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THE MEDIA AGENCY FOR BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS

CASE STUDY

Sydney Airport

Sydney Airport partnered with Bench to reignite international travel demand through Life Takes Off When You Do. Discover how the campaign turned travel inspiration into action and supported Sydney Airport’s busiest year on record.

Travel Media Agency

Over 17 million international passengers in 2025 – Sydney Airport’s busiest year on record.

Cost-of-living pressure was causing Australians to delay or deprioritise international travel. At the same time, airlines added 396,000 international seats for the second half of 2025, creating an urgent need to rebuild demand.

Unlike airlines, Sydney Airport had no discounted fares or destinations to promote. The opportunity was to reposition the airport from passive infrastructure to an active catalyst for travel – reigniting the emotional lift-off that happens when people begin imagining their next journey.

5.3%

year-on-year international passenger growth in Q4

42,000+

highly engaged visitors explored international flights through the Kayak content hub

GOAL

Rebuild international travel intent, drive flight exploration and help stimulate demand for newly added airline capacity.

The strategy was built around a powerful behavioural insight: Sydneysiders still wanted to travel, but cost-of-living pressure had made overseas trips feel psychologically out of reach.

Life Takes Off When You Do gave people permission to re-engage with travel. Rather than competing with airlines on price or destinations on place, Sydney Airport reminded audiences of the emotional transformation that begins the moment they decide to go.

APPROACH

The campaign ran from May to November 2025 and was designed as a sequenced media experience rather than a conventional broad-reach campaign.

Bench prioritised immersive, high-attention formats capable of making travel feel real. Activity reached Travel Intenders, Affluent Families and DINKS during culturally relevant moments when audiences were already primed for escapism, including Vivid Sydney, the Sydney Marathon and the footy finals.

BVOD and SVOD anchored the campaign with premium, sound-on storytelling. High-impact display formats, including Kargo Lighthouse and Runway, extended the creative into mobile environments and exceeded viewability benchmarks by more than 10 percentage points.

Digital out-of-home was concentrated across high-density Sydney transit locations. Xtrack screens at Wynyard, Town Hall and Martin Place connected the campaign with the physical movement and anticipation of travel.

Spotify added another sensory layer through digital audio, companion banners and contextual targeting around travel, running and sports content. YouTube six-second bumpers efficiently extended reach and reinforced different motivations for travelling.

Every channel directed audiences to a dedicated Kayak content hub, where inspiration could immediately become action through international flight exploration.

THE RESULTS

Life Takes Off When You Do helped rebuild international travel intent during a critical period for Sydney Airport and its airline partners.

Passenger growth

Sydney Airport welcomed a record 17.17 million international passengers in 2025.

Q4 was the airport’s busiest international quarter on record, with 4.62 million passengers – a 5.3% increase year on year. This growth helped the airport and its airline partners absorb the significant increase in international seat capacity.

Travel exploration

The dedicated Kayak content hub attracted more than 42,000 highly engaged visitors actively exploring international flights, demonstrating the campaign’s ability to move audiences from emotional storytelling to measurable travel consideration.

Media performance

YouTube generated 8.4 million impressions at an efficient $4.58 CPM, building reach at scale.

High-impact display delivered a 0.63% click-through rate and a $4.04 cost per click, significantly outperforming typical travel display benchmarks. Across the media ecosystem, the campaign generated 9,788 direct engagements.

By connecting high-attention brand media with an immediate pathway to flight exploration, Sydney Airport successfully stepped beyond its traditional role. The campaign did not simply promote the airport—it helped give Sydneysiders a reason to travel again.

This campaign is designed to reignite the excitement of travel, starting with the moment you begin planning your trip, and we’re extremely proud that in that journey, Sydney Airport as Australia’s premier international gateway, plays a key role in making it all happen.

Shane Hodges
General Manager – Strategic Aviation Development

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