***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying**

In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world.

Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I stand corrected – innovation is indeed taking place in the US too. And in addition to just flying their own airlines regularly, I’d highly encourage every senior airline executive in the world to come give Virgin America a shot on their next trip to the US. And here’s why.

Red, White and Purple – ah..so..Virgin

Virgin America probably has the best in-flight product on a narrowbody aircraft (trust me…I’ve flown a lot of them). And the brand personality truly stands out!

The ambience: The number of innovations inside the cabin are astounding. The first thing that strikes you is the cabin ambience – purple lights and swanky music. This may be common on some interrnational airlines like Emirates, but is a rarity in the US domestically.

The IFE: The advanced IFE allows you to order food on-demand, watch movies on demand and chat with other passengers on the flight – and for things you need to pay for, you just swipe your credit card right in the IFE screen! It’s all very user friendly.

The seat: When I relaxed into my seat, it felt very comfortable. After checking Seatguru.com, I realized that they have one of the widest seat in a narrowbody aircraft… in the world… both in First Class and Main Cabin (Economy), and the seat pitch is generous too.

The Service: On the flight, I was served by Aladdin, his brother Mazen and Cheryl (see photos below). One has been flying for almost 20 years, another is a former lawyer! Mazen actually made the effort to pronounce my name right – which was impressive. Again – the personal touches made an impression.

At the airport: Even on the ground, there is a diffence. Only two airlines use the International Terminal for domestic flights from San Francisco – Virgin America, and JetBlue. Is it a surprise that they’re two of America’s favorite airlines? The good thing is that you can choose to relax in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse (another world beater), which is at the same terminal.

In-flight connectivity = future of IFE

The biggest revelation has been the in-flight wifi made available thanks to Gogo in-flight. Now, I know that there are a number of airlines trying it out, but only Virgin America and AirTran have implemented it fleet-wide. And that I feel is a competitive advantage, until the others catch up.

I have shared my views in the past that the future of in-flight entertainment, especially for budget airlines, might mean providing a power outlet and a wifi connection. These are both enablers. They empower passengers to use their own devices the way they want to.

And after flying Virgin America today, I feel the future of IFE is indeed in-flight connectivity. For the first time, I did not feel “jailed” in a tube. I even Skyped my mom and showed her the view from my window!

Delivering on the brand eXpectations…

Now,  you’ve probably already heard a number of the things I’ve shared here about Virgin America. After all, it’s been over two years since the airline launched all of what I’ve just experiencedfor the first time today. But that also meant I had sky-high expectations of the airline.

The good news is that they not only met the brand eXpectations (remember, the whitepaper?), but exceeded them at times too. And that in itself is an achievement.

The Verdict

If you’re in the airline industry – you need to fly Virgin America (and soon) to get a glimse of what the future looks like. If you are living outside the US, make sure you fly Virgin America on a domestic route if possible – it will be a totally different experience.

And if you are living in the US, then come fly probably the best airline flying domestically in the US.

P.S: Special thanks to Bowen Payson from Virgin America for meeting me for coffee early in the morning at the airport!

• Richard Branson’s interview about Virgin America goes viral. But why?
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.
• Virgin America’s online community – bull’s eye, or a flop?
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Top five branding insights from Virgin America

Update: airBaltic has kindly agreed to fly in the winners of this contest to London for FREE, from anywhere on their network! All you have to do is fulfill the conditions below, and follow airBaltic on Twitter.

Social media is increasingly becoming a tool of strategic competitive advantage for airlines. Delta Airlines now sells tickets on Facebook. Virgin America uses Twitter to launch new routes and save on marketing. And airBaltic [Disclosure: SimpliFlying Client] probably has a bigger presence online than in the real world. So how can other airlines learn from the likes of these successful airlines to build their own social media strategies? We have the answer.

