After publishing a hugely successful State of Airline Marketing Report last month, which was downloaded over 1000 times, we’re back with another free report, this time aimed at the good folks leading marketing at airports! 

Airport marketing is finally waking up to the immense opportunities in the age of the connected traveller. Airports are not just engaging travellers and providing customer service online, but also gaining real-time, location-specific customer intelligence, while driving revenues. Moreover, traditional, offline airport marketing campaigns themselves are becoming ever more creative and tuned-in to the needs of the Connected Travellers of today. 

Innovation across Marketing as well as Air Service Development

As such, airport marketing is fast shedding its traditional conservativeness. Marketers are seeking to fly higher and engage passengers with innovative campaigns, both online and offline. In this transformational age of airport marketing, apart from investing in experiential marketing campaigns that delight and surprise travellers, many airports around the world are equipping themselves with the tools and know-how to leverage the digital marketing revolution, experimenting with new social media platforms and launching mobile campaigns that link the online and the offline world. 

Importantly, airport marketing today is not only a function of communications. Instead, airports are increasingly competing to attract passengers from nearby airports as well as simultaneously improve their route network. This has led to a number of airports investing in innovative air service development initiatives, that seek to attract new passengers and, ultimately, new service. 

7 Key Trends with Accompanying Case-Studies

Our State of Airport Marketing 2013 report identifies the seven most important trends that define airport marketing today, and includes detailed case-studies with each trend that showcase how some of the best airports in the world are adopting a new approach to marketing their airports. If you can’t wait anymore, you can download the report right away by clicking below. If you want the wait to be worthwhile, however, read on for some great advance praise for the report as well as an exciting product announcement below. 

Testimonials

Here’s some advance praise for our reports and upcoming premium Benchmark Reports.

“SimpliFlying’s reports are simply a great way of keeping abreast of the trends and developments in aviation related social media and staying well informed. They provide a wealth of relevant and useful statistics for our business. The case studies are a great source of inspiration in what is a fast moving environment. “ 

Mandie Armstrong
Digital Communications Manager
London Gatwick Airport

“Athens International Airport’s  “ABCD”  Marketing Strategy is balanced among the three primary stakeholder groups : Airlines, Business partners and Consumers and it also focused on the “D” element, ie. the promotion of Destination Athens, interacting highly with the wider public. Athens International Airport, being the only airport worldwide that has been awarded 12 times during the last 9 years with the Routes Marketing Awards, is looking forward to Simpliflying Airport Marketing Reports; thus, we’ll be able  to benchmark ourselves against the most innovative and forward-thinking players in the airport sector, exchange marketing  ideas  and communicate and promote to our stakeholder groups our “way of doing business” in the most creative way.”

Marketing Team
Athens International Airport

Airport Marketing Benchmark Report

In such a fast-moving environment, it is important not just to be creative and innovative yourself but to be more striking than your immediate competition as well. However, given the speed at which things move in digital media, it is no easy task to stay on top of the latest trends, fads and innovations. (If you’re from an airline, we already offer monthly Airline Benchmark Reports.)

Produced by SimpliFlying, the premium quarterly airport marketing benchmark reports are the answer to this challenge. Each report will contain a selection of the most innovative marketing and advertising campaigns launched by airports around the world and assesses their impact.

Here’s what an eager airport has to say about our upcoming report: 

“After successfully introducing the Airline Marketing Benchmarking reports, inspiring the aviation industry to move forward on engaging the connected traveler, now we are presented with the Airport Marketing Report. This couldn’t have come on a better time, since airports around the world are accelerating on customer engagement, conversation strategies and smart use of social and mobile media. Airports will find these reports extremely valuable since through inspiration, the industry is guided, moving us all forward.”

Eli Lejeune
Marketing Manager
Eindhoven Airport

For questions about the premium report and to subscribe to it, please contact David McMullen at david@simpliflying.com. 

