"[Working with SimpliFlying] has expanded our minds, opened our eyes and showed us what to do in concrete, practical, and tangible terms. We see the benefits not only to ourselves but to our members as well." - 
"SimpliFlying has a great balance - providing strategic insights and directions while maintaining a down-to-earth attitude in guiding LAN in strategy implementation. Justifying our investment to senior management was not difficult." - 
"The SimpliFlying MasterClass was a combination of trends and insights from the industry, as well as tailor-made topics designed to help Lufthansa progress to the next level of customer engagement. By having every management level participate, Lufthansa achieved great results in regards to 'social status' and loyalty, which was one of the key topics." - 
"At Estonian Air, we always look for partners who can bring innovation and good ideas, with the ability to execute. With Simpliflying, we get exactly that." - 
Some SIA customers have received an email recently inviting them to come up with creative portraits that show the A380 near a famous London landmark. Every week, the top voted submission gets featured on the frontpage of SIA’s A380 Gallery. To top it all off, customers are also being encouraged to share their A380 experiences on the same website.
This is a commendable attempt to engage the customer before the flight, hence aligning Brand Xpectations, and continuing the engagement post-flight, encouraging Brand Xpression (something not many airlines are good at). Customers who depict A380 near a London landmark are literally fantasizing that they are present at the location themselves – what better way to induce a person to get a ticket on the first A380 to land at Heathrow? Also, with a large number of customers blogging about their A380 experiences anyway, consolidating them on a single SIA-operated website makes perfect sense. The customers can enjoy some online fame, as other read their experiences and potential customers can read ahead if SIA is delivering on the Xpectations.
The innovative use of user-generated content involves the customer before and after the flight, and extends the engagement with the brand for a much longer period of time than other carriers are able to. SIA currently seems way ahead of the game. Let’s see how long others take to catch up.
Ponder that!
If you enjoyed this article, click here to get free updates by email or RSS.
Shashank Nigam
Latest posts by Shashank Nigam (see all)
- Want your new route to make headlines? Bring Richard Branson on-board, like AirAsia X did in Perth! - May 14, 2013
- Influencer marketing comes of age in aviation – American Airlines Klout and Eindhoven Airport Facebook VIP in focus - May 9, 2013
- What does SimpliFlying stand for? Thinking Differently about aviation marketing (and lessons from Simon Sinek) - May 1, 2013
Pingback: Getting up, close and personal with the customer – 3 airline case studies | SimpliFlying
Pingback: Doing something new? Beat the drum about it! | SimpliFlying
Pingback: SimpliFlying » Blog Archive » Harvard Business School Professor Rohit Deshpande explains Singapore Airlines’ strategy in interview
Pingback: SimpliFlying » Blog Archive » Southwest Airlines engages customers with blogging competition
Pingback: SimpliFlying » Blog Archive » Three reasons why the Qantas missed a branding opportunity with A380