Airline Business and Flight Global, in association with SimpliFlying, are delighted to be launching the first social media conference dedicated to aviation and all things airline related. The conference will take place on 1st October 2010 in Central London and you can now Register here. The conference will also be featuring the 1st ever SimpliFlying-Airline Business Awards for Excellence in Social Media – and you can start by nominating your airline for the SimpliFlying Heroes award, to be considered.

The distinguished speakers list includes Raúl Rodríguez, general manager for Europe, Pluna and CEO, Freespirit; renowned social media expert Paula Berg (of Southwest Airlines fame), SAS eCommerce manager ancillary services Christian Kamhaug, airBaltic Chief Commercial Officer Tero Taskila, Google UK industry manager, Travel, Nathan Bucholz, and many more. Moreover, the industry-favorite, Mary Kirby of the Runway Girl fame will be the Chairperson for the conference.

Once again, I’d like to personally invite you to join us in what will be an exceptional day of sharing and learning in London. You can register for the conference here.

How to win a two tickets to the conference?

As always, we have a treat for our loyal readers. We’re giving away two tickets to the conference and here’s how you can win them:

1. Follow us on Twitter (@simpliflying) or subscribe to our RSS feed.
2. Tell us on Twitter or in comments below, what’s the one question you’d like answered at the conference. Do make sure to use the hashtag #SMairlines, or mention @simpliflying, so that we can keep a track of the entries
3. The winner will be selected by a lucky draw on September 10, 2010
4. The more questions you post/tweet, the more chances you have to win!

Good luck with the contest. Winners will fly in free to London from any of airBaltic’s destinations. And I look forward to meeting some of you in London on 1st October.

• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009
• 3 speaking engagements on Airlines and social media in October
• Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain
• Presentation on airlines and social media from FTMA & Freddies 2009, now available
• It’s our first birthday, and we want you to join us in Athens, Greece at the IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium

Virgin America created a splash today, by launching its first international destination, Toronto, on Twitter! They did not spend a cent on traditional advertising for this launch, and I personally think this is one of the smarter uses of social media I’ve seen by an airline in recent times.

The sweetener is that the first 500 people to book tickets using their Twitter ID would be able to redeem a 50% discount (still valid as of 2pm EDT, 20 Feb). If they’re not “following” the airline on Twitter, they will auto-follow. Even the official press release re-directed recipients to the Twitter URL.

“The first 500 Twitter followers who receive the airline’s expansion Tweet can score a 50 percent discount on flights to Toronto for travel June 23-November 17, 2010.*  Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, and its inventive use of technology, social media and design has made it a favorite among tech-forward flyers.  For more: www.twitter.com/virginamerica”.

The press release was followed by a single Tweet. And that’s it. That’s a very simple route-launch for you.

What so smart about Virgin America’s use of social media?

I’ve highlighted previously that Virgin America very cleverly uses social media by embedding sharing elements in their email newsletters. Now, they’ve taken the use of the medium to another level. Here’s why.

1. There is completely no support from traditional advertising: I bet the airline has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, by not buying media space in Toronto. I remember when Emirates launched Toronto flights – they had tall buildings in Dundas Square draped in red (see below).
2. Huge boost for social media team: I met with Bowen Payson last month, who leads the social media execution at Virgin America and sensed a lot of passion in him for what he and his team are trying to accomplish. Having no traditional advertising also represents a huge confidence in Bowen’s team by the senior management. It also speaks volumes about how visionary the senior executive team is, being led by Porter Gale and Dimitrios Papadogonas.
3. Fighting the battle on their own turf: Before redeeming voucher, you need to be a followed of Virgin America on Twitter. And not only do they request you, but they automatically verify and get you to follow if you’re not already doing so. They can do this because you’ve entered your Twitter id and password on their website! Now, imagine all the tracking Virgin America can do with this tool as well – identifying which Twitter user logged in, but didn’t buy, and even mapping Twitter-Ids to frequent flier numbers. This is also something I’ve not seen airlines do, but surely reflects the future of social CRM.

