And now, the airline that prides itself in providing the shortest flying times between India and North America has gone a step further, with a dance crew surprising passengers after boarding of a Finnair flight to Delhi to celebrate India’s Republic Day on January 26th 2012. Just imagine blonde flight attendants dancing to Bollywood tunes right after you board a flight! And that’s exactly what happened.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dancing flight attendants better than flashmobs?

Lots of airlines are following the example of Cebu Pacific’s flight attendants, who danced while performing an in-flight safety demo and became a worldwide rage. Air New Zealand, of course, has been leading the pack with refreshing safety videos, which often garner millions of views online.

Though what Finnair has done is unique – it’s a form of cultural branding, since it appeals to a certain segment of travelers that are important to the airline. It’s not yet another funny safety video, and it’s something that’s certainly a refreshing change from the norm, now that flash mobs are getting over-done. Enjoy!

• Cebu Pacific creates a safety demonstration to rival the rapping flight attendant at Southwest!
• Now, Pegasus Airlines creates an irresistible safety video, featuring cute Turkish kids
• Viral videos on Youtube as airline marketing strategy – lessons from Air New Zealand
• Angry Birds to fly Finnair from Helsinki to Singapore – innovative route launch marketing!
• How Air New Zealand is using social media to create waves globally, online and offline [Video]

A short brand-recognition exercise

Let’s do a little exercise: name 3 brands of Cola.

Now let me guess: The first one that you thought of was: Coca Cola? And maybe the color red? The second one was: Pepsi, perhaps? And the third one?  Maybe you struggled a bit with this one, but probably it was the top selling “white label” brand from your local supermarket

Let’s do one more:

Think of good times (or more specifically, the recent holiday season) and name a brand of soft drinks.

I guess that you probably thought of something similar to the image below:

One last test:

Can you think of the holiday season and an airline/airport in the same breath?

Having troubles? Well it’s understandable since no airline brand has managed to “own” this idea yet, at least not in the minds of the general public. However some have managed to execute some “wow” campaigns aimed at associating their brands with positive emotions such as the ones associated with the holidays and Christmas seasons. As a result, they have ended up delighting customers, driving brand engagement and building loyalty.

In the spirit of the holiday season just gone by, with this Top 10, we have shown how some airlines and airports have spread smiles and goodwill amongst their customers.

• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• Toronto Pearson Airport sings you a Christmas carol if someone tweets you’re flying out – and they sang one for me
• Five airlines (and an airport) that surprised passengers this Christmas with Wow campaigns
• Oman Air’s re-branding effort – worth it?
• Vueling Business Class drives awareness creatively: The cloud that fell from the sky

Being placed in charge of a company that has been losing money since 2005 isn’t exactly the kind of dream job that most people have in mind. However Tero Taskila has always relished a good challenge. After all, the Finn, who was previously the Chief Commercial Officer of Latvian competitor airBaltic, lives by the motto: “I want to have frustration and excitement in good balance.”

There’s certainly been no shortage of both and since assuming the position last June, Taskila has been busy overseeing the restructuring of the airline and introducing initiatives to increase the number of routes that it serves and the frequencies of its flights. And while there are plans to introduce long-haul services in the future, for now, Estonian Air is concentrating its efforts on becoming a leading regional airline and establishing a strong network in the Baltic States, Nordic countries and Russia.

Changing the Rules of Engagement

Among the initiatives adopted by Estonian Air last year, one of the most successful has been its AirScore loyalty program, which not only brought a fresh spin to the concept but also piqued Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards to win a Mega Award for the world’s best social media marketing program.

What makes the AirScore loyalty program unique is that it rewards subscribers for spreading the word about the airline – they do not have to fly with the airline to participate in the program at all. Subscribers can earn points simply by signing up for the Facebook app and sharing the information published on its wall. Furthermore, they also earn points when their friends join AirScore and participate in the program as well. These points can then be redeemed for flight discounts as well as other airline rewards such as free lounge access, depending on the subscriber’s level of membership.

The response has been turning heads, to say the least. Within the first 10 days of its soft launch, it had recorded two million impressions, a feat which Taskila admits was “not something they could even expect or dream about”. Among the other features it plans to implement in the future is one that allows it to integrating analytics so that it can be used as a sales tool as well.

Small and Innovative Wins the Race

In many ways, being a small airline has been a boon for Estonian Air. For a start, it’s given it the courage to go where bigger airlines fear to tread. “As a small airline, you always have to do something different and innovative to be noticed,” says Taskila, adding that one of the benefits of being headquartered in Estonia (or the land of Skype, as the country is fondly known) is that they are situated in a hotbed of talent and innovation.

