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25 January 2012 | Rising disposable income in emerging economies such as the BRICs and the N-11s has allowed the rapidly growing middle classes in these countries to start travelling by air. According to IATA estimates, the number of air travellers worldwide will grow with 800 million to 3.3 billion in 2014 (up from 2.5 billion passengers in 2009), with China alone accounting for more than a quarter of this growth. Although air travel in China is still mainly on domestic and regional routes, an increasing number of leisure and business travellers are flying overseas.

‘Red carpet’
With Chinese outbound tourism recording more than 20 percent annual growth in recent years and overseas spending by Chinese tourists in 2011 expected to total around USD55 billion, airlines, airports and tourism destinations around the world are rolling out the red carpet to make Chinese travellers feel more at home.

Says Reinier Evers, founder of trend agency trendwatching.com, “China is the new emperor, and outpaced companies, flailing nations and even broke monetary unions are looking to the Chinese to bail them out. No wonder red carpets are being rolled out wherever Chinese politicians and CEOs currently set foot. In 2012’s global consumption arena we see a similar picture: department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks and museums, if not entire cities, around the world are going out of their way to shower Chinese customers with tailored services and perks, and in general, lavish them with attention and respect.”

Since there are around 160 cities in China with populations of over 1 million people, airlines such as KLM (Chengdu, Xiamen, Hangzhou), Lufthansa (Shenyang, Qingdao), Air France (Wuhan), Finnair (Chongqing), Qatar Airways (Chongqing) and Etihad (Chengdu) have opened routes to second-tier cities in the country. These airlines also employ Asian cabin crew on board and offer localized amenities such as Chinese food and beverages, movies, music, newspapers and magazines.
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Top 11 innovative product and service concepts for 2011

30 December 2011 | At airlinetrends.com we are constantly on the look-out for innovative products and services launched by airlines and airports around the world, as they respond to industry and consumer trends such as ‘digital nomads’, social media, the quest for ancillary revenues and sustainability. Taking a cue from sci-fi writer William Gibson words that “the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed,” we are wrapping up 2011 with our selection of the most innovative products and service concepts that have been launched this year. Airlinetrends.com will continue to bring you inspiration in 2012, starting next month with our take on the 12 innovative airlines to keep an eye on in 2012.

1. Airlines go wireless with their in-flight entertainment systems

Our pick of the best innovation of 2011 is wireless in-flight entertainment. This cost-efficient solution gives passengers access to content stored on an onboard server via wireless digital devices. Following launches by American Airlines and GOL, the service has been announced by several airlines worldwide. Read more…

2. 11 ways how airlines are deploying the Apple iPad

Airlines have made Apple’s iPad device available to passengers in their lounges and in the air, or for example use the device as a self-service kiosk or food ordering tool. As the list of applications continues to grow, here is our latest overview of how airlines worldwide are deploying the iPad. Read more…

3. San Francisco airport installs water bottle refill stations after security

Many passengers throw away their bottled beverages before entering airport security and then purchase a new drink once air-side. San Francisco International Airport has come up with a more sustainable and customer-friendly solution by installing free water bottle refill stations beyond security. Read more…

4. Malaysia Airlines lets Facebook members select their seat via Facebook

Malaysia Airlines’ MHbuddy app lets Facebook users book flights and check-in, without leaving the social network. Users can also see if any of their friends are travelling on the same flight, and select a nearby seat. KLM will launch a similar ‘Meet & Seat’ social flight feature in early 2012. Read more…

5. Estonian Air’s social loyalty program rewards fans for online promotion

Tapping into the ‘gamification’ trend, Estonian Air is the first airline in the world to launch a social loyalty system by rewarding Facebook fans for posting and sharing reviews and deals of the airline online. Users can redeem their earned points for rewards such as ticket discounts or a meeting with Estonian Air’s CEO. Read more…

6. US Airways offers passengers free branded snack boxes on domestic flights

Instead of letting passengers pay, airlines are increasingly teaming up with advertisers to foot the bill for in-flight amenities such as Wi-Fi. Earlier this year, passengers onboard US Airways flights were given complimentary snack boxes, sponsored by online luxury retailer Gilt. Read more…

7. Delta to rent out iPads at the airport for onboard use, to be returned via mail

Airport restaurateur OTG Management and Delta Air Lines will launch a ‘Media Bar’ at Minneapolis-St Paul airport. Passengers can rent an iPad at the airport, download their choice of content, take the device with them onboard, and return it in prepaid postage box once they reach their final destination. Read more…

