Yas Island Channels The Bee Gees in Chucklesome New Campaign
This tickled us. A fun new advertising campaign for Yas Island parodies legendary trio The Bee Gees – and it’s a hoot. Abu Dhabi’s popular leisure and tourism destination plays it for laughs with its Staying on Yas ad to promote staycations. The ad plops Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb lookalikes onto Yas Island and follows the brothers’ escapades.
How do you make an advert stick in people’s minds? You couple laughs with instantly recognisable music. Yas Island aims big, with the lookalikes strutting around to the sound of The Bee Gees’ Staying Alive. A signature song from the Saturday Night Fever movie, Staying Alive is one of the most recognised tunes on the planet.
Peacock
Kitted out in retro gear, The Bee Gees characters peacock their way through a number of activities available on the island – from theme parks, racing, climbing and flying to shopping, dining, golfing and luxury spas. They sing alternative lyrics promoting the wonders of Yas Island and bust out dance moves made famous in Saturday Night Fever.
But it’s the editing that is superbly done, the characters hitting the song’s famous high notes just as their Ferarri World rides pick up speed. If this scene doesn’t make you laugh, you have no sense of humour.
Tough Ask
Dubai-based singer-songwriter Carl La’frenai’s had a hand in the ad. Lead singer of Carl & The Reda Mafia, he’s the man on vocals. “They wanted someone to sound like The Bee Gees and do all the harmonies as well,” says Carl. “It was a tough ask, for sure, but I hope folks enjoy it. I had a lot of fun doing this. It’s not easy singing so high!” Hats off to Carl!
Yas Island boss Liam Findlay hopes the Staying on Yas ad lifts people’s spirits. “We hope this campaign inspires people to look forward with hope and positivity to a time when carefree holidays, staycations and vacations are a reality and people can truly staycation like they mean it.”
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