And ‘innovation’ is clearly a key part of the brand’s credo. Among the other initiatives that it has introduced are the Chefs on Board campaign, which was launched last summer, and a Skype check-in service for passengers traveling to Moscow. In the case of the former, what distinguished it from the culinary programs adopted by bigger airlines was the fact that it actually hosted a chef from a leading Estonian restaurant on one of its flights every month. The menu served on that flight was then served on its other flights for a month after its launch. For the airline, apart from improving the flight experience, it was also a way to promote the country’s cuisine and produce. So popular was the program that at one point, its Net Promoter Score (NPS) was higher than that for the iPhone 4S.

Though the latter is still in its early testing phase, the Skype check-in video service it is offering to travelers heading for Moscow is another example of how the airline is hoping to improve the convenience of its customers’ flight experience. Not only do they get to beat the queue they also have the option of talking to a real airline representative to ask questions about their flight.

Looking Ahead

Things certainly look promising for Estonian Air. Not only is it based in one of the most financially stable countries in the European Union, it is also one of the fastest growing airlines in Europe. Taskila is quick to add that there is nothing artificial about this growth. “It was the result of Estonian businesses being more successful globally and also the attractiveness of Tallinn as a destination. We don’t see any slowing down in demand in that respect so that’s a very good starting point for us.”

While it may be tempting for an airline to join an alliance to strengthen its network and brand, Taskila tells us that Estonian Air has no plans to do that just yet. “I’ve always said that if you want to get married, you need to get pretty first,” he jokes. “Although we are very pretty a bride already, we are also a bride with our own ambitions and those are not ready to be piped out. We still have a lot of things we want to achieve before joining an alliance.”

Among other things, Estonian Air plans to introduce a new aircraft to its fleet as well as a new plane livery this year in its bid to improve its overall customer experience. “To be more successful in 2012, we need to get things out of the door faster, be more flexible and be closer to customers.”

But how does an airline maintain that close relationship with its customers when it needs to expand in order to keep up with the competition? There’s no easy answer to this question but for now, Estonian Air is focusing on delivering on the promises it’s made to be the most convenient, innovative, trustworthy and “positively surprising” airline in the region.

Taskila has already said that he will be pushing his team to work even harder this year and he has high hopes that the results will outweigh their efforts. “The benefit of being small is that we can be extremely fast and flexible. We have a very low cost base and a team full of passionate people who want to see results immediately. With a small airline, they are able to do just that.”

To listen to Tero’s full interview, please play the podcast below.

[Flash player for those having difficulty with the HTML5 player above.]

• Estonian Air drives revenue from Facebook through a reverse auction, by simply posting on the wall
• SimpliFlying launches fortnightly Marketing Strategy podcasts for airline and airport marketers
• Estonian Air crowdsourcing ideas to engage travelers as Tero Taskila takes over as new CEO
• [Infographic] The future of loyalty programs will be powered by social media
• Three keys to making loyalty programs work for the airline brand of the future

At the close of the year, it’s worth pausing to consider how quickly the social landscape has evolved over the past year or so. Airlines have not only embraced Twitter but have also realised that there’s great value in using it to drive specific goals such as revenue, engagement and loyalty. Many innovative initiatives on Twitter have been captured in our Top 10 case-packs as well. It’s worth noting that as of November 2011 there were 198 airlines on Twitter with 90 actively tweeting. This, more than anything else, is a sign of changing times and even greater change to come.

A number of facts are immediately clear from this report:

1. Even though most airlines have jumped on to the Twitter bandwagon, the majority of the tweets are produced by a minority of airlines. 30 airlines provide more than 83% of tweets sent out by airlines.
2. Delta Air Lines is still the runaway champion, having been consistently been a Listening and Talking champion (in terms of tweets received and sent). Air Asia and Southwest make a belated, but expected entry to the list. However, American Airlines makes a surprise appearance on the Talking Champions list.
3. Airlines are definitely using Twitter more intensively with each passing day. Over the past 6 months, the number of outgoing tweets increased by around 38%.
4. As the weather begins to turn unpredictable, it’s that time of the year again when people feel hassled while flying. This was quite evident as “baggage handling” was a trending topic as the number of tweets related to it  increased by about 28% in the last month.
5. Over 1.2 million tweets have been exchanged between airlines and their customers on Twitter in the past six months. That’s a heck of a lot!