The post [Free Report] The State of Airport Marketing: 7 Key Trends & Case-Studies appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Shubhodeep Pal

Head of Operations and Innnovation at SimpliFlying

Shubhodeep Pal is the Head of Operations and Innovation at SimpliFlying and has been leading Product Development, Marketing and Business Development since December 2010 from the headquarters in Singapore. His writings have appeared extensively on SimpliFlying as well as revered industry outlets such as Tnooz, Airlinetrends and Loyalty360. He has considerable experience working in the social media sphere, having also conducted a workshop at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore. He has written an introductory e-book for social media newbies and has previously interned at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as well. His wide range of interests include startups, programming, economics, geopolitics, film-direction/criticism and literature. His first collection of poems, Interruptions was released in 2009. He can be reached at shubhodeep@simpliflying.com.

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Airlines are all about selling flights, and transporting people from point A to point B, right?  Well, common wisdom would have us think so, but in recent times, with increased price-competition and falling profits, many airlines have started focusing on ancillary revenues to bring in more revenue. In fact, last year Amadeus projected that ancillary revenues would amount to over $36.1 billion globally!

For many low-cost airlines, ancillary purchases have become a significant (and high yielding) part of their business model that directly influences their profitability. Some legacy airlines have also followed suit. As a result, we have seen an exponential growth in the number of ancillary products offered and in the number of partnerships with other brands. 

In this Top 10, we take a look at some of the more creative ways in which both legacy and low-cost airlines have developed ancillary revenue initiatives or partnered with other brands to drive both PR and Revenue. 

The post From Dog-Wear to Branded Hotels: Top 10 Co-Branding & Ancillary Revenues Initiatives by Airlines appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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Valentine’s Day is one of those days that can be a double-edged sword, depending on the personal situation of each person. For airlines, however, it represents a good opportunity to leverage the positive emotions generally associated with this day and to promote their brands and services.

This year, airlines have been surprisingly productive in terms of the sheer number of initiatives and post dedicated to Valentine’s Day that they have published on social media. To create this Top 10 case-pack, we have decided to showcase as many different types of initiatives as possible. It is worth noting that some equally nice initiatives were created by other airlines but excised in favour of maximum variety.

Overall, it turned out that the simplest initiatives, such as KLM’s Facebook post above, attracted the most likes but other more complex ones such as TAP’s cards, JetStar’s Love Jet and Air New Zealand’s Blind Gate will probably have a longer lasting effect and a deeper impact on people’s perception of the brand. We hope you enjoy the case-pack!

The post Top 10 Valentine’s Day 2013 Initiatives by Airlines appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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The rise of the Connected Traveler, spurred by the constantly increasing availability of an Internet connection and ever more powerful portable devices (such as smartphones and tablets) is starting to revolutionize the relationship between airlines and travelers.

The Connected Traveler Lifecycle 

Many travelers, and especially the valuable business travelers, can be seen travelling with all sorts of “connected” devices ranging smartphones to tablets to laptops to even Android-powered cameras. Different types of travelers will, of course, prefer different devices but almost all of them will have one device in common, a smartphone.  Given this simple fact, it is not hard to see why airlines are rushing to create new apps to engage travelers. 

Back in October 2011 we published a very  popular Top 10 case-pack on the best mobile apps available at the time. But since then things have evolved considerably and we felt it necessary to take a fresh look at this constantly evolving field. 

Two different paths 

While analyzing the latest developments in this field, we have found that airlines seems to be acting on two major strategic lines, one focused more on the practical aspect of the trip and the other on creating brand associations and inspiring people to travel. Apps focusing on the practical side will typically have higher usage figures as they offer users much-needed support and information during the trip and also provide essentials like mobile boarding passes or live flight status updates. On the other hand however, the little data available on the quirkier and more brand focused apps seems to suggest that these may actually be more profitable as they inspire people to travel by engaging them while they have not yet made a decision to travel (the SimpliDream stage). 

Overall though, even the most “traditional” apps are starting to include some elements of growing trends such as integration with social networks, a focus on location-specific content and thinking beyond the traditional search-book-fly cycle to the full Connected Traveler Lifecycle. 