All in all, a terrific job by Virgin America. What do you think about their efforts? Do you have examples to share where airlines have done similar things, well? Let’s hear it in the comments, and over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

P.S: Thanks to Dan from Things in the Sky blog for this tip-off.

P.P.S: Here’s how Emirates launched their Toronto flights.

• The day airlines’ Twitter accounts were hacked, and three steps to reverse the brand damage
• Interview with Emirates VP Nigel Page on the A380 flights to JFK, SFO and LAX
• Five lessons in crises handling from the Facebook war between Ryanair and SAS Scandinavian Airlines
• SimpliFlying now helping airports take-off: announcing SimpliFlying Airports
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.

A picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll share with you the screen shot of an email by Virgin America that was posted by a blogger last week. Three words to describe this marketing effort – appropriate, effective and spreadable.

Don’t you think?

• Reality check: Why social media can be the solution for airlines’ grey skies
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Smart Social Media Branding: Virgin America launches Toronto on Twitter, at 50% discount [couponcode, still valid]
• Virgin America’s online community – bull’s eye, or a flop?
• Why every visionary airline executive needs to fly Virgin America this year – to get a glimpse of the future

I have another confession to make. I haven’t been on Virgin America, and I really want to try it! (the first confession was a couple of weeks back that I haven’t been on Southwest, and that I wanted to meet the rapping flight attendant). Why the sudden burst of emotions? Well, because I just watched an interview of Richard Branson in one of those purple-blue cabins and I was mesmerized, yet again.

Why is it all the rave? Thanks to The Nerdist.

Because this time, Richard was interviewed by Chris Hardwick, “The Nerdist“, and Chris has been generating lots of comments on the interview, been Tweeting about it and making a lot more fans for the airline than probably a Virgin America advertisement in the morning daily would have. Why am I so sure? May be because on Twitter, Chris has 20 times the “followers” that Virgin America has! And I bet his website gets more hits than the Virgin America website too.

The point I’m trying to make? Airlines are in the service business, and not in the transport business. And because of that, airlines cannot shy away from social media anymore. Be it working with influencers like Chris or The Cranky Flier, or providing accelerated customer service through Twitter. In an interview with USA Today. JetBlue’s CEO Dave Barger summed up my emotions about social media best:

“My sense is that really – not just in America – but the around world there’s what’s known as mainstream media. But, new social media, it’s there. It’s real-time…. It’s Real.”

I just think that Dave Barger makes a lot of sense. What do you think? Watch the Branson video below and share your thoughts in the comments section, or come talk to me (@simpliflying)  on Twitter.

There are still two more autographed copies of the book on Singapore Airlines to be given away, and a 4gb Apple iPod to be won. You too can be a winner, just by re-tweeting a comment from SimpliFlying or leaving a comment on this site. Learn more here.

• Why Virgin Atlantic Airways is not “on the brink of collapse”
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.
• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul
• Social media mogul Chris Brogan joins SimpliFlying’s Board of Advisors
• Smart Social Media Branding: Virgin America launches Toronto on Twitter, at 50% discount [couponcode, still valid]

In my conversation with airline executives, I often emphasize my belief that an airline’s brand is what it does, not what it says it does.  And Virgin America in the US is proving to be very good at delivering their brand promises – that of presenting the customer a new way to fly.

I’ve written in the past that Virgin America  is good at living up to a highly-differentiated brand positioning. Be it Sir Richard Branson or the zingy flight attendants. Be it the smaller-than-usual boarding passes or the in-flight safety video. All elements enforce a strong Virginisque brand personality, and it is this which continues to linger in the customers’ minds long after they leave the plane.

Here’s a true account of a passenger who’s comparing her flights from Boston on Virgin America and Delta, and you can clearly tell why Virgin America is a clear-cut winner – because of their impeccable brand delivery.

