by Sean McCoy (@TheRealMcCoyTRM) Given the start I have had to 2014, I am staying with the theme of travel for a while as I further probe the concept of brand alignment and internal branding.
In spite of the major progress of humankind and the tremendous advantages of air travel, which we now clearly take for granted, the average person’s conversation is littered with abundant examples of war stories, amid the tremendous joy and long list of fantastic memories and adventures. Why then this inconsistency of experience and is it likely to get any better?
Air travel as an industry has staggering statistics. Consider just a few facts extracted from JCDecaux and IATA:
- Airport infrastructure spend is increasing exponentially, with Dubai’s latest airport topping the charts at US$33 billion
- Investor capital tied up in the airline industry is projected to be US$500 billion
- Over the last 40 years, 1300 new airlines were established
- The growth of the industry has outperformed the world economy by a factor of three to four times over this same period
- Air traffic is expected to double over the next 20 years, an effective growth of just under 5% per annum
Assess the overall experience
A highly captive environment in which to engage the consumer through emotions, desires and actions — but I would argue that retail therapy and a host of interesting airport experiences alone don’t cut it. Airlines and airports need to look at the whole value chain and assess the overall experience of the typical traveller.
This is an extensive value chain without a doubt — from initial ticket pricing and purchase to airport arrival and parking, check-in procedure, security clearance, emigration and so forth, just to clear the land side of the equation. Then the airport immersion follows, with shrill announcements to board timeously and the displeasure of that frantic queuing process, only to be greeted by air turbulence, cramped seats and the traditional ‘chicken or beef’ menu option.
Arrival sees the whole process repeat itself in reverse, only if you’ve landed remotely on time and, even better, your baggage has followed you on the same flight and has not been tampered with.
All of this as an airline operator while still contemplating industry profitability, carbon footprint, fuel prices, government intervention and regulation; and a whole host of other issues.
Who owns and takes responsibility?
A little dramatic, I admit, and possibly picking on the airline industry unfairly, but it makes the point: who really owns and takes responsibility for the customer experience?
Business often outsources a multitude of things, from security services to contact centres or the sales process through external intermediaries. Do we, however, think of the whole value chain or complete experience encounter for the consumer and are we treating all of those service partners as an extension of our business?
In other words, are they fully aligned and part of the team enabling our external promise to market — the very thing that internal branding is anchored upon?
Back in 1999, Pine and Gilmore introduced the experience economy. The compounded digital acceleration since then has escalated exponentially and the pattern will continue unabated.
Has the experience economy shifted?
Some argue that the experience economy has now shifted to the social or emotional one, and the opportunity to connect hearts and minds has never been greater, nor has service consistency and experience ever been tougher; the customer has so much choice and we have to build our internal capabilities around winning them and retaining them.
The airline industry is a high-pressure environment and a complex business space, compounded by real security issues and mysteries such as the recent Malaysian Airlines incident. It is a dramatic story in a difficult sector but one that we may all learn from and apply to facets of our business.
How complete is our value chain, really, and to what extent are we looking at the service experience across the whole of it? Do we take accountability for the full user journey, or do we pass the buck when service delivery gets tough and problematic, blaming our inefficiencies on a whole host of factors, other than that we’ve never really addressed it internally or possibly just neglect it?
No-one said it would be easy
Brand alignment is hard work and no-one said it would be easy — but it is very rewarding to those who get it right. In conclusion, some food for thought, other than chicken or beef: do you deliver upon the promise that your brand makes? And do you do it consistently and holistically? Therein lie opportunities for competitive advantage.
Dr Sean McCoy, MD and founding member of HKLM, is a prominent figure in the branding arena, with his expertise centered on client service, brand strategy and business development. Sean has been chairperson for the Brand Council of South Africa since 2012. He contributes the regular “The Real McCoy” column focusing on internal branding to MarkLives.
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