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A few weeks ago, I walked into a random coffee store in Seattle, called the 15th Ave E Coffee and Tea. The menu looked liked the usual corner coffee shop’s — and the coffee tasted good. As I was walking out of the shop, I saw that the front door had a little inscription, “Inspired by Starbucks”. I was intrigued, as nowhere in the coffee shop did I see the usual “We proudly brew Starbucks” sign, and everything seemed very independent indeed.
When I got back to office, I Googled the location and learnt that it was a location that had come to be known as “Stealth Starbucks“. I was intrigued. It turns out that Starbucks wanted to experiment and do things they couldn’t in a regular Starbucks environment, hence they opened this unbranded coffee shop in 2009. Since then, four more have opened in Seattle and New York.
Had I not known that this was an effort by Starbucks, I would have thought that I had discovered a neighborhood gem. Though, now, I need to give Starbucks credit. They managed to change the outside of the store, yet the soul remained the same — perfect, hand-crafted coffee. It got me thinking — what does this have to do with airline marketing? Well, a lot.
Inside the airline brand
Lots of airlines in the recent past have re-branded. Moroever, hip airline liveries have been in vogue as well. A few months ago, when the CEO of Qatar Airways was asked upon launching his Airbus A380, “What makes it better than the competition?”, he candidly replied, “We have the best livery!”
Perhaps there has been too much emphasis on how airplanes look from the outside, and not so much from how the airline brand behaves from the inside. Think about it this way – can your customers tell the difference between your airline and another, if they boarded an airplane without a livery?
That is the litmus test of the strength of an airline brand. What is the soul of the brand? What is it you do that nobody else does? Singapore Airlines uses a special scent on their hot towels, called the Floridian Waters. Emirates has copyrighted boarding music. Southwest flight attendants might sing a lullaby on the last flight of the day. And Cebu Pacific flight attendants often perform magic tricks on board. No competitor can take away the essence of the brand here, isn’t it?
On the contrary, when you want to re-brand, don’t just put a new colour on the outside of the aircraft. Bring in a new flavour to the way the brand interacts and engages with passengers. A good example is when Air Canada launched Rouge, it’s low-cost long-haul subsidiary. Not only was the livery different, but the flight attendants received training in customer service from the Disney Institute!
And that’s the lesson airline brands can learn from Stealth Starbucks. Cultivate your brand’s soul so that no amount of cosmetic changes can take it away.