The essence of SimpliFlying: aviation, branding, travel, airlines and social media (Plus: What’s new in 2010)

The beginning of a new year is a always a good time to get a 35,000 feet view of what you’re about and where you’re heading. And I think it should be done not just for personal matters, but professional too. SimpliFlying to me is as much a personal pursuit as a professional venture. I love planes. I love airlines. And I love the field of branding. SimpliFlying is an intersection of these passions.

So, what is SimpliFlying about (according to you)?

Often, it’s easy to put together a tag-cloud of what you write about and use it as a guide for what you’re about. However, I’ve been inspired by my ex-colleague, Daniel Tunkelang‘s article on measuring Twitter influence and I’ve tried something new.

On Twitter, I’m part of almost 150 lists as of today. I looked at the titles of these list and generated a tag-cloud of that using Wordle. Isn’t it much more insightful to know what people think you are about, than what you think what you’re about?

So the conclusion is that SimpliFlying’s readers (and Twitter followers) feel that we’re about Aviation, Travel, Branding, Airlines and Social Media… in that order. The good thing is that it’s very close to what I had intended it to be about: Aviation, Branding, Technology. So looks like we’re on track and the essence of SimpliFlying is preserved. The SimpliFlying team’s aim is to keep it this way in the coming year and add tremendous value in these specific areas too. Promise 🙂 So, how’re we going to do that? Read on…

What to expect on SimpliFlying in 2010?

1. NEW: 3 minute video trip reports. I travel a lot (no, really!) and fly lots of different airlines. And nothing beats a live review of brand execution on-board a flight. Hence, there will be lots and lots of video trip reports prepared in 2010. The first will be on Etihad Airways, coming very soon…
2. NEW: Guest bloggers. Yes, we will have more articles written by guest bloggers specially invited to share their thoughts on the latest in airline branding
3. MORE: Video interviews with senior airline and branding executives, like that with Dr Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish Airlines. And more interviews with those working in the marketing trenches, like Paula Berg who used to be with Southwest Airlines.
4. MORE: Training/educational articles. Our educational articles like this have turned out to be the biggest hits on the site. Hence, expect a lot more of these, which help those working with airlines to put their brands on steroids.
5. MORE: Keynote presentations. In 2009, there were almost 10 keynote and panel presentations published on SimpliFlying. This brings the latest thought leadership from renowned aviation conferences around the world to all of you, on the same day as the presentation! Expect more of these.

Thanks again for all your support. And cheers to a high flying start to 2010!