The post Top 10 Airline Mobile Apps that Engage the Connected Traveler appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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As we enter 2013, the expectations from airlines and airports to live up to the new realities of an increasingly connected world are ever more. Passengers are more vocal and connected to their friends and family. They have higher expectations in terms of online engagement and interaction, and are not hesitant to instantly share a negative opinion online when displeased. On the other hand, rapidly evolving social technologies are enabling airlines and airports to reach and engage their customers in more innovative ways than before. As such, the potential for better customer service, speedier crisis management, building loyal online brand advocates and driving revenues has increased manifold.

Hence, while planning your social engagement strategy for 2013, you need a head-start. The 25 resources presented below, categorized for your easy reference, will give you ample inspiration and information to start swimming from the deep end of the pool itself! 

Engagement

• What your audience expects and what you should be doing to engage them. Or risk falling behind your competition (read here).
• Creating an immersive brand experience for your airline (read here).
• How airlines and aiports can use Pinterest to engage customers through visual cues (read here).
• How COPA Airlines drove 50x ROI via a Facebook app (read here).

Strategy Planning and Research Reports

• Presentation – Driving results from Customer Engagement. The road ahead for airlines on social media (get the presentation here).
• Airline Social Media Outlook 2012-13: Research based on a survey conducted with the 30 most social-savvy airlines on issues such as staffing, budgets and ROI (get the report here).
• Monthly Airline Marketing Benchmark Reports – Produced every month by SimpliFlying in partnership with airlinetrends.com, this report has 15 fresh case-studies covering the most innovative marketing campaigns by airlines across the world (get the latest report here).

Case-Studies

• Top 30 Airline Social Media Case-Studies featured on SimpliFlying in 2012 (read here).
• Re-branding Royal Brunei Airlines – the journey behind-the-scenes (read here).
• Ryanair learns the power of social media. Profits dip 29% despite a 600% increase in marketing budget (read here)!
• Local pages and hyper-localization on Facebook (read here).

Social Customer Service

• Q and A – How brands can perform real time customer-service on social media (read here).
• Lessons from customer service in social media (read here).
• Statistics and Charts – How US Airlines are providing customer support on Facebook (read here).
• Two tales of customer experience – AirAsia X vs Kingfisher Airlines (read here).

Crisis Management and Handling Bloopers

• Why Korean Air’s #primitiveenergy campaign angered Africans and how they could have managed the crisis better (read here).
• How Royal Brunei Airlines handled the emergency landing of their plane superbly on social media (read here).
• Southwest Airlines finds out whether a campaign can be too successful for its own good  - A cautionary tale for those looking to run competitions (read here).

Social Loyalty

• A New Era in Airline Loyalty – The Rise of Social Loyalty Programs and Social Advocacy (read here).
• Free eBook – How Airlines Can Drive Loyalty on Social Media (read here).

Expert Insights

• Interview – Jonathan Pierce, Director of Social Communications at American Airlines sheds light on how social media drives results for American Airlines (read here).
• Interview – Azran Osma-Rani, CEO of AirAsiaX talks about how the low-cost, long-haul modeal can be made to work in Asia Pacific (read here).
• Podcast – Mary Kirby, Editor-in-Chief of APEX Magazine sheds light on a industry in flux (click here).
• Interview – Heidi Brauer, Kulula’s Marketing Head tells us why Kulula is the world’s funniest airline (read here).
• Interview – Gary Wicks of Boeing shares how Boeing’s commercial airplanes division takes the social media bull by the horns (read here).
  

Revenue

• Mango Airlines CEO attributes 50% growth in revenues to social media (read here).

Airports

• Airport Social Media Outlook 2012-13: Research based on a survey with over 50 of the most social-savvy airports on issues such as staffing, budgets and ROI (read more).
• Presentation – How Airports can Engage the Connected Traveler (read here).
• A 4-part special series on how Airports are engaging the Connected Traveler in a number of ways – from crowdsourcing to social customer service (read here).
• The Road Ahead for Airports in 2013: Why Real-time customer service and non-aeronautical revenues will be the keys to success (read here).