It’ll certainly be interesting to come back to this report at the end of the next year and see how things have progressed!

For more insights, check out the infographic below and let us know what you thought about it. Is there something ?that resonates with you? Or maybe it doesn’t? Comment or tweet us @simpliflying and let us know. You can view more airline infographics here.

(Click here to download a larger image)

Note: The airlines on Twitter report is produced by eezeerdatalab.

• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for July 2011 reveals that more airlines have Twitter accounts than loyalty programs
• Airlines on Twitter in June 2011: Delta Airlines is the breakaway “listening and talking champion”
• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for August 2011: Cebu Pacific joins the big league and scores high!
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service

In my MasterClasses, I often ask, “How long is your brand engagement with a can of Coke? How about with Starbucks?” The answer is about 5 mins for Coke and about 90 mins for Starbucks.

Now, if I were to ask you how long is your brand engagement with an airport? How about an airline? The answer can range from at least two hours to over 24hrs! So why is it that our time spent in an airport (especially after security) is the most boring? How is it that airlines have 24 hrs with their customers captive, and yet service recovery is an issue if something goes wrong? It’s because the old rules of branding that would apply to Coke and Starbucks don’t necessarily apply to airlines and airports!

When we released our white paper on airline branding and introduced the 6X model, the premise was that branding for airlines and airports is different due to the length of brand engagement. What would Coke pay to have a brand engagement of two hours? How much more profit do you think Starbucks would make if the customer sat there for 24 hours, rather than in a plane?

Think about it!

Now, think about what you can do to leverage the captive audience at your airport, or in your airplane. There are already good examples. Changi Airport has a butterfly garden and a huge slide! KLM surprises people while they’re waiting. Cebu Pacific has flight attendants that dance and perform magic tricks on-board.

So, what can you do differently in 2012 to drive more revenue from the captive customer? How can you engage them better? How can you make them happier?

Food for thought…

P.S: Some interesting thoughts on this have recently been shared by Ogilvy’s Rohit Bhargava and Oracle’s Adarsh Pete. Sumit Roy wrote a highly acclaimed guest post here last year as well.

• What lessons can airlines learn from Starbucks about branding?
• Asiana Airlines perks up the brand by adding summer fun in the air
• Top 10 Airports on Social Media – case studies of the airports best at driving engagement
• Why the in-flight wi-fi business model needs a re-think (Hint: airlines can learn from airports)
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011

For today’s post we’re looking at customer-service from a different angle and submitting to you the thesis that airlines having in-flight WiFi could possibly harness the power of social customer-service in radically new ways. For example,  some customers might post something on your Facebook page while in the flight, and expect you to do something before the plane lands.

But what if they ask you to do something you never expected? (Something good, of course!) Read on to see what a delighted customer wrote:

“If someone in the Southwest Airlines corporate HQ can see this – I’m on flight 913 currently en route to Phoenix and I want yall to know that our flight attendant Holly is perhaps one of the most remarkably kind and helpful people my girlfriend and I have ever met. If you can meet us at the gate with something remarkable for this remarkable woman (a promotion, a raise, a chipotle burrito, anything), I will sign a document pledging to only fly Southwest from here on out (unless you do not fly where I need to go). Of course – I request a “Keyman Clause” in this agreement stipulating the contract terminates if Holly ever leaves. People like her are why I fly SWA.”

• Cebu Pacific creates a safety demonstration to rival the rapping flight attendant at Southwest!
• Three lessons in customer service for airline brands, from Ron Kaufman
• Cathay Pacific reveals the faces behind the brand, in an interactive way
• Airline Humor: The charges that never end
• Air New Zealand’s in-flight concierge has all the answers in the air

The future is mobile

Given the rapidly changing interactional/behavioural habits of the traveler, it has become important for airlines to target them where they can be found. Close your eyes and think for a moment about what the word mobile phone means to you: I’m quite certain that most of the readers here will at once think of an iPhone, Android phone, Blackberry or a similar device. It seems that the growth of social media – Facebook and Twitter primarily – as a valuable engagement tool to drive business goals has only helped create a more complex landscape. The growth of iOS and Android (especially iOS which is not just available on phones but on iPods and iPads as well), coupled with the ability to create custom apps to target customers and offer them value-added services right on their cellphones has changed the way airlines are thinking about customer engagement and driving revenue, customer service etc. In the past we’ve illustrated how mobile has been an important part of various airline initiatives in the social era: travel distribution, social loyalty and location-based-service initiatives. However, this case-pack deals purely with how airlines have specifically created mobile apps (in particular, on the iPhone and iPad) to engage customers while driving revenue and customer service as well.

