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Emirates’ Penelope Cruz signing targets Spain and Latin America

By Gavin Gibbon
Emirates Penelope Cruz Emirates
Cruz will feature in a series of advertising campaigns across the summer in English and her native Spanish
  • Signing follows Jennifer Aniston and CGI character Gerry the Goose
  • Move also follows record $2.9bn profit at airline
  • Only 2% of Emirates current destinations are Spanish-speaking

Emirates is planning to spread its wings further across Spanish-speaking destinations with the help of actress Penelope Cruz.

The Academy Award-winning star has been announced as the latest brand ambassador for Emirates. She will feature in a series of advertising campaigns across the summer in English and her native Spanish.

Emirates – which reported a profit of $2.9 billion this month – the highest ever profit in its 38-year history – currently operates daily flights to Madrid and twice-daily flights to Barcelona in Spain. It flies four times a week to South America, from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro with onwards service to Buenos Aires.

Penelope Cruz follows fellow A-list actress and Friends star Jennifer Aniston as the face of Emirates. 

Aniston’s opening video registered nearly 3.5 million views on Emirates’ official Youtube channel in just six days. Last year an advert featuring CGI-animated character Gerry the Goose hit 5.8 million views when it aired in 25 countries for a month.

Middle East airlines have regularly turned to personality brands for marketing. Actor Morgan Freeman starred in a Turkish Airlines advert, while Argentina’s World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi turned out for Qatar Airways.

“It’s a common practice in international marketing to employ popular figures from specific regions or linguistic backgrounds to attract customers from those areas,” said Linus Bauer, managing director of Dubai-based Bauer Aviation Advisory.

However, John Grant, partner at Midas Aviation, believes the campaign has a more global focus. Spanish speaking locations currently only account for two percent of Emirates current capacity, he said.

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