Sydney Airport has launched a million-dollar consumer advertising campaign to promote the new food, beverage and retail offering at its international terminal, the culmination of a $500 million revitalisation of the facility commenced in 2007.

The integrated campaign developed by Frost* began recently, with an unbranded two week teaser phase using radio, outdoor and online to create a tongue-in-cheek, fictional medical condition called PFT – Pre-Flight Tension.

The teaser campaign will resolve in mid-June with launch advertisements for the airport’s new retail precinct, positioned as the ideal antidote to PFT, which aim to encourage leisure travellers to arrive early to enjoy the new shopping and dining experience being offered on home soil.

The strategy was informed by quantitative research, which showed that one in four travellers experience significant stress before an overseas trip.

“Consumers were telling us that they find departing for a holiday abroad really stressful, reaching a crescendo at the airport,” said Vince Frost, creative director and chairman at Frost*.

“This insight was the jumping-off point for the creative campaign, which seeks to first acknowledge this phenomenon, crystallising an emotional scenario that travellers can identify with," says Frost. "This engagement will open them up to further communication about how the new experience offered at Sydney Airport can play a role in alleviating this anxiety and actually become an exciting part of the holiday.”

The teaser ads, which are presented somewhat like government health education campaigns, will drive people to a microsite for tips on easing pre-flight stress by planning for the airport as you would the holiday, allowing yourself plenty of time by arriving early.

The campaign is targeting regular travellers aged 20 to 55-years-old who take at least one overseas holiday per year and who’ve already booked a trip. The teaser phase will include two 30-second radio spots, outdoor advertising on taxi backs and super sites at the airport, as well as online advertising on the ‘travel tips’ sections of major travel websites.

The microsite, www.easepft.com.au, features a quiz to identify which kind of traveller you are and will shortly launch two humorous films, bringing the PFT ‘condition’ to life, to also be seeded on YouTube.

The second phase of the campaign, announcing the revitalisation of the airport’s international terminal shopping zone, will include press, radio and online advertising and feature food and beverage, duty free and fashion executions.

In addition to the advertising work, Frost* created the new identity and environmental graphics for Sydney Airport’s retail precinct.