It gives me great pleasure to share with you that I’ve been awarded the coveted Global Brand Leadership Award (Individual) by the World Brand Congress. The award ceremony was held at the Taj in Mumbai on November 4, 2009. Thanks to all of you who came down to support, in person or on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn! It was truly an evening to remember.

The award is given to individuals who’re doing things differently in branding in a given industry and a distinguished jury decided on those who’d receive the award this year. I received it for SimpliFlying’s work in airline branding.

I was honored to be among some very esteemed recipients of the award, including Prof. David Rogers of Columbia University, Jody Turner of CultureofFuture.com, Sandy Carter of IBM and Eric Weaver of DDB Tribal Vancouver. Each one of these people have inspired me at some point in the last few months with their thought leadership in branding and it was such an honor to have made the cut with these stalwarts. It was a very humbling experience as well, not just because of who was receiving the awards, but also because I was by far the youngest recipient of the award (don’t think I saw anyone on the stage below 30).

It wouldn’t have been possible without You!

Lastly, I must mention that this award is true testimony for the importance of connecting with the customer authentically, often through social media, for airlines, airports and hotels – all of whom SimpliFlying works actively with globally. And there have been a number of individuals who have been instrumental in bringing SimpliFlying where it is today.

Firstly, Don Schenk, the CEO of Airline Capital Associates, who’s held my hand for over a year, when SimpliFlying was all but a sprouting idea. Don believed in me, my ideas and pushed me to strive on a new path. Patrick Ryan and Chris Brogan, who’ve always been open to hearing my new ideas and bring me back to earth. These Board of Advisors is a blessing to me.

Zahid Ahmad, whom we also know as Z_SimpliFlying has been working full time with SimpliFlying and been my backbone since early this year. He’s one person who’s as passionate about airlines as I am and has traveled more than me! He build on my ideas like magic, and pushes me further, always! Thanks Zahid! Special thanks also to Guen, who started as an intern, but she was so good that I never let her go. Her hardworking and never-say-no attitude makes me wonder why she needs to study another two years before she graduates!

I’ve sought inspiration from a LOT of folks in the past year. Thank you very much for being there, Joe Crump of Razorfish, Allen Adamson of Landor, Lisa Markovic and Manish Dureja of Jet Airways, Sunderaj of Singapore Airlines,  Sanjay Aggarwal of SpiceJet, Don Garvett, Steve Frischling of Flying with Fish, Viswa Sadasiwan (who’d now in the Singapore Parliament!), Azran Osman-Rani of AirAsia X (I wanna be like him!), Michael Tan of Etihad Airways and Edwin Hodge of WinAir (one of the most gracious people I know). The whole team at Intercontinental Hotels Group has helped push the envelop further than ever before at SimpliFlying.

Special thanks also to my Twitter followers, LinkedIn group members and Facebook friends, who’re always making me think, with their 140chars comments, “likes” and thoughts on my discussion threads. I can’t imagine the journey that has been without these individuals.

Lastly and probably most importantly, I wouldn’t be where I am without my family and close friends. My dad’s been a constant inspiration, instigator and inherently visionary, always helping me push the limits. My mom and my brother have always been of tremendous emotional support – which is often under-rated. But for an entrepreneur, it’s often what makes or breaks him. Lastly, my friends and confidants – Puneet, Balpreet, Prajakta, Aditee, Arifin, Shu Ting, Dee, Karina. Thank you!

I bet I’ve missed some folks out, but drop me a Tweet or an email, and I’ll make up for it. Promise. Thanks again everyone.

Keep flying, SimpliFlying,
Shashank
Taj Lands End, Mumbai, India
5 November 2009

• Social media mogul Chris Brogan joins SimpliFlying’s Board of Advisors
• So you work for an airline? Here are Eleven steps to lead the social media branding initiative, and become a rockstar!
• Love airlines just as much as branding and social media? Would you like to write a guest post for SimpliFlying?
• High Flying Tweets: 11 of the best airline or aviation bloggers / journalists to follow on Twitter
• Travel+Leisure ranks Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Thai Airways as the best in the world

And that’s only natural, since most monolithic organizations have more naysayers than doers. And the doers seldom have more clout than the naysayers. So, how to overcome this challenge?