Before we move on to the case-pack, here is a checklist of ways in which airlines have tried to differentiate their apps while offering value to their customers:

1. Booking: Some airlines, such as Turkish Airlines, have made it ridiculously easy to book tickets from within the apps in a crazily small amount of time. Customers love it of course: the easier and quicker you make the booking process, the more likelihood that the sale will be completed.
2. Convenience: British Airways allows boarding by flashing the QR code powered boarding passes that can be shown directly from an iPhone. Way to go paperless!
3. Travel inspiration: Lufthansa and KLM have created apps that are excellent at making the users of their apps drool at the prospect of travelling to delicious destinations on these airlines.
4. Complimentary travel services: A number of airline apps now allow customers to rent a car, know the weather and do more at their destination that is not strictly airline-related.
5. Augmented reality: A new player but one with huge scope for engaging the customers who’re usually more than happy (and mostly fascinated) to use the service for things such as navigating an airport or finding places to redeem loyalty points (Qantas).

That’s it, for now! Enjoy the case-studies!

Do let us know what you think of this Top 10 case-pack. Comments, suggestions, brickbats are all welcome in the comments section below. Alternately, you can tweet us @simpliflying.

• Top 10 Travel Distribution Initiatives by Airlines: Reinventing the booking cycle to drive revenue (from #eftamerica)
• The Always Connected Traveler – how mobile will transform the future of travel [Infographic]
• The Top 10 Viral Videos by Airlines (plus bonus videos)
• [Infographic] How mobile is re-shaping travel distribution (gasp!)
• Customer Service 2.0: Top 10 Airlines and Airports performing Customer Service through Social Media

Not to be left behind Pegasus Airlines of Turkey has come up with an adorable safety video where the demonstration is done by cute Turkish kids! You really have to watch to catch all the adorable kids in action.

It goes to show the point once again that taking something mundane like a safety video and adding some fun elements to it can help a brand spread far and wide. After all, how many of you had heard of Pegasus Airlines before this, let alone flown them to watch this video?

Enjoy the show!

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Viral videos on Youtube as airline marketing strategy – lessons from Air New Zealand
• How Air New Zealand is using social media to create waves globally, online and offline [Video]
• For giving us funny safety videos and bringing us Rico, Megan Matthews from Air New Zealand is the SimpliFlying Hero for March 2011
• Five airlines (and an airport) that surprised passengers this Christmas with Wow campaigns
• Next time you’re at an airport, don’t be surprised if you’re surprised!

Videos are perfect for attracting and emotionally involving customers as you’ll see from this case-pack we’ve prepared. Some of these are specially created ad/social media campaigns while a few are impromptu videos taken of happenings in the air. All of them have one thing in common: they’re hugely engaging.

While it is difficult to predict how or why a particular video gains popularity over others, there are certain commonalities in all the videos included in this case-pack. So, if you’re an airline looking to create a video that engages customers, you might want to keep the following pointers in mind:

1. Keep the video short. Attention spans, as well as time, are limited.
2. Be innovative and disruptive. Guerrilla marketing campaigns often get a lot of eyeballs. eg. the magician act by KLM to promote the Economy Comfort product.
3. Say something that passengers care about or relate to. eg. Air New Zealand offering transparent fares
4. Being funny or entertaining is always a plus since it provides repeat watch value. eg.the rapping flight attendant on Southwest
5. Emotionally appealing to customers is another way of gaining attention. eg. American Airlines thanking servicemen.

So without further ado, here’s our case-pack of the Top 10 Viral Videos by Airlines. And since there obviously have been many more than just 10 great videos by airlines, we’ve included 5 bonus videos (that almost made our Top 10) for your viewing pleasure.

You can also view our previous Top 10 case-packs here.

Top 10 Viral Videos by Airlines

What did you think of this case-pack? Did we make the perfect Top 10 list? Left out some deserving candidate? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @simpliflying.

• Viral videos on Youtube as airline marketing strategy – lessons from Air New Zealand
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• How can an airline create a viral video? Learn the power of surprise from TAP Portugal’s Christmas dance at Lisbon airport
• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011

For her efforts in leading AirAsia up the ladder of success in social media, and setting an example for other airlines in the region to follow, we’re proud to award Karen the SimpliFlying Hero award for June 2011.

