CASE: BRANDING IN AN ALLIANCE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

Fatima da Gloria, Director Brand & Communications

April 18, 2013

WHO ARE WE?

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One of the 3 global airline alliances

19 member airlines

1,000 destinations

552 million passengers

436,000 employees

SAAM, the central office

A cooperative (legal identity) since 2009

35 people, 20 nationalities

WHY WERE AIRLINE ALLIANCES CREATED?

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We enable cooperation where legal constraints restrict global consolidation

Consolidation Cooperation = +

within the continent between continents

SOME KEY QUESTIONS

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When setting up an alliance

What is the added value of the alliance

What is the member recruitment strategy

Is there a central organization and what is its role

What is the key focus with regards to deliverables

How is the day-to-day governance arranged

How are competitive conditions ensured

How is compliance monitored of alliance principles

OUR VALUE PROPOSITION FOR CUSTOMERS

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Creating a seamless travel experience

8. AFTERCARE

Branding Recognition of products and services, minimization of perceived purchasing risk, trust.

Network Global coverage and reach, connectivity, frequency

Frequent flyer and elite benefits Earn and burn FFP miles network wide, Improved experience along customer touch points

Airport Experience Check-in, baggage drop-off, lounge access, boarding, transfer, baggage handling

Connection and transfer experience Seamless connection and transfer process

Buying process Coordinated selling, global corporate contracts, integrated online booking tool

SkyTeam products Round the World tickets and fare passes

Post-flight Service recovery, issue management

OUR VALUE PROPOSITION FOR MEMBERS

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Creating solutions allowing members to connect and grow their business

Growth of loyal customers by offering consistent value across all members

A Seal of Quality

Why invent the wheel?

The power of collective sourcing

Combining networks without employment of own aircraft fleet

Cost benefits

Network benefits

Customer value

Sharing expertise

Brand & reputation

ILLUSTRATING A COMMON SEAL OF QUALITY

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The SkyTeam “bug” or lock-up logo

Briefing:

It shouldn’t struggle with the logotypes of different partners

draw inspiration from customer-oriented service companies

whose business it is to take care of the customer

ALL MEMBERS ARE REPRESENTED EQUALLY…

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The SkyTeam cobranding

SOMETIMES SKYTEAM IS IN THE LEAD…

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Intro the SkyTeam blockmark in 2010, and a Chinese version from 2012

AND CAN ALSO BE EXPERIENCED IN 3D

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Requiring a common visual language accepted by 19 members

Beware of consensus!! But take local specificities into account.

Strong brand values defined from the start

Same agencies partnering since origin of the alliance

Agencies are partners that attend all meetings

Much attention to building a sense of team spirit & buy-in from key members

Strict enforcement of brand rules that start during pre-joining process

ACTIVATING MEMBERS TO PROMOTE SKYTEAM

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Why pay for advertising when our members access 161M frequent flyers

3% of fleet to be painted in SkyTeam colors with a minimum of 2 aircraft

2 pages in the inflight magazine 1 news page & 1 ad page

1 DM campaign per year to FFP members

How? A CEO dashboard!

NOT COMPETE WITH THEM

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Balancing act: complementing the marketing strategies of our members

Home Markets

Home carrier in the lead, acts as voice of SkyTeam

No SkyTeam advertising, except within own media and unless requested by the home carrier

Shared airport facilities not (heavily) branded as SkyTeam unless requested by the home carrier

Strategic Markets

Member and SkyTeam communications exist side-by-side and “pool” where possible (e.g. at fairs)

Alignment between timing of campaigns

PR messaging, distribution and events aligned with local marketing teams (representatives of the carriers operating in that market)

Shared airport facilities are SkyTeam branded

Global

Strong PR alignment through Corporate Communications team

Support of members via social media and SkyTeam website (while not detracting customer bookings!)

SKYTEAM INSIDE

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Allowing some alliance-wide services to be marketed as members’ own

SkyTeam app functionality used within members own app, for example worldwide lounge finder

SkyPriority branding and communication rules and tools incorporated within the member’s identity

Setting and auditing membership requirements

Helping candidate members to join (dedicated transition teams)

Creating marketing campaigns

Provide guidelines and member building blocks

Design common SkyTeam lounges and other shared airport facilities

Guide sales communications and provide them with tools

Manage media messages

Manage central platforms: website, apps, social media

Working Groups

Advertising & Branding

Corporate Communications

Corporate Social Responsibility

SkyPriority Project Team

MCCs

Supervisory Board

Governing Board

Sharing Tools

Online sharepoints

SkyPlace for documents

SkyTeam Hub for all creative artwork (run by agency)

Conference and web calls

WORKING IN AN ALLIANCE OFFICE

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Its all about managing the decision making process as well as execution

Organizational (Brand & Comms) Collaboration Platforms

ALLIANCES: CULTURAL MELTING POTS

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Building upon our Differences

“Easy to build the foundations of a building. Less easy to agree on how many windows, doors, rooms….”

Multicultural factor: one of the main risks of alliances failures

Intercultural differences don’t lead to disagreements, but lead to misunderstandings

Disagreements are immediately obvious and can be dealt with

Misunderstandings are generally discovered when it’s too late,

when each party has tackled an action plan in its own way.

Need to consider national and corporate cultures

BE AWARE OF PERSONAL ATTITUDES

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Spend time on creating awareness, sensitivity and alliance values

What do we notice ?

difficulties in accomodating different ideas or ways of doing things

difficulties in understanding: accent, pronunciation, choice of words

not enough checking for understanding

uncertain use of humour

thoughts not always expressed fully to colleagues, especially on controversial topics

different perception of time

Each side is convinced that the way it does things is the only possible way to do them….

MOST IMPORTANT LESSON

Have FUN, good COMPANY, and good FOOD!!