ORANJESTAD—The Aruban airline Tiara Air converted one of its planes into a flying billboard for the first Aruba International Film Festival. The company is one of the main sponsors for the event in June, and showed off the aircraft that now has the information on the film festival. The first Aruba International Film Festival is a project by local artist/composer Jonathan Vieira among others, who said he is thrilled Tiara Air will provide the visual promotion for the festival that will bring actors like Richard Gere to the island to launch their movies.
Tiara Air Owner/Director Alejandro Muyale said the idea to dress up an aircraft with a giant sticker promoting the event came spontaneously during a meeting with the organizers. The plane is used for regional flights and therefore will create an excellent opportunity to promote the festival in Colombia, Venezuela and the Netherlands Antilles.
Muyale said Tiara Air transports thousands of passengers each month and the idea of a flying billboard will expose both the company and the festival. In addition, he said he was happy to support the festival as one of the main sponsors.
The company now will focus on providing its staff with all the necessary information on the festival, so they can disperse details to the passengers and help promote the event themselves. Muyale expects the passengers will have questions when they fly an aircraft adorned with a giant sticker. He said his personnel is also enthusiastic about the venture.
Alejandro Muyale said additionally that he is convinced the festival will open up the island to a different market, namely that of festivals and events. These will generate a new kind of business on the island that will work well for regional airlines, like Tiara Air. The company was already approached by others based on the novel idea of putting a sticker on a plane.
The Aruba Airport Authority, Triple A NV, too supports the Aruba International Film Festival. According to spokesperson Hendrik Croes, “Triple A has recognized the importance of such a festival and therefore will support the event as one of the main sponsors as well.” This entails the terminals will function as display for visuals, including billboards and posters on the festival. He acknowledged it was Tiara Air that instrumental in showing the valuable marketing potential of the event. “This is a great way to propagate the festival and Aruba, and everyone here will benefit from it.
Both Muyale and Croes emphasized that the best way to promote Aruba is by joining forces and the Aruba International Film Festival is an excellent reason to do so.
