SimpliFlying

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Lisa Markovic, Jet Airways

Jet Airways has been the shining star of the Indian aviation industry, especially in the past 5 years, since liberalization. The airline established itself as the harbinger of positive changes in the region, and currently offers one of the best service in the Indian skies, their numerous industry awards a proof of that.

A couple of years ago, Jet Airways started international operations and currently offers direct flights to key destinations in India from New York, via their hub in Brussels. However, of late, the airline has struggled with the rest of the world airlines due to fluctuating fuel prices and the economic troubles. Seeking to douse my curiosity on how Jet Airways is dealing with this, I decided to get the inside scoop by speaking with the expert.

In conversation with an industry veteran, Lisa Markovic

In Part 1 of this two-part interview, Lisa Markovic, the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Jet Airways in the US, talks about how work at Jet Airways is different from her 22 years at Lufthansa. She shares the unique challenges of differentiating the Jet Airways brand in the US, especially from JetBlue! She also talks about the unique marketing mix Jet Airways is aiming for in the US. When asked about the Jet Airways product and service, Lisa comments, “I’ve flown around the world on a number of airlines, but never came across anything like the product offering of Jet Airways.” I suggest you hear the rest from the lady herself.

Remember to tune in for Part 2 of this interview this Friday. Lisa will talk about how Jet Airways is tapping on “ethnic branding” in the US, planning for the future and what the Kingfisher alliance means.

Related articles:

• Jet Airways employee sacking with an interesting online twist
• Three lessons from Jet Airways on how not to treat employees
• Indian airline reinstates 800 staff
• Airlines Add Service and Amenities to Asian Routes

AirFrance-KLM's Bluenity

AirFrance-KLM recently launced Bluenity, what they claim as the “first social network for travelers” by an airline. But as Scott Carmichael pointed out in his article at Gadling, Lufthansa was the first airline to launch such a social network called GenFly Lounge - targeted at student travelers. Both of these sites follow the norms of social networks, allowing you to add friends, have a profile page, and of course, update your travel plans and interact with other travelers.

But it’s important for airlines to differentiate their efforts so that they’re not creating yet another Dopplr (which I think is a great community for travelers). So, what are some of the things that airlines can do to ensure that their online forays help enhance the brand overall?

How to “control” the brand online?

Don’t even try! Since it’s the world of user generated content, user opinions often matter more than what the “corporate speak” is. As Michael D’Esopo from Lippincott shared in his interview, there is a need to allow free discourse to take place online. The airline should really just act as a moderator. This way, they will also discover and learn more about their customers’ changing tastes in these economic times.

The other dilemma airlines face is how tightly to couple the online community with the brand. I think there are two ways of doing this. If a community is being built around a specific airline, like Virgin Atlantic’s initiative, it should clearly project the brand promise and align its efforts with its real brand. It’s like a brand extension, just online.

Though, if an airline is targeting the general traveler, I think it’s important to de-couple the brand from the airline, and offer a platform for online interactions between travelers for it to bloom. Furthermore, this forum can be a treasure trove of insights for market research in the future!

Integrate and interact, but do not interrupt

Traditional marketing has sought to interrupt a target customer to seek his attention, for example through an advertisement during a TV show. But new technologies allow companies to interact with their customers without interrupting their lifestyle. Social networks are the “in-thing” at the moment, but it’s important for airlines to go where their target market is, rather than expecting them to come to them.

As Allen Adamson [watch interview] states in his book BrandDigital, it’s important to “identify where people are hanging out and what they’re doing”. A great example of this is Virgin Atlantic’s Facebook page, which has over 7000 “fans” and allows the airline to interact with its potential youth customers in a way they are comfortable with. Similarly, social networks like Bluenity and GenFly Lounge will do well by offering good integration with leading networks like Facebook and MySpace, as well as LinkedIn (and it’s not that difficult!). This way, the barrier to “sign-up” can be significantly reduced and usage is likely to increase too.

To sell or not to sell? Have a measure for ROI

Often, a return on investment (ROI) from marketing efforts is linked to revenues generated from those initiatives. But having an online social network for travelers from “all airlines” and then trying to sell them tickets on your own airline doesn’t sound right. Hence, it’s important to have a measure of success of the online initiative, other than just the revenue it brings in.

For example, I’m sure in addition to sale of special recommended fares on Virgin Atlantic, the creators of the page also probably had a target of 5000 “fans” in 2 months. Bluenity probably measures success monitoring the amount of “buzz” created by people sharing travel tips and connecting with other travelers. Such “ROI” measures are also likely to help sell the project internally in the airline.

What do you think? What are some of the other things airlines should consider when building online communities? Which other airlines are doing a good job with this? Let’s hear it in the comments section.

Up next…an exclusive interview with VP of Sales & Marketing at Jet Airways USA. Remember to watch it on Wed, 19 Nov.

Recently, there has been a surge in online betting on an interesting issue - which would be the next airline to go bust? Below is a screenshot of one of those sites. From the odds, we can tell that FlyGlobespan and SkyEurope are the most likely to go bust very soon, and British Airways and Lufthansa are the commercial airlines least likely to go bust.

So, does that mean that airlines with stronger brands less likely to go bankrupt? It’s a lot about consumer perception and brand equity. Let’s discuss, and hopefully, we’ll reach a conclusion that derives a relationship between betting odds and brand equity!

Image by John Creasey via Flickr

One of my aviation junkie buddies from Singapore recently posed an intriguing question:

For airlines, does the product come first or the brand? Essentially, if an airline is losing money (as is the case with many airlines these days), does the management concentrate on revitalizing the product so that it can turn a profit in the short term, or is it better to focus on brand building, for long term sustainability?

On the surface, the answer may appear simple enough – what’s the point in thinking about long term profits, if you’re not sure of surviving another month with the current product offerings and operations?

More importantly, concentrating on just the brand without a strong product is like putting lipstick on a pig. It just doesn’t work, regardless of the quality of the lipstick. Especially so in the highly volatile, and very competitive airline industry. This concept is visible in the latest United Airlines advertisements shown during the Olympics, which show animated figures supposedly (since there it is difficult to infer) enjoying the luxury of United’s new international first class. It’s so far removed from the reality that the nickle and dimed customers probably don’t feel any connection with it. Here’s a sample of that advertisement.

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The conclusion reached in the previous article on this topic was that all-business airlines are indeed going extinct, and they have to innovatively collaborate with full-service carriers for long term survival. The discussion today moves on to whether all-business class travel on full-service airlines has any future.

Full Service airlines with specific all-business routes: Verdict – Here for now

Legacy airlines are becoming more enamored with all-business-class service. Four European airlines — Lufthansa, Swiss, KLM and Air France— are offering some all-business-class flights to the USA. The flights are operated by PrivatAir, based in Geneva. Lufthansa runs an all-business flight to Pune, India and Dubai, UAE as well. ANA runs one between Tokyo and Mumbai, India. Singapore Airlines began it’s much awaited Newark-Singapore all-business service last month. Lastly, British Airways subsidiary OpenSkies plans to start New York-Paris flights with a Boeing 757 jet configured with more than 60% of the seats for business-class fliers, on June 19.

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