Emirates engages employees through self-composed music video

Posted on January 12, 2009, 1:28 am, by Shashank Nigam View Comments View Comments
Emirates Airlines
Image by eturbonews via Flickr

In these trying times for the airline industry, anything that brings the employees closer together and builds authenticity in the brand is more than welcome. Emirates Airlines has recently done a fabulous job of achieving these aims. A video by Emirates employees, featuring themselves, has hit the internet recently. Entitled “Make Someone’s Day”, Emirates’ employees are singing, playing instruments from around the world and just seem to be enjoying themselves. It’s nice to see that an airline still does stuff like this that isn’t a necessity contributing towards the bottom line. And it should do good for the brand too.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy watching the video below (couldn’t find one with a better quality).

Bringing authenticity into the brand

Nothing’s more authentic about a brand than the collective voice of the people behind it. As I mentioned in my recent webinar on airline branding, involving the employees adds personality the previously faceless company. In this video, all employees are embracing the creed of making someone’s day – something very simple, and something that resonates with the masses.

Moreover, the video showcases how international the Emirates brand is. The song itself is sung in English and Hindi, and has a variety of musical styles from around the world. What better way to showcase the cosmopolitan nature of an airline which has employees from almost 100 countries!

Giving employees a stake in the game

Having employees leading the creation of this music video must have been a definite morale booster. They got to sing the Emirates’ creed, which is probably created by the employees too. And as so many of them have come together to create it, it must have brought them closer together too. And such ways of employee engagement are a necessity in these difficult times.

Happy Employees = Happy customers

Employees are the most important touchpoints of an airline brand. And when they’re exuding cheerfulness and warmth, it rubs off on the customers too. Just recall the last time you dealt with a happy airline crew – didn’t it make your day? It certainly made my day on a United Airlines flight from Boston to Chicago last year. Keeping employees happy has been a strategic decision at a number of successful airlines, including Southwest Airlines. And now, Emirates looks set to join the bandwagon.

What do you think will be the impact of this video by Emirates? Does anyone know if this was an employee initiative or pushed by HR or Marketing? Do you know examples of other airlines with similar initiatives? Let’s hear it in the comments section!

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  • There will also be a presentation from one of Hampton's employees who has recently appearing in Emirates Today Magazine, Xpress Newspaper,Time Out Dubai, reduced turnover, more engaged employees and increased customer loyalty.
  • Joel Brandon-Bravo
    We work with several leading airlines (BA, Virgin, & KLM among others) who are working with us to provide the most relevant and direct customers needs. We provide engaging Search Optimised content about he desinations they fly to.

    Most people are now researching where they want to go, or finding out about their chosen destination by researching it online before purchasing. By providing deep, dynamic and customised content on thier destinations Airlines are able to attract customer thourgh natural search, the lowest customer aquisition cost there is going. Then they are able to provide inspiring content and hopefully, if their price and brand proise also delivers, convert them into cutomers.

    See our case studies at www.frommers.biz . Joel jbrandon@ wiley.com
  • Russell Volckmann
    Personally, I think this is great, Shashank. Again, thank you for sharing. It is an example of connecting people on all levels... customers, employees, everyone. People love stories so much more than advertising. And it is a story. And it is music.

    I created a user interface for an Emirates "onboard" interactive duty-free shopping experience years ago at time when interactive was still a bit young--another engaging and new experience for both employees and customers.

    Emirates has always been an innovator and yours is still another exciting example that I am happy to see.
  • Patti Chavez
    This video is certainly a montage of culture, music and energy, tied together by the bond of Emirates. In this day of cost cutting and crisis rarely do you see a carrier spend money on anything except those necessities that immediately impact the bottom-line . It is refreshing to see that Emirates has not forgotten the lessons learned by other failed airlines; that the company’s image is 100% based on what interaction the customers have with the front line staff. Keeping the bond between the employees will keep the energy flowing, even if they are reminiscing of days past, to give hope to a brighter future. Let’s face it, you don’t normally need motivation during peak times and this would certainly motivate most.
    As far as other airlines doing anything like this, my experience has been that mini-clips are sometimes used within specific work groups and played during training and special functions, etc.
  • Mike Hill
    Video is the future of online!
    websites will (are) becoming online tv stations

    Right now I am creating life like avatars to appear and speack on cell phones and with one click you get called back from the call center
    creating voice commerce

    Hi Shashanks
    I can give you a big tip - complete as many videos as you can and do not name them file1234 but rather the key words you are targeting :)
    99.9% of all images & video files are not key word named

    Keep asking cool questions
    Cheers
  • Paul Lakra
    In Air India the management encouraged employees to establish Artistes' Group to promote arts and culture towards PR initiatives since 1980s. The group is always part of annual functions, events like airshows, celebrations, etc. The group is also sent to various competitions and events representing the company as abrand ambassadors, which has earned many laurles and accolades for the airlines and also recognition to best individual and group performers.
    This has positive impact on employee morale.
  • Steven Eberly
    I believe they are following the lead of Southwest Airlines. They are always happy to engage their employees in creative ways such as this. American Eagle Airlines, several years ago went the opposite direction and directed their employees not to bring cameras or video equipment to work, under threat of dismissal. Now, who do you think has the happiest and most productive employees?
  • Ahmed Wagih
    The video's a great motivational tool for Emirates' staff and does well to build brand empathy too, but it was clearly produced in the airline's hay-days of 2007 and not in "these trying times", so there's no corporate galantry there besides someone in PR suggesting pulling it out of the archive.
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