AirAsia is setting aside approximately USD$5 million for corporate rebranding. According to Group Head of Commercial Kathleen Tan, the exercise will include a new look and feel to its main office, check-in counters (starting with Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur), advertisements and aircraft, as well as a revamped flight attendant uniform.
I’ve always been leery of airlines devoting such a large sum of money to rebranding (although this is a lot less than some past cases that I have written about), but in this case, AirAsia has other bases covered. I believe that all airlines should spend marketing money based on a hierarchy of needs, beginning with the actual customer experience (not what the check-in counter looks like, but the actual travel process), and ultimately working their way up to fluffy things like look and feel. Of course, an efficiently-managed airline can have money for all of those needs. However, too many airlines spend money painting a pretty picture of themselves through marketing channels while apparently completely forgetting about the customer experience and travel process.
In the case of AirAsia, however, the airline has a reputation of excellent customer service and innovative, cost-effective marketing. So here’s to wishing them well with their rebranding, and I’ll be interested in seeing how it turns out!
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