Dragonair gets relaunched as Cathay Dragon via an Eight Partnership Hong Kong rebranding

Eight Partnership in Hong Kong has today officially launched the rebranded Cathay Dragon airline, Cathay Pacific’s regional full-service airline, previously known as Dragonair.

In the lead up to today’s launch, Eight contributed to a comprehensive overhaul of the brand system starting with brand strategy, visual identity, livery and airport signage. Additionally, Eight helped to design and develop inflight items such as new crew uniform accessories, snack packaging, menus, destination postcards and playing cards.

Cathay Pacific’s manager for Brand, Ruaraidh Smeaton, says Cathay Dragon will become an even more significant part of Cathay Pacific’s global reach, bringing travellers to and from China and the region, via its hub in Hong Kong.

“In preparing for the launch, our teams across multiple departments worked closely with Eight to identify and design the brand touchpoints that would resonate with passengers and staff,” he said.

Passengers of Cathay Dragon will notice the use of the iconic brushwing on uniform accessories of both cockpit and cabin crew as well as contemporary Chinese accents during the inflight dining experience.

“It has been a tremendous effort to prepare all the materials for an overnight switch from old brand to new,” says Jonathan Magee, Group Account Director at Eight. “It has been exciting to work alongside so many talented people at Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon to bring the new brand to life.”

Eight also designed a suite of communications items aimed at the staff of Cathay Dragon and Cathay Pacific. These include large-scale display items at both Cathay City and Cathay Dragon House, as well as a short film that introduces the airline group.

Music for the official launch was created by Hong Kong and Sweden based Component Music

Brought in by Eight Partnership, and working closely with the creative team led by Louise Wong, James Banbury and Pete Davis created a positive, forward thinking, contemporary piece; reflecting both the personal story of the airline team members, and the uplifting excitement of air travel.

Component’s strong relationship with Cathay goes back several years, with music created for global campaigns, internal communications, on-hold systems, and in-flight entertainment.