8. Finnair / Helsinki Airport’s ‘Quality Hunters’ scan the world for new ideas

This fall, Finnair and Helsinki Airport selected seven Quality Hunters out of several hundred applicants to travel around the world for 48 days and collect ideas on how the two companies could improve the flight and airport experience. Finnair and Helsinki Airport have vowed to implement the best ideas. Read more…

9. Airlines let passengers hedge against airfare increases, for a fee

When it comes to developing new ancillary products, creativity is key. Several airlines offer passengers a paid option to increase or descrease their exposure to rises in ticket prices. Travellers can ‘freeze’ their fare for up to 14 days when making a booking, or bet against a rise in fuel prices. Read more…

10. AirBaltic introduces innovative ancillary fee for checked bags

AirBaltic, in partnership with Samsonite, has introduced an ancillary product called the airBalticBag. Regular flyers with the airline, who purchase the suitcase, can use it as checked luggage on an unlimited number of airBaltic flights during one year. Samsonite also launched a similar concept with Ryanair. Read more…

11. Austrian Airlines starts its own branded airport taxi service

To capture much needed ancillary revenues, airlines are increasingly cross-selling hotel reservations, car rental bookings and travel insurance to passengers. Austrian Airlines has taken this approach a step further by launching its own branded taxi service in Vienna. Read more…

After wave of new low-cost carriers, booming Asia sees launch of premium business carriers

15 December 2011 | GDP growth, increased trade flows, the rise of a new middle class, and market liberalization are the main drivers behind the rapidly growing demand for air travel in Asia Pacific over the coming decade. Airbus, for example, projects that by 2030 the region will account for 33 percent of worldwide revenue passenger kilometres, up from 28 percent today.

The growth in the region’s aviation market is resulting in a large number of new airline launches. In the past year, full-service airlines such as ANA (Peach, AirAsia Japan) and JAL (Jetstar Japan) have announced their own low-cost initiatives in order to take advantage of market deregulation in Japan, while the region’s largest LCC’s – AirAsia, Jetstar and Lion Air – continued their expansion. Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, has launched a low-cost long-haul subsidiary, called Scoot.

At the other end of the spectrum, the region’s booming economies and the resulting growth in business travel have led ‘challenger airlines’ such as Skymark from Japan (low-density A380) and Hong Kong Airlines (Hong Kong – London ‘Club’ service) to announce all-premium long-haul flights, while in Southeast Asia, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes have all revealed plans to set up their own regional premium carrier.

Qantas ‘Red Q’
Because of intense competition from Gulf-based and Asian carriers, Qantas’ international market share in Australia has fallen from 39 to 14 per cent over the past decade. The airline’s cost base for its international operations is said to be 20 per cent higher than that of its competitors. With its dominance at home eroded, Qantas in August 2011 announced a plan to establish an Asian hub, which is is expected to reduce its operating costs with tens of millions of dollars.

Says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce: “Our aim is to position ourselves in the Southeast Asian marketplace in advance of planned aviation liberalisation. In five years we plan to have a hub in the world’s fastest growing aviation region, feeding traffic into both our Qantas and Jetstar networks. This is how we will end the disadvantage of being an end-of-the-line carrier.”
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Finnair and Helsinki Airport employ ‘Quality Hunters’ to come up with new ideas

13 December 2011 | In a follow-up to last year’s campaign, Finnair in September 2011 launched a new public search for so-called ‘Quality Hunters’, this year in partnership with Helsinki Airport. Seven Quality Hunters, chosen from hundreds of applicants, travelled around the world for 48 days throughout October and November 2011, collecting ideas and insights on how Finnair and Helsinki Airport could improve the flight and airport experience. An eighth “Bonus Hunter” joined the group in November on the basis of his social media activities.

Seven categories
Each Quality Hunter was given a theme to focus on: food & beverages, entertainment, socialising, travel in business class, services, shopping and “on the move”. Their task was to collect product and service ideas and present them to Finnair and Helsinki Airport at the end of the project in early December. Finnair and Helsinki Airport in turn would commit to the best ideas for implementation. Says Finnair “We don’t need a list of flaws (we’re painfully aware of most of them already!) but we want to know how to fix things and go even beyond that.” […] ”As a part of renewing our entire service identity, we want to go further in charting the black spots of travel and finding creative solutions to resolve them.”

The Quality Hunters blogged and tweeted daily about their observations and ideas, made videos and acted as community managers. Visitors to the Quality Hunters website could set tasks for them, make comments and share their opinions, while passengers at Helsinki Airport could drop by at the Hunter’s Lounge, located between gates 32-38.
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Qatar Airways expands via niche markets, opening 24 new routes in 2 years time

11 December 2011 | With an enviable outlook ahead of them, Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are some of the world’s fastest-growing airlines. A recent report released by the Boston Consulting Group illustrates that the three carriers will collectively triple their capacity over the next 20 years. But while these so-called ‘Gulf Gullivers’ have a number of similarities – they have placed multi billion-dollar aircraft orders, large investments in their premium services, and expanded their airports in order to turn the Gulf region into the world’s 24/7 aviation hub – they have taken on different growth strategies.