Look within – start from the inside

My suggestion to these executives was to look at the upcoming marketing plans/campaigns. Something that’s already been budgeted for, and would be rolled out in the next three months. Then, work with the marketing team to “social media-fy” that plan. Basically, you’d want to add wings to the campaign through social media. And make sure there’s a way to measure the results (even if qualitative) so that you can measure the before-and-after effect of social media on the initiatives.

This allows you to achieve a few things:

1. You prove that social media adds value
2. There’s no need for substantial additional budget to run the SM activities
3. Working from an already-planned initiative is much easier than proposing brand new (=risky) social media campaign
4. You can then duplicate this for a couple of other marketing initiatives and then branch out social media gradually
5. You prove your worth, and get started on the road to becoming a social media rockstar

Once you’ve done this, you can easily embark on the 11 steps I’ve suggested earlier, to quick-start the social media branding strategy at your airline, airport or hotel.

Does that help? Legacy airlines, are you listening?

If you have questions about the process, or would like to seek personal help in making this work, feel free to reach out to me by email: shashank[at]simpliflying[dot]com. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your thoughts on your efforts in social media in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• Do you work for an airline? This five minute video on social media can change the way you do marketing
• Reality Check: Three reasons why legacy airline brands are dead (and who to look out for)
• Love airlines just as much as branding and social media? Would you like to write a guest post for SimpliFlying?
• Three ways the Cathay Pacific brand can come alive by infusing social media into the People site
• So you work for an airline? Here are Eleven steps to lead the social media branding initiative, and become a rockstar!

It gives me tremendous honor to announce that one of the biggest names in the social media world – Chris Brogan – is  the latest stalwart to join SimpliFlying’s star-studded Board of Advisors. He joins Patrick Murphy, the former Chairman of RyanAir and Donald Schenk, Managing Director of Airline Capital Associates, Inc who’ve already been offering tremendous mentorship to the SimpliFlying team.

As we partner in the social media and branding success of airlines, airports, and even hotels globally, the stellar team of advisors asks us the tough questions, helps keep our feet on the ground and constantly inspire us to keep going. It is our good fortune to have them by our side.

Who is Chris Brogan?

In my humble opinion, Chris Brogan has done to the social media world what Steve Jobs did to the music industry in the last decade. Having met him personally a few times, I can attest to the fact that he’s constantly pushing the boundaries of the latest technology trends. I risk sounding cryptic, but Chris is at the cutting edge of cutting edge social media technologies. But some of you may be wondering why SimpliFlying…

What’s Chris Brogan got to do with airlines?

If you’ve watched his interview when Chris posed as an airline CEO, or his blog article where he advises the travel industry on social media, you’ll realize that his ideas make a lot of sense. And if only airlines and others in the travel industry can adopt them, they’ll thank him for it. Since SimpliFlying is now becoming an established player in this vertical, we thought we’d run our ideas by Chris and help implement them at airlines we love, or sometimes love to hate.

Most importantly, the few times I’ve met Chris, I’ve only sensed humility and a willingness to help. I can hardly wait to work much more closely with him.

Thank you Chris!

Successfully yours,
Shashank

For those keen to learn more, here’s Chris’ official bio

Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. He is co-author of the book Trust Agents.

• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul
• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009
• 3 speaking engagements on Airlines and social media in October
• Southwest Airlines’ success secrets on social media revealed by Paula Berg
• Shashank Nigam awarded the Global Brand Leadership Award at World Brand Congress for airline branding

What makes Southwest Airlines so successful on social media?