[Write to us at engage@simpliflying.com if you wish to learn more about how your airline can profitably engage the Connected Traveler in 2013.]

The post 30 Essential Resources for Airlines and Airports to Effectively Engage the Connected Traveler and Drive Results in 2013 appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Shubhodeep Pal

Head of Operations and Innnovation at SimpliFlying

Shubhodeep Pal is the Head of Operations and Innovation at SimpliFlying and has been leading Product Development, Marketing and Business Development since December 2010 from the headquarters in Singapore. His writings have appeared extensively on SimpliFlying as well as revered industry outlets such as Tnooz, Airlinetrends and Loyalty360. He has considerable experience working in the social media sphere, having also conducted a workshop at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore. He has written an introductory e-book for social media newbies and has previously interned at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as well. His wide range of interests include startups, programming, economics, geopolitics, film-direction/criticism and literature. His first collection of poems, Interruptions was released in 2009. He can be reached at shubhodeep@simpliflying.com.

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It’s that time of year again. An exhilarating year makes way for the next. A journey ends, only for a newer, re-invigorated one to begin.

As the holiday season blossoms and the year comes to an end, both companies and individuals start their customary review of their year and make plans to make an even greater impact in the new year.  As the year draws to a close, we  take a look back at the best case-studies we have published in our Top 10 case-packs this year. 

The best 30 have been collected in a single slide-deck that includes case-studies covering all stages of the Connected Traveler Lifecycle as well as the best Plane Launches, Crisis Management case-studies and Airport initiatives. From KLM’s social seating initiative to Schiphol Airport’s “Share your Food” campaign to South African Airways’ virtual safari to how American Airlines handled a terror threat, find a wealth of social media case-studies published over the last year. We hope this recap inspires and spurs into action not only our regular readers but also those who have been too busy to read all of our Top 10s. We hope you find inspiration in the New Year and plan initiatives even better than the ones covered. 

For the very best initiatives we have also included additional links to the in-depth case studies that are available on our website. Please click the button below to download this special, year-end case-pack. 

SimpliFlying can help your airline or airport super-charge your social media strategy and get ahead of your competition. Feel free to contact us directly at engage@simpliflying.com. We offer a number of specialized services designed to help Airlines and Airports engage their customers profitably. This year we have also launched a number of new Topical MasterClasses, including one for agencies. We also offer Monthly Airline Marketing Benchmark Reports to help airlines monitor the best initiatives from around the world and stay ahead of competition.

The post [Rewind] Top 30 Airline Social Media Case-Studies Featured on SimpliFlying in 2012 appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Shubhodeep Pal

Head of Operations and Innnovation at SimpliFlying

Shubhodeep Pal is the Head of Operations and Innovation at SimpliFlying and has been leading Product Development, Marketing and Business Development since December 2010 from the headquarters in Singapore. His writings have appeared extensively on SimpliFlying as well as revered industry outlets such as Tnooz, Airlinetrends and Loyalty360. He has considerable experience working in the social media sphere, having also conducted a workshop at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore. He has written an introductory e-book for social media newbies and has previously interned at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as well. His wide range of interests include startups, programming, economics, geopolitics, film-direction/criticism and literature. His first collection of poems, Interruptions was released in 2009. He can be reached at shubhodeep@simpliflying.com.

LinkedIn

Although planes are a fundamental part of the aviation industry, only a tiny percentage of the millions of passengers they carry are able to tell the difference between the different types.  This is because, as we explained in an earlier article, the main reason why people travel is to get to the destination and the plane is just a mean of transport, not an attraction.

That said, in cases where passengers can choose between one or more competing airlines, the aircraft used by the airline and its comfort can become an crucial element in the ticket purchase decision. For this reason, when an airline decides to invests in new aircraft, it is of paramount importance to ensure that the advantages of the new plane are amply communicated to the public. 

In this Top 10, we’ll have a look at the best social media initiatives by airlines to showcase their brand new aircraft and raise awareness of their features. 