We have highlighted before how Emirates, which will become the world’s largest operator of widebody aircraft by 2015, is combining its global Dubai hub with localized services on board. This time we are taking a look at Qatar Airways, who has been taken a slightly different expansion approach by seeking out markets that have yet been unexplored by fellow Gulf carriers.

Airline of the year
The national carrier of Qatar has experienced a rapid ascent to become one of the top airline brands in the sky. Earlier this year, 5-star rated Qatar Airways was named “Airline of the Year 2011” by Skytrax – which cited its roomy economy class cabin and the Business and First Class experience (including the Premium Terminal at its Doha hub) as key drivers for the ranking.

Qatar Airways currently operates a fleet of 102 aircraft to 109 destinations, and by 2013 plans to serve 120 destinations with a fleet of 120 aircraft. Receiving a new aircraft every 18 days, the airline is targetting an annual growth of 35 percent in the coming years, and has ordered more than 200 aircraft, including 10 a380s and 80 a350s, worth over USD 40 billion. Additionally, Qatar Airways is a key stakeholder in the construction of Doha’s brand new international airport, scheduled to open in 2012.

Niche Markets
While Qatar Airways is likely to remain smaller in total size than its near neighbour Emirates for the foreseeable future, the Doha-based carrier seems keen to overtake its Dubai-based rival in the number of destinations served (109 versus 116 routes at the moment). Speaking at the recent Dubai Air Show, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said that the airline’s mission “…has been to operate to key business and leisure destinations around the world, but also to underserved markets where others dare not venture into. We take bold decisions to serve certain markets because we believe it makes strong business sense.”
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Airlines give their best customers access to branded zones at cinemas and events

8 December 2011 | IKEA stores in Canada feature ‘green parking’ spaces close to the entrance that are reserved for drivers of hybrid cars and fuel-efficient vehicles. Credit card companies such as Amex and Mastercard have been opening airport lounges for their members (at for example Toronto and Budapest airports). UK mobile operator 02 gives its customers exclusive access to concert tickets up to 48 hours before general release, while Palmeiras, one of the major football teams in Brazil, reserves 5,000 seats exclusively for Visa Card customers. Called the ‘Visa Sector’, the section has a lounge, restaurant, bars, plasma TVs and other perks.

Coined by trendwatching.com as ‘Perkonomics’, these initiatives are part of a new breed of perks and privileges that are added to brands’ regular offerings in order to satisfy consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience. Several airlines have also jumped on the ‘perkonomics’ bandwagon by offering more inclusive perks for members of their loyalty programs.

Cine TAM
Cine TAM is a cinema owned by Brazil’s TAM Airlines. In 2007, the airline transformed a former theater in the Santo Amaro neighborhood of Sao Paulo into a TAM-branded cinema. The design of the four-screen cinema is inspired by the jet-set era of the 1960s, and for example features several ‘ball chairs’ in the entrance hall, while the theater’s screens are named Londres (London), Nova York (New York City), Milão (Milan), and Paris. Red and Black members of TAM’s Fidelidade frequent flyer program, as well as holders of TAM co-branded credit cards, receive a standard discount of 50 percent on film tickets, can make use of a preferential queue when buying tickets at the box office, and are invited to attend exclusive premieres. TAM commercials are shown before each movie.

Air France-KLM Kinepolis
On a similar note, albeit on a much smaller scale, Air France-KLM offers members of its Flying Blue loyalty program the chance to reserve one of the airline’s VIP seats at the Kinepolis cinema in Brussels, Belgium. Amenities of the so-called ‘Air France-KLM VIP Lounge’, include 4 comfortable “Business Class” aircraft seats, a cooled bottle of champagne and a mini-bar. The perk is reserved for Flying Blue members (silver tier and higher) residing in Belgium, who can book the cinema lounge twice a year.
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Instant banner vending kiosk at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport lets family and friends give travellers a warm welcome

5 December 2011 | Many people will be familiar with the sight of families and friends lined up in the arrival hall, anxiously waiting to welcome their loved ones, and displaying home-made banners to add an extra dimension to the occasion. Always on the lookout for an innovative amenity to improve an already well-regarded airport experience, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has just installed a self-service banner vending machine, called the BannerXpress. The instant banner (‘spandoeken’ in Dutch’) kiosk allows people who are meeting passengers at the airport to design and print their own personalised banners.