So, what do you think about Southwest Airlines’ efforts on social media? Isn’t it refreshing to learn about such a visionary team in gloomy times? How can others replicate Paula’s success? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• How can legacy airlines, airports or hotels make an entry into social media? Start from within
• Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain
• Alaska Airlines’ brand strategy on Twitter, revealed by Elliot Pesut in exclusive interview
• SimpliFlying, in the news…and more!
• Social media mogul Chris Brogan joins SimpliFlying’s Board of Advisors

At one point in the video, the screen flashes, “In the near future, we will not find products or services, they will find us“. A simple sentence that can have significant implications on how airlines do marketing. Add on to this the fact pointed out by Morris Sim, CEO of Circos Brand Karma, at the recent WebInTravel event in Singapore, that statistics from Alexa that showed that about 1 in 20 visitors to travel websites in APAC were at Facebook right before. Social networks like Facebook could be so helpful to our business if we know how to make use of them. The time has come to act. Enjoy the video.

The ray of light…

There’re strong indications that mindsets are already beginning to change. Just look at the number of airlines active on Twitter (squint a little on the chart below). As Rohit Bhargava mentions, “what’s now needed a vision from the highest level of marketing to…pour more internal support into the nacent social media activities starting within the company that have such big potential but are likely underfunded and underappreciated.”

And as a (very) frequent flier, and a keen social media marketer, I’m happy to help. Just drop me a line.

For those looking for where to start, some of my articles may offer some insight:

1. So you work for an airline? Here are Eleven steps to lead the social media branding initiative, and become a rockstar!
2. Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain
3. Keynote presentation from Sydney: How airlines can have conversations with customers on social media

• Airline branding: Keynote video from Abu Dhabi, and CNBC Arabia
• Keynote presentation from Sydney: How airlines can have conversations with customers on social media
• Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain
• Southwest vs. United: Why Authenticity Wins, Even In TV Advertising
• LCC 2.0: How low cost airlines can use social media to engage their customers

——

Over the course of two days, I saw two stark examples of what could easily be considered the best and worst of airline advertising messages encompassed in two ads done for domestic US-based airlines. Let’s start with the worst from United:

What makes this ad so ineffective? First of all, the call to action to experience their first and business class has almost nothing to do with the visuals and storyline of the animated character. She could just as easily be in economy class. Or on another airline. And the last thing I want to think about is all the creatures in the sea when I’m on a transcontinental flight. If I’m lucky, I won’t see any – which means my plane stayed in the air where it belongs. The beautiful animated characters and music have little relevance to our lives and have been a random choice for as long as United has been running this campaign.

The choice of Gershwin for the music has become a signature for United and most consumers would recognize it as their “theme song” – but again there is no built in message or purpose for this beyond brand awareness. And as one of the largest airlines in the United States, I think it is safe to say that awareness isn’t really what United needs in the first place. Ultimately, as a United customer, I end up watching that ad and wondering to myself what else they chose not to spend money on so they could produce this ineffective message and buy expensive media time to show it (it first aired during the Beijing Olympics).

In contrast, here’s the Southwest ad:

What makes this ad so effective? The first reason is that it is topical. At a time when most domestic US airlines have started charging passengers to check their bags, Southwest is one of the few that has not done this. The ad smartly focuses on one attribute that actually DOES set Southwest apart from their competitors: that your bags fly for free. The execution of the ad is strong as well, featuring a man who is presumably a real baggage handler smiling and generally looking happy to be taking care of your bag. The voiceover humanizes your bag – noting at one point that your bag can even bring its “little bag friends” for free. I love my bag – so I respond to that message. Chances are, you do too. At the end of the ad is a simple, yet effective call to action to pack your bag and go on that trip that you might have been planning for some time, because you’ll save money with Southwest and your bag will fly for free.

Clearly the audiences for these two spots are different. Southwest is going for the leisure traveler on domestic travel while United is targeting the business and first class crowd for international travel. Yet their different approaches underscore the shift that is taking place in marketing today. The more authentic message focused on something people actually care about will trump the artistically created piece of fluff that lacks any strong insight or message any day.

The irony, perhaps, in this post is that because I live in the Washington DC area – I travel all the time with United and rarely on Southwest. In the past I have often pointed to United as the brand that I would most like to work with because they have such a clean slate of possibility. If they could rethink their entire approach to marketing, add more personality and use social media more effectively – they could completely reinvent people’s perception of their brand.