The post Top 10 Plane Launches that have effectively used Social Media appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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Social sharing plays a particularly important role and constitutes the main change agent that is the defining feature of today’s Connected Traveler as compared to the traveler of yore. Thanks to the increasing availability of wireless internet, usage of social media and the ubiquity of smartphones, travelers have become connected, acquiring a previously unknown ability to share content and experiences (both positive and negative) while also influencing others. This has compelled airlines to sit up and take notice of travelers’ needs, desires, wants, aspirations and queries.

The SimpliShare element is not a standalone stage of the Connected Traveler Lifecycle. Instead, it is more of a constant that not only provides the fundamental link between the SimpliTravel and SimpliDream elements, but also connects all other elements to each other.

Shared content (if positive) can push new people to start dreaming or help them move to the next stage of their traveler lifecycle. Both airlines and airports must understand this in order to be successful in their engagement strategies. We present below the 10 best engagement initiatives that have actively encouraged social sharing. We hope you enjoy the case-studies. (Note: The Connected Traveler Lifecycle comprises four parts in addition to SimpliShare – you can view case-studies specific to them at SimpliDream, SimpliPlan, SimpliBook and SimpliTravel.)

The post SimpliShare: Top 10 Airlines that have Leveraged the Power of Social Sharing appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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In an industry whose purpose is moving people and things, staying in one place might seem like a paradox. But it is an everyday reality for an essential part of the aviation industry: airports.

Changing Times

Unlike airlines, airports do not have the flexibility of adapting their network based on the market’s demands and are entirely dependent on people who are willing to travel to or from their local area. Furthermore, with the ever increasing liberalization that is taking place in the aviation industry, competition has intensified among airlines and subsidized routes have almost completely disappeared.

In this new environment, many airports have started to realize the importance of marketing themselves both as destinations for incoming travelers and convenient friendly environments for local and transit travelers.

Interesting initiatives

In this month’s Top 10 we’ll have a look at how a large airport like Amsterdam was able to help children in need while at the same time helping its restaurants get noticed and Gatwick airport found a way to keep its youngest travelers busy using a sound based social network.  Furthermore you’ll also discover the power of crowds with Helsinki Airport, how Dublin takes pride in its identity and much more. (You can also view the 2011 edition here.)

The post The 2012 Guide to the Top 10 Airports Engaging Customers Profitably on Social Media appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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The SimpliTravel phase of the Connected Traveler Lifecycle is undoubtedly the oldest and more easily understood part of the lifecycle. It refers to the period when the customer is actually traveling. However, this is also a challenging stage because, even though users carry with them an ever-increasing number of devices, the availability of internet connection is still an issue, especially during international travel. (Previous Top 10s have showcased initiatives during the SimpliDream, SimpliPlan and SimpliBook stages of travel for today’s Connected Traveler.)

Beyond the traditional element

Most airlines and airports have traditionally regarded this phase as “the” point of contact between them and their customers. As a result, a lot of attention has been given to designing better user experiences trough interior design, crowd management, and employee-training techniques. It is important, however, to stress that while the “traditional” personal experience represents the bulk of the user experience in this stage, mobile and social technologies are increasingly in demand and do have the potential to significantly enhance the experience.

In this Top 10, we take a look at the best ways in which airlines have attempted to engage today’s increasingly connected and socially-savvy travelers during this phase of travel. We hope you’ll enjoy it :

Featured Image: Courtesy KLM

The post SimpliTravel: Top 10 Airline Initiatives to Engage today’s Connected Traveler during the Travel Stage appeared first on SimpliFlying.

Author information

Marco Serusi

Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying

Marco is an Engagement Executive at SimpliFlying. He’s Italian, but has lived in several countries since he was 18, earning an Air Transport degree in the UK, a pilot license in Florida and an MBA in Spain. He now lives in Valencia, Spain where he previously worked as a Marketing Director.

You can talk to him in Italian, English or Spanish. You can also tweet him at @simplimarco, e-mail him at marco@simpliflying.com.

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