The AirAsia team. From left: Karen Chan, Derik Chew, Swee Ping, Vilon

Tentative beginnings for an Asian upstart

AirAsia’s beginnings in social media were modest. The journey started with a blog that aimed to provide an open platform for AirAsia Allstars and AirAsia customers to share travel stories and feedback, regardless of whether it was good or bad.

At the time, the main fear for the team was the potential for negative backlash. Since social media is real-time, instant and can make opinions go viral, the stakes were high. Quite simply, anything negative would reflect poorly on not only the team but AirAsia’s brand as well.

What Karen learnt over time was that the best way to counter this potential problem was to form a team with the “right” kind of people. For her, a passion for AirAsia and its brand is just as important as social media expertise.

“A lot of people claim to be social media experts but when it comes to integrating social media with the brand, it can become a real challenge. To be successful in social media requires a lot of hard work, a lot of thinking; strategizing needs to be done to ensure that you are building something that is relevant and useful for the brand and the fans in the long run.”

Indeed, Karen believes that the main factor behind AirAsia’s significant lead over competitors in the social media space has been the excellent team she works with. Not only are its members social media savvy, they are also passionate about AirAsia and its brand, and therefore make an extra effort to keep all social media campaigns relevant to consumers and, as a result, beneficial to the brand as well.

The road to success

These qualities in the team members allowed AirAsia to emerge as a leading regional player on Facebook and Twitter. When the team first approached these platforms two years ago, they did not have much prior experience or knowledge to count on. They mostly relied on lessons learnt from trial and error, and slowly figured out what worked and what did not. The passion and dedication displayed by members of the team, and the “blood, sweat, and tears” that they put in, is what has made AirAsia’s present success possible.

Along the way, Karen has learnt much about what it takes to launch (and keep afloat) a social media campaign.

First, knowing what fans want, and giving them what they want, and getting them to spread the word, is paramount. In Karen’s words:

“Social media is like having a housewarming party. First you create the most innovative, creative invite so that the recipients will want to share it with their friends to attend the party. Once you have all your guests at the party, you will need to know what you’ll be serving on the table, the kind of music you are going to spin, and the activities at the party so that everyone will go back happy and rave about what a great time they had at your party.”

Second, having a clear objective is essential. An objective is precisely what differentiates an individual who gathers a fan-following by uploading videos on Youtube, and a company that uses it for its benefit. One has a clear objective, and therefore a clear strategy, while the other does not. That is why only one can maximize the potential of the medium and all real, measurable value to the brand and business.

Last, social media is not a billboard, but rather an engagement platform. While it might be tempting to announce everything over Facebook or Twitter in order to market the airline, there is a fine line that shouldn’t be crossed. Social media is a unique two-way channel and therefore fan feedback should be given equal priority.

Sky is the limit, even online!

In the future, Karen sees social media expanding and taking more of a hold on consumers’ lives: first, in terms of technological advancement in mobile, handheld devices; second, in the form of growing popularity amongst people to participate on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. This is advantageous for any organization looking to build its brand and it provides greater opportunities to increase brand awareness and to drive customer engagement.

Karen feels that ultimately having such a huge fan base is a double-edged sword. While it means that more interest, trust, and revenue will be generated for the airline in the long run, it also means that negative news can spread faster and further. Hence, the achievement of hitting one million fans also comes with the increased responsibility to engage them in a positive way.

Nevertheless, SimpliFlying is certain that Karen and her team will continue to reach new heights and we wish her all the best as she continues to lead AirAsia to even greater heights on the social media mountain.

Know someone who’s worthy of being a SimpliFlying Hero?

Simpliflying Heroes are individuals recognized for outstanding social media use in the world of aviation. Do you know of somebody who uses social media effectively in their airline or airport to achieve specific business results? Or do you think you fit the bill?

Then go ahead and fill up the SimpliFlying Heroes nomination form. By filling out the nomination form, you bring them a step closer to being recognized by SimpliFlying for their efforts.

• AirAsia takes customer service to social media with AskAirAsia
• For leading KLM into social media, Lonneke Verbiezen is the SimpliFlying Hero for Feb 2011
• [PRESENTATION] How Airlines Dedicate Resources to Social Media – delivered at #omtravel in Miami (June 2011)
• AirAsia X: a brand with a huge potential, but remember, “you’re only buying the flying”
• AirAsia X taking branding tips from Virgin Atlantic?