World Summit delegates greeted with warm smiles

INTERNATIONAL delegates which have started to arrive for this month's World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg International Airport are being greeted by warm smiles as part of Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) in partnership with Caltex SA's smile campaign. The focal point of the campaign is a countdown tower in JIA's international arrivals hall, which is electronically marking off the days to the official opening of the Summit on August 26. The airport's public areas are also adorned with smiling-face posters and banners, designed to get delegates in the right frame of mind for the Summit, with slogans such as "Smile for a brighter planet" and "A smile makes a world of difference." These same faces and slogans form the basis of a print media advertising campaign while a radio ad welcoming delegates to the Summit in South African and international languages is being flighted on numerous national stations. And an especially composed ACSA song - Masibambane (Let us come together) - will be broadcast over the airport's public address system. In addition, some 60 000 handy JIA maps will be issued to Summit delegates on their arrival at JIA to help them find their way around the airport. (Miguel de Sousa)