Cathay Technologies: Flight Folder

Cathay pilot team standing beside an aircraft

A pilot watching a film about aviation technology will notice whether the details feel right. An airline considering that technology needs to understand what it could change for its teams.

That was the challenge behind Cathay Technologies’ Flight Folder launch campaign. Cathay Pacific’s new technology arm was bringing its Electronic Flight Folder, or EFF, to a wider airline audience. Our role was to explain the product through the working lives of the people it was built for.

Alongside the launch video and key visuals, we had a demanding production brief: film across technical aviation locations in just one and a half shoot days.

Understanding the working day before telling the story

We began by getting to know the product and its users. Conversations with Cathay’s pilots helped us understand how they prepared for flights, accessed information and worked with colleagues on the ground.

Cathay pilots discussing a tablet beside an aircraft

Those discussions challenged some of our early assumptions. Small details, such as where a pilot would check information or how an updated flight plan would reach them, affected whether a scene felt credible.

That groundwork helped us build the story around the problems Flight Folder was designed to address. We looked at the existing way of working, then showed how access to information and communication could work differently with the product.

Showing the difference, not just the technology

We paired pilot interviews with footage of Flight Folder being used in the environments they were describing. Rather than simply walking viewers through an interface, the film connected features to practical situations pilots and operations teams would recognise.

Flight Folder application displayed on an iPad

Pilot entering information on a Flight Folder iPad in the cockpit

The goal was to help an airline picture a different working day: relevant information easier to access, updates available when needed, and clearer communication between teams. The interface helped explain the change, while the pilots gave it a human perspective.

Close-up of Flight Folder operational information on a handheld iPad

Pilot interview in Cathay’s operations environment

One and a half days in places that don’t run on a filming schedule

The shoot took us through airport hangar and HAECO settings, into a cockpit and flight simulator, and to Cathay’s Integrated Operations Centre.

Pilots using tablets together in the cockpit

Each location came with access requirements and constraints. We planned around permits, coordinated people and equipment, and built the schedule around the time available with each contributor.

The simulator, for example, had a short early-morning filming window before it was needed again. Preparation had to carry through to a team that could set up, capture the material and move on efficiently.

Pilot at the controls of a flight simulator

We completed filming across one and a half shoot days, giving the campaign a range of real environments within a tightly managed schedule.

Team member working at Cathay’s Integrated Operations Centre

Film crew and camera rig inside the cockpit during the Flight Folder shoot.

Production monitor showing a pilot interview for the Flight Folder film.

Giving the launch a story people could understand

The video and key visuals supported the wider Flight Folder campaign and helped Cathay Technologies secure its first airline customer.

We wanted prospective users to see their own challenges reflected in the film and understand how Flight Folder could help. That gave Cathay a way to introduce the technology through the difference it could make to the people using it.

Explore more EuCan case studies, including our FWD Group Strategy Video.