Branding Head at Burson-Marsteller wants airlines to “stop being the Greyhound of the skies”

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Recently, Delta Airlines hired a new COO for the merged entity. He is the former CEO of Greyhound – the notorious bus service in the US with customer service horror stories abound on the internet. When I read this news, I couldn’t help but forward it to the lady who had animatedly mentioned to me that airlines are becoming “like the Greyhound of the skies”.

Airlines have often learnt the hard way that well managed public relations (PR) forms the backbone of successful airline marketing and branding. To learn more about what constitutes a successful PR strategy for airlines, and how it ties in with the overall branding approach, I met up with Samantha Lucas, Chair, U.S. Brand Marketing Practice at Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR agencies. She shared with me some original insights on how airlines can build brands that soar above the Greyhounds of the world.
Local PR for a global airline brand
Samantha believes that “perception of airlines differs from region to region.” Hence, PR efforts should appeal to the locals, instead of trying to impress with the same …