Etihad: Global Social Strategy

Empowering a national carrier to fly Beyond Borders.

An airline borne of ambition, Etihad wanted to adapt its brand platform, 'Beyond Borders', to move beyond transactional travel marketing and lead the category on social.

In a world where social platforms and travel audiences are evolving in real-time, we flipped 'Beyond Borders' from tagline to operating mindset, positioning Etihad as a culturally aware entertainment brand that unites travel and global fandoms. Tapping into aviation, food, sport, music, culture and more, we created a platform-native social system designed to turn followers into fans into guests.

The end product was a global social playbook featuring editorial architecture, channel strategy, social brand codes along with influencer, guest and employee-generated content guidelines; together forming a cohesive operating system for Etihad to elevate from airline advertiser to true carriers of cultural connection.