• Top five branding insights from Virgin America
• Conde Nast Traveler 2008 airline rankings prove that product is the brand
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Virgin America’s online community – bull’s eye, or a flop?
• Richard Branson’s interview about Virgin America goes viral. But why?

….
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. 

• Airline brands need to emerge from the “jurassic era” – Joe Crump
• Joe Crump of Razorfish predicts doom for airlines that don’t build digital brands
• Airlines need to build strong digital brands to survive the recession in 2009
• Laura Reis of Reis & Reis feels airline social networks are “ridiculous”
• Landor Managing Director Allen Adamson reveals that creating a powerful airline brand is the ultimate test

Continuing the series of interviews with Joe Crump, the Vp of Strategic Planning at Razorfish, I’m pleased to share with you the second of his three part interview. Joe continues to amaze with his in-depth knowledge of not just the branding world, but also of the airline industry, since he’s a frequent flier himself.

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.

• “Use the recession as a catalyst to build strong airline brands” – Joe Crump
• Joe Crump of Razorfish predicts doom for airlines that don’t build digital brands
• Airline industry and branding outlook for 2009: Experts speak
• Conde Nast Traveler 2008 airline rankings prove that product is the brand
• Airlines need to build strong digital brands to survive the recession in 2009

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?

• Airline brands need to emerge from the “jurassic era” – Joe Crump
• “Use the recession as a catalyst to build strong airline brands” – Joe Crump
• How can legacy airlines, airports or hotels make an entry into social media? Start from within
• Airlines need to build strong digital brands to survive the recession in 2009
• Social media mogul Chris Brogan joins SimpliFlying’s Board of Advisors

Image via Wikipedia

Virgin America is the latest airline to foray into Web 2.0. It follows hot on the heels of similar initiatives by AirFrance-KLM, Lufthansa and sister-airline Virgin Atlantic. The big question is whether the effort is worth it, or is it yet another futile attempt? Will it help the brand? What else can be done to improve the website’s effectiveness?

What’s good about the “community” website?

…
Well… firstly, I think it’s a move in the right direction, and Virgin America has got a number of things right in their online community. Let me quickly review what’s good about the site, which will help the brand:

Reviews and stories: Site visitors are able to submit their stories of flying with Virgin America. There is also a section called “The Scoop”, which not only displays these stories, but also offers integration with leading online tools like Facebook and  Twitter. This is certainly good to get the customer warmed up to the Virgin America brand.

Engaging: The site has interactive features like the “toy box” where they can play games like “Voyage Simulator”. There is also a contest they can take part in, to be the “President of the Community”. These and other features are good for engaging the customers with the brand.

Tickets everywhere: The website has a panel on the left of the screen, which is essentially a flight booking form. Moreover, special offers sprout all over the website. This is a good strategy of inducing sales from visitors who have already “bit the bait”.

Now that Virgin America has already done a neat job with the website, how about some interesting ideas about increasing site adoption?

How abut engaging the passenger, in-flight?

Now that Virgin America has wi-fi on-board its planes, the airline should capitalize on this capability to engage the customer in-flight too. What better way to do this than by setting the community website as the homepage on the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system?

Those accessing the site from on-board the plane can have their personal details automatically added from the booking they would have made earlier (this can then be used to provide a custom homepage too!). They should be able to create an account online, and automatically be prompted to write a review for the flight they are on. After all, stories are best shared when fresh! Passengers should be able to store contact details of people they meet on-board while “chatting” through the plane’s entertainment system.  This would offer complete integration with their offline and online experience.

What do you think about these ideas? Do you think Virgin America has hit jackpot or is this another dud? What are some risks pursuing such an active online strategy? Let’s hear it in the comments section.

Related articles

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• Zagat’s 2008 best airlines survey
• More improvements to Virgin America’s operations

• Three ways the Cathay Pacific brand can come alive by infusing social media into the People site
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Richard Branson’s interview about Virgin America goes viral. But why?
• Top five branding insights from Virgin America
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.