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In the last part of his three-part interview, Joe Crump,  the VP of Strategic Planning at Razorfish, reveals that instead of fearing the recession, airlines around the world can use it as a catalyst to build strong brands. Joe believes that “incredibly narrow constraints usually present the biggest opportunity for innovation”. I couldn’t agree with him more.

Companies like Apple, GE and Toyota have emerged stronger by just doing that in the past. In fact, the airline industry is full of success stories from the recession as well, like AirAsia and JetBlue. Right now, Virgin America in the US is doing a fabulous job at building a strong brand by offering great value in the recession.

Digital investments = greater ROI

Joe makes a startling revelation in his interview below. He shares that contrary to popular belief, investments in product upgrades on-board an aircraft, as well as other “hard” invesments like frequent flier lounges seldom match the return possible from “soft” investments like online media and a solid SEO (search engine optimization) strategy.

As I’ve stated in my previous articles on the topic, investments in building a strong digital brand presents a tremendous opportunity for airlines in a recession. Just the effeciency of the medium is often far beyond traditional mediums and investments that Joe mentioned. It’s something airlines should be seriously considering. Joe states that “airlines can use digital to drive loyalty, by using the medium to add a voice to the airline”.

Predictions for 2009

As shared in my first article of the year, Joe is looking forward to surfing the internet on-board airlines and is curious to see what opportunities arise from this developement. Moreover, he believes that “transactions” and “advertisements” will become much more seamless than they are right now, in 2009.

Here’s Joe Crump, un-cut. You can view all three parts of his interview here. 

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Target the niche and appeal to the masses

When asked whether airlines should carve out a niche or target everyone, Joe responded with an intriguing answer – do both at the same time. He shares the example of Virgin America, which stongly markets itself to “the connected class”  but the budget conscious traveler often boards the airline too, since they offer such a great value product and service.

Do digital branding efforts need new measurement rules?

At the recent Interact 2008 conference in Washington DC, Joe had mentioned that the “Interbrand brand rankings are dead”. I dug in on his comment to find out what he really meant. Joe explained that the old rules of brand engagement have changed, since a brand’s digital presence now needs to be taken into account too. Hence the methods to measure them also need to be adapted to the current practices. And this is especially true for airline brands, since they’ve been operating by rules set in the 60s, and not those meant for the new millennium. Hence, they need to emerge out of the “Jurassic era” and adopt digital branding. Fast. 

“Before and After”, the true opportunity

Something very interesting Joe shared with me was how he defined brand experience as having a beginning, middle and end. It’s the middle that airlines currently focus on – the in-flight experience. Hence he sees an immense opportunity for airlines in the “before” and “after” flight brand experience. Adn the key to unlocking the true brand potential here will be going digital – since much of the entry brand experience with an airline happens online. Herein lies the hidden opportunities for airlines around the world.

I’m sure you’d enjoy hearing an industry thought leader’s ideas on airlines, branding and Web 2.0. Here’s Joe Crump, un-cut. You can view all three parts of his interview here.

What do you think of Joe’s ideas? Do you also feel that traditional brand rankings have lost their relevance? Is there a need to come up with a benchmark just for airlines? Let’s hear your thoughts.

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I’ve had the opportunity in the past few months of interviewing a number of distinguished thought leaders in the aviation and branding industry over the past few months on SimpliFlying. But a recent encounter in New York has left a deep impression on me, since this brand leader’s ideas truly resonated with what I’ve been writing about technology branding for airlines lately.

I’m referring to my conversation with Joe Crump, the VP of Strategy & Planning at Razorfish – the leading digital branding agency. At one point in the interview, he predicts that “any airline that doesn’t go digital pretty damn quick is going to find itself obsolete”. And he has 25 years of experience in branding and technology to back up his foresight.

Airline branding – “genuinely complicated”

In his interview, Joe shared that the fundamental problem of the airline industry is that “of over-promising and then inconsistently delivering”. And this is mainly because of the number of externalities airlines need to deal with – from fluctuating oil prices to severe weather conditions – all of which often impact the business negatively. Ultimately, it’s detrimental to the brand and makes airline branding “full of rich challenges”.

Expanding the brand “beyond the browser”

Joe also discloses that the “least important part of brand building is how you talk about it”. It’s the brand experience that matters most, and in case of airlines, begins much before a passenger steps on the plane. These days, it starts on the Internet. Joe believes that airlines cannot afford to have stale websites anymore, as they’re competing against the likes of Apple and Coke, when it comes to delivering an online brand experience.

He shares that airlines like Virgin America, JetBlue, Southwest and Ryanair are setting new benchmarks in web interaction. Personally, I’ve had great experiences with Cathay Pacific as well. But most of these airlines are pretty agile and generally young, without legacy baggage.

Joe’s advise for legacy carriers is that they need to renew their culture by imbibing a spirit of innovation across the airline. An example of this he gives is that of American Airlines adopting Go-Go for providing wifi in the air.

Without revealing much more about the man and his ideas, let me jump straight to the interview. Below, you’ll find the first of three parts of Joe’s interview. The other two parts of his interview will be posted on SimpliFlying on 21st and 23rd January.

What are your thoughts on Joe’s analysis? Do you agree with him, and my earlier assessment that airlines need to go digital with their brands? What’re some examples of airlines succeeding at such efforts, and failing too?

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