There are some early signs that this is starting to happen – including United starting a twitter account. What it truly needs is a vision from the highest level of marketing to rethink their advertising and pour more internal support into the nacent social media activities starting within the company that have such big potential but are likely underfunded and underappreciated. In case United is listening, drop me a line … as a loyal customer and hopeful marketer, I’d be happy to help.

• Southwest Airlines’ success secrets on social media revealed by Paula Berg
• How can legacy airlines, airports or hotels make an entry into social media? Start from within
• SimpliFlying, in the news…and more!
• Rohit Bhargava feels that United Airlines lacks a brand personality. Is he right?
• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009

MySkyStatus – what’s the fuss about?

For the unaware, MySkyStatus is a tool that posts your flight info (altitude, location and arrival updates) automatically to Facebook and/or Twitter while you fly. And you guessed it, it’s the real-time nature of this app that’s making it go viral. And as you can see below, the updates can generate quite a discussion.

At first glance,  MySkyStatus is true value add for the customer. But the application is not perfect – and it need not be perfect in its first release anyway. However, there are some small tweaks that can be made, as well as some enhancements, which will make MySkyStatus a win-win proposition for both Lufthansa and the customer. And if I was the Product Manager, here are the ten things I’d do to ensure that the application flies.

Four things Lufthansa should tweak on MySkyStatus 1.0

1. Cut down on the Lufthansa branding: The most confusing aspect of this application seems to be the overdose of Lufthansa (LH) branding. The website is in LH colors, along with the logo and each update ends with “Powered by Lufthansa”. I think it’s confuses the user if this service is exclusively for LH flights. This is accentuated by the fact that other than the three “Add a flight”, “Confirm”, “Preview” links, everything leads to the LH website. It’d be much better if there was just a small link to the LH website, and just a small “Powered by Lufthansa” button on the website. I think a link in the update is more than enough.
2. State clearly that the updates are not real-time. It’s just predicted path: Although it appears that the application is tracking a flight in real-time, it actually isn’t the case – something I realized when a friend’s flight was delayed and the updates were being sent out while he sat at the airport. In social media, a lack of information is often construed as mis-information. And LH can avoid this by putting in a disclaimer that updates are not based on dynamic data. Transparency is king on the social web.
3. Be a bit more specific about the locations. “Flying over Asia” isn’t really insightful. If LH can tweak the system a little to give more specific locations, the updates might be more interesting.
4. Connect users with the people behind the app. One big advantage social media applications have is the ability to facilitate 1-1 communications. And I personally would love to meet the people behind the app. But that’s not an option right now. Just digging around, I could only find out that @kateobriennyc was somehow involved in the development process. It’ll be great to “meet” the others too.

Six things Lufthansa should add to MySkyStatus 2.0

1. Track the users. LH is probably already doing this, but keeping track of all the Twitter users and Facebook users who sign up for the application can be beneficial for mining in the future. If not for flying habits, then just as an independent source of data for LH to analyze when planning its own routes and capacity.
2. Apply basic analytics.  How about applying basic analytics to determine the most popular route? Seeing what segment of travelers visit certain destinations during certain months? The options are endless.
3. Ask for LH FFP numbers. How about putting in a field where travelers can input their LH frequent flier number? This would allow LH insight into when its own FFP members are not flying LH on certain routes – and generally airlines do not have any insight into this data.
4. Allow people to earn LH FFP miles when they fly on any partner airline. It may be just 10 miles per flight, but at lease something. If I’m in an adventurous mood, I’d even open it up to passengers on any airline! And give them half of what I’d give them for flying an LH partner airline. Ultimately, I’m getting them enticed into the LH FFP cycle. Unless they earn, they won’t redeem. And everyone likes miles, no matter how little.
5. Destination specific data-mining. I’d have the Revenue Management team cross-check with their highest yielding destinations or lowest yielding and give those who use MySkyStatus an incentive to fly LH the next time round? Good way to acquire new customers, isn’t it?
6. Partner with the likes of TripIt, AirValid and FlightMemory. These are websites where travelers already track their mileage and review airlines. How about partnering with these sites to provide additional value to travelers?

