Canadians how their own personal history is inextricably linked to the airline. Facebook was the right vehicle for us to do this, and in using this channel we reached out to the next generation of Air Canada passengers.”

The award ceremony will be held at Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York on April 17th 2013.

LONDON and HONG KONG: Global content agency Spafax has been appointed to provide in-flight non-Asian content entertainment services to Cathay Pacific and its sister airline, Dragonair.

Spafax will supply Cathay Pacific and Dragonair with in-flight entertainment, including all audio as well as non-Asian movie and TV programming services onboard.

Niall McBain, Chief Executive Spafax said:

“We are extremely excited to be working with the Cathay Pacific Group, one of the World’s most respected airline groupings.

The Cathay Pacific Group’s commitment to delivering a world-class passenger experience through state-of-the-art entertainment is clear.  They understand that passengers have sophisticated tastes and rapidly evolving expectations. Here at Spafax we look forward to providing a service that continually surprises, delights and entertains passengers, offering them, and the Cathay Pacific Group, the service they rightly expect”.

Global content agency Spafax has signed a long-term agreement with Scandinavia’s leading airline SAS to continue to provide video entertainment and for new audio, publishing and production services.

Spafax will continue to provide early-release Hollywood and Scandinavian films and award-winning TV dramas, documentaries, children’s TV, sports and current affairs programmes.  Chinese and Japanese films will be aired on flights to and from Asia.

In addition Spafax will provide:

• A new in-flight audio entertainment service including:
  • business and lifestyle podcasts,
  • new channel themed around Scandinavian culture,
  • multi-lingual audio books,
  • ambient, classical, rock, jazz and pop music channels;
• A revamped in-flight entertainment guide featuring best picks, reviews and listings;
• Branded content marketing promos.

Sue Pinfold, Executive Vice President for IFE, Spafax said:

“We are delighted that after fourteen years SAS continues to trust us with their passengers’ content experience. We are now looking forward to extending how we do this in ever more engaging, new and innovative ways.”

Gunilla Ait El Mekki, Head of SAS Cabin Interior and IFEC said:

“Spafax continues to be our supplier of choice.  They have the expertise and knowledge of our passengers, who are discerning and sophisticated, and know what they do and don’t want from their in-flight entertainment experience.