SriLankan Airlines clinched its first gold at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Awards 2007, for the best marketing campaign for an airline. The airline’s ‘Home Away from Home’ campaign proved hugely popular in Sri Lanka where it was launched, reinforcing SriLankan Airlines brand values of warmth and traditional hospitality.

The annual PATA awards recognise exceptional achievement in areas such as marketing, heritage and culture, environment, education and training with the winners setting industry standards for excellence and innovation.

“We are honoured to receive this Gold Award from PATA as testament to the airline’s high standards of innovation and creativity,” Chandana de Silva, Head of Corporate Communications at SriLankan Airlines said.

“SriLankan Airlines is known for its exceptional service and quality standards and continues to be the preferred choice of Sri Lankans, be it leisure or business travellers, who want the comfort of home when they travel,” de Silva said.

The ‘Home Away from Home’ campaign was developed by SriLankan Airlines Advertising and agency Grant McCann Erickson.

“The whole concept behind the campaign was that Sri Lankans, wherever they are, yearn for simple things that remind them of home. We wanted to show that SriLankan Airlines is a carrier that understands Sri Lankans best,” Priya Epitawela, Manager Advertising for SriLankan Airlines said.

“A great deal of research went into this campaign to capture exactly what our target audience was looking for and develop a campaign of high standards to allow us to compete with other international airlines and come out on top.”

The awards ceremony for the PATA Gold Awards 2007 will be held at the PATA Travel Mart 2007 in Bali, Indonesia on September 28.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association, founded in 1951 is the recognised authority on Asia Pacific travel and tourism, counting nearly 100 government, city and state tourism bodies, 55 airlines and cruise lines and hundreds of travel industry companies as its members,

SriLankan Airlines has many accolades to its credit, recently being awarded the prestigious Imperial Mark, a global accolade of excellence in recognition of its exceptional levels of service and quality. SriLankan Airlines is the only airline in Asia to be honoured with this award.

SriLankan Airlines, the country’s national carrier flies to 51 destinations in 28 countries.

July 31st, 2007