Hawaiian Airlines this week celebrated the third anniversary of its service between Auckland and Honolulu – with an in-house Marmite tasting!
Since March 2013, the airline’s employees have shared their Hawaiian hospitality with 180,000 guests on 1000 direct flights between the two destinations.
To toast the carrier’s success, New Zealand-born Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant Mika Bailey spent a day with her Honolulu ‘ohana (family) to share a taste of the classic Kiwiana treat.
Reactions to NZ’s favourite spread were mixed (er … overwhelmingly negative, to be honest) but Hawaiian Airlines says its commitment to the New Zealand market is as positive as ever, with the number of Kiwis travelling to the Aloha State more than doubling since 2013 from 25,000 to 63,706.
Hawaiian Airlines does not have a NZ ad agency – the Marmite concept was the work of its PR firm, Porter Novelli NZ. The film was shot by LA producer Dreams In Shadow.
Russell Williss, Hawaiian Airlines’ country director for New Zealand, says the link between the two Pacific cultures is incredibly strong in areas of art, language and hospitality, though a Kiwi institution such as Marmite might take a while to catch on in Hawaii.
“Hawaiians have shared the Aloha spirit with Kiwis over the past three years, so we thought it was only fair we shared a bit of classic Kiwiana with the Honolulu team,” he said.
“It’s hard to say whether or not it went down a treat – the crew were good sports but I think they’ll be sticking to traditional Hawaiian fare like poi and poke [taro and raw fish salad],” says Williss.
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