The interview is preceded, as usual, by a free industry insights section where SimpliFlying’s CEO Shashank Nigam and Community Engagement Manager Marco Serusi discuss the latest industry news, focusing on the Singapore air show and the marked shift in power from Europe to Asia.

You can listen to the free version below (industry insights) or subscribe to it on our iTunes channel:

Interview with KLM’s VP of eCommerce (Premium podcast only)

While the industry insights section of our podcast is free to listen to and download, you can purchase our extended premium podcast for only $19 if you wish to listen to both the insights and interview section.

Here are some highlights from our interview with KLM:

• How the idea of the “meet and seat” was conceived and the role of crowdsourcing in the process (11:30)
• How one slide in a presentation started the viral buzz that anticipated the launch of the campaign (12:20)
• How the social media team at KLM works (13:30)
• How KLM assesses ROI on social media (14:25)
• Privacy concerns on the Meet and Seat campaign (16:45)
• The demographics of the Meet and Seat users (19:05)
• Why KLM thinks social media marketing matters (21:30)

Purchase the premium podcast below:

(Clicking on the link above will take you to Paypal where you can securely make your one-time purchase of $19. Please do not hesitate to contact us at podcasts@simpliflying.com if you face any difficulties in making the purchase.)

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• High Flying Tweets: 11 of the best airline or aviation bloggers / journalists to follow on Twitter

Making SpiceJet one of India’s best airlines

In his interview, Sanjay reveals a number of gems that have made SpiceJet so successful. His clarity of thought is evident in this sentence:

“We want to focus on what we do well, and we will do it better than anyone else out there – which is to provide a quality, safe, clean and reliable transportation.”

Lessons from Marriott

Having worked at Marriott, Sanjay sums up its philosophy as to take care if its people, and ultimately they’ll keep the customer happy. And with 150,000 employees, they still maintain their culture. And this is the culture Sanjay is trying to re-create at SpiceJet, by “finding the right people and motivating them to deliver an unmatched in-flight experience”.

I’ll let you enjoy the succint interview. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

• What makes Indigo Airlines one of the best budget carriers in India?
• Building a strong Indigo Airlines brand, and outlook for 2009
• Building the “spiciest” airline brand in India: Interview with SpiceJet COO
• To get to the wallet, go through the heart – Lessons in brand execution from SpiceJet
• Announcement: February will be “Indian Aviation Month”

Canadian playwright Raymond Hull is famously quoted as saying that “he who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.” Laura Reis has aptly applied this concept to airline branding, and concluded that airlines need to “do one thing and do it well” to build lasting brands.

Laura Ries is a world renowned branding guru and is the president of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm that she runs with her father Al Ries – the person who coined the term “positioning”. Together they have consulted with many Fortune 500 companies, including leading airlines. Hence, it is an honor to feature her exclusive interview on airline branding at SimpliFlying.

The power of focus

In this Part 1 of 2 interviews, Laura and I discuss the importance of laser-sharp focus for airlines. She shares the example of American Airlines – whose latest campaign is “we know why you fly”. “Who doesn’t know why a person flies!”, Laura exclaims. American Airlines is a textbook example of unfocused and diluted branding, where a company is trying hard to please everyone, and in the end achieving little.

On the contrary, airlines like Southwest and AirAsia know very well the segment they serve and cater their product and brands specifically to this group – budget travelers. At the other end of the spectrum are airlines like Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, which have a strong focus on high-end travelers. All of these are extremely successful.

The value of simplicity

Something else Laura points out is that very often the “complicated price structure infuriates the passenger”. They might see a $29 airfare, but adding taxes makes the figure balloon up to over $150. In addition to that, they might still end up paying baggage fee and for other peripheries at the airport.  Laura believes that unless the passengers understand the cost logically, and are told about it upfront, their trust in a brand decreases over time. Hence, it’s in the airlines’ favor to keep things simple, especially ticket price structures.

I shall not dive into more details, and let you listen to the first part of SimpliFlying’s exclusive interview with Laura Reis. Part 2 will be out on Friday, 12 Dec (where she talks about deriving brand value from mergers and why no one will join social networks by airlines).

What do you think? Is focus a good thing or bad? Will airlines lose out if they focus too much on a niche? Will having simplistic pricing structures result in a loss of profits? What can really enhance the airline brand? Let’s hear it in the comments section.

• Laura Reis of Reis & Reis feels airline social networks are “ridiculous”
• MIT’s Prof John Hansman predits a bleak future for airlines
• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul
• Airline Baggage Fees : The Airline Industry’s Financial Salvation?
• Joe Crump of Razorfish predicts doom for airlines that don’t build digital brands

Allen Adamson, Landor

“Successfully branding an airline is the ultimate branding test,” concluded Allen Adamson last Friday in his office during an interview with this blog. Allen is the Managing Director at the New York office of Landor Assosiates, one of the most respected branding firms and one that is heavily involved in airline branding globally. Landor has led brand strategy at heavyweights of the industry like Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways, Austrian Airlines, Delta Airlines and Japan Airlines. Allen is also the author of the recently published book, BrandDigital, which details how companies should leverage the latest in Web 2.0 to build their brands.

“The digital airline brand is all about execution”

office…………
“The execution has to be spectacular – online and offline,” Allen explained, when asked what is the key to building successful airline brand in today’s hyper-connected world. Allen believes that the internet acts as a magnifying glass for all business operations and achieving transparency is essential. “If you don’t reveal it, someone else will”, he added. He aptly mentioned SeatGuru.com as an example of a site that has taken advantage of this phenomenon, by revealing the best seats in the plane – something airlines could have done themselves. Allen believes that the internet should be tapped to understand customers better and address their needs in an interactive way – JetBlue being a good example of an airline that does this well.

The importance of internal branding

The other part of brand execution that matters is internal branding – something SouthWest is well known for. In in his experience in working with airlines, Allen has learnt that empowering the employees directly interacting with the customers to make decisions on their own cultivates happy customers too. Training them well and keeping them happy to ensure that they live the brand, and communicate the brand to the customers in every interaction is essential. In this regards, airlines can learn from brands like Disney and Nordstrom, both of which have successfully managed to filter down a consistent brand experience to every touchpoint.

Below, you can watch the full interview with Allen, who was gracious enough to grant us time from his busy calendar for this. Special thanks to Leonie Derry from Landor, who tirelessly worked to ensure that this interview took place.

So, what do you think? Is execution the key to an airline brand’s success, as Allen believes? Is survival more important than the brand, or do they go hand in hand? Let’s hear it in the comments section…

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• SimpliFlying is “aviation website of the week” (and more accolades)
• MIT’s Prof John Hansman predits a bleak future for airlines
• Building a strong Indigo Airlines brand, and outlook for 2009
• Happy Crew = Happy Passengers = Great Brand!
• Laura Reis of Reis & Reis feels airline social networks are “ridiculous”