So, what do you think? Is this a good initiative by Lufthansa? Will it fly? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

Special thanks to @singabai , @smarketer , @frittatun , @bretthenry and @martinmorjet for providing fodder for this article.

• Will online communities by airlines help their brands take-off?
• Airline brands must understand that social media is like a BBQ cookout party
• Richard Branson’s interview about Virgin America goes viral. But why?
• Perfect storm: JetBlue versus Southwest on Twitter – real incident
• Alaska Airlines’ brand strategy on Twitter, revealed by Elliot Pesut in exclusive interview

This presentation shares insights on how airlines can really use social media tools like Facebook, blogs and Twitter to drive revenue. This was originally presented as a keynote in Al Ain, UAE on October 13, 2009, at the Low Cost World Middle East Conference.

• 3 speaking engagements on Airlines and social media in October
• Keynote on airline branding at Aviation Outlook Middle East
• Airline branding: Keynote video from Abu Dhabi, and CNBC Arabia
• Presentation on airlines and social media from FTMA & Freddies 2009, now available
• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul

October is going to be an active month for me with three different speaking engagements in three different time zones. If you’re in the area, ping me and I’d love to meet up. Here’s the list.

• Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain
• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009
• Three ways the Cathay Pacific brand can come alive by infusing social media into the People site
• Southwest Airlines’ success secrets on social media revealed by Paula Berg
• Do you work for an airline? This five minute video on social media can change the way you do marketing

Note: This is a Guest Post by Kat. She enjoys everything about airlines and works for their worst enemy: an airport.

Great brands have emerged amidst doom and gloom of economic recessions. Is this time for Singapore Airlines (SIA) to reinvent itself?

True enough, all these years, a Singapore Girl and premium class travel image were the selling points of the brand. But this economic crisis appears to have shaken and changed the landscapes of air travel industry quite significantly. More businessmen are taking budget carriers these days, premium class load factors show no signs of stopping decline, SIA business-class-only services had to be cut.

Market experts have been pointing out that even with the economic recovery premium class travel might not recover. After all, these low-cost-carriers (LCCs) get you there for a fraction of a price. At busier airports, LCCs have been snatching up slots, vacated by full-service carriers, which the latter might have a hard time getting back.

SIA appears to have been burning the candle from both ends. During the boom times, SIA had been steadily increasing the proportion of premium-class seats and improving level of service, while raising airfares. When the crisis struck, the airline appeared to be too slow to reduce ticket prices, banking on preservation of its image of a premium product. However, Emirates have been quick to imitate some of the product offerings at a lower price. Take for example first class suites. A Sydney-London return trip on Emirates will cost AUD 19,000, while the same itinerary on SIA will set one back AUD 22,500. So SIA is pricing itself out at a time when price is becoming an increasingly important factor in the choice of airline.

At the same time, there was a steady stream of complaints from the highest tier of frequent flyers (Solitaire PPS Club) because the airline discontinued offering lifetime membership and trimmed down benefits enjoyed by existing members. Travelers have been pointing out reductions in amenities during the flight and falling standards of service. Thus, the airline has not been meeting expectations dictated by the higher price braket.

As the skies are opening up, the carrier is facing tougher competition on more of its routes.

Is it already happening?

Just recently, SIA signed an agreement with Air India allowing bilateral usage of miles on each other’s flights. This will give more passengers an access to premium travel on SIA, further eroding its exclusive image.

Perhaps, Singapore Airlines Group too has realized that old times are gone for good and if it still wants to fly high, it has to review its branding strategy? Are we going to see SIA’s regional brand, Silkair, rise to greater prominence, now that simpler products with fewer frills (and costing fewer dollars) are all the rage? Or does Tiger Airways’ (an LCC) strong expansion already signal a foray into the new territory? I wonder.

• Is Premium Economy here to stay? A brand review of All Nippon Airlines
• Harvard Business School Professor Rohit Deshpande explains Singapore Airlines’ strategy in interview
• Is business-class travel going extinct? Part 1 of 2
• Singapore Airlines A380 Suites – A Class Beyond First or a First Class Branding Debacle?
• Conde Nast Traveler 2008 airline rankings prove that product is the brand