The BannerXpress machine, a world’s first, lets users create a personalised banner in a few steps. They start with choosing the size (40, 130 or 300 cm wide; the height is a standard 30 cm), and then select the background and theme. The last step is entering the text they wish to appear on the banner, and after paying with a debit or credit card, the banner is printed out on canvas. The price of a the banner ranges from EUR 3.95 (USD 5) to EUR 14.95 (USD 20).

Says Otto Ambagtsheer, Director Business Area Consumers at Schiphol Airport, “The banners by BannerXpress allow the airport to offer people who are coming to pick someone up with the chance to surprise them in a playful way. For now we only have this one dispenser in Arrival Hall 2, but we may add more at other locations if it proves popular.” According to the New York Times reports that in the first month of operation, the banner machine “has been churning out about 50 banners a day.”
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AirBaltic turns virtual shoe featured in advertising campaign into real sneaker

3 December 2011 | Besides starring Bill Murray as oceanographer Steve Zissou, the 2004 cult movie ‘The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou’, also featured custom-made Adidas white/yellow ‘Team Zissou’ sneakers with light blue striping, designed by the creators of the movie. After seeing the film, hundreds of sneaker fans inquired with Adidas where they could buy the fictional shoes. However, despite numerous requests, an online petition and Facebook page, Adidas declined to take the shoe into a limited edition production. This prompted many fans to design and produce their own Team Zissou shoes – and also offer them up for sale on eBay.

airBalticShoe
Fast forward to 2011, a time when the ‘conversation economy’ has become much more mainstream. In March 2011, Latvia-based airBaltic – which has been featured several times before on airlinetrends.com – launched a new advertising campaign that highlighted several airline-themed shoe designs branded in airBaltic’s colours. The fictional shoes were meant to illustrate the various reasons consumers could have for taking advantage of an offer by the airline, such as summer travel, winter break, visiting a sports game, or an upgrade to Business Class.

The shoe designs were featured in print ads, outdoor billboards and online banners, and appealed to the public is such a way that people started to inquire at airBaltic via Facebook and Twitter where they could buy the shoes. Having already launched innovative ‘Baltic’-branded products such as the airBalticBag, BalticWater, BalticTaxi and BalticBike, airBaltic was quick to embrace this marketing opportunity and recently turned one of the designs into a real shoe. In the airline’s words: “Inspired from our advertisments we have made real airBaltic branded leather shoes.”
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South African LCC Mango rewards random acts of kindness

1 December 2011 | Social good is on a lot of people’s minds these days. With a turbulent economic climate and more social awareness, nonprofits, charities and businesses have been scaling their presence to give more, and have been doing so with unique models. Over the past year, businesses in particular have been unprecedented in their initiatives ranging from pay-what-you-can schemes to giving free rides to volunteer events. The trend of spreading good is rightfully taking root in the global business community, and more and more airlines have been catching on with their own unique initiatives.

Airpoints, surprises and free wifi
Dutch carrier KLM has been widely recognized in the industry as a highly innovative carrier – a reputation that can also be applied to their involvement in kindness-based campaigns. In late 2010, KLM’s incredibly well-received KLM Surprise initiative, rewarded small gifts to random passengers who left an ‘@KLM’ tweet or checked in at the airline’s Schiphol Airport FourSquare locations. With New Zealand being the world’s first country to designate a national ‘Random Acts of Kindness Day’, it should come as no surprise that Air New Zealand has also been at the forefront of offering kindness to fliers. In addition to its long running gift-granting @AirNZFairy Twitter account, Air New Zealand earlier this year launched a similar campaign as KLM’s at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports.

Mango
Recognizing and rewarding kindness made its way to South Africa this year in the form of Kindness Month. Mango, one of the country’s low cost carriers, and a subsidiary of South African Airways, commemorated its fifth birthday by implementing a new initiative to reward acts of kindness across the country. During ‘Kindness Month’, which started on 15 November and lasts until 15 December, 2011, Mango will be celebrating acts of kindness between South Africans “through hearing how South Africans helped one another.”

Says Mango’s CEO Nico Bezuidenhout, “We want to hear about personal experiences, about individuals who have made a difference; small but significant acts that has impacted someone’s day, week or life. It could be a shop assistant who went out of their way for a customer, a friend in need, someone who gives you a lift when in challenging circumstances. Anything. In the lead up to the December holiday season, we need to share kindness in even larger measures.”
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London Gatwick rethinks airport security to reduce passenger processing times

By Ryan Ghee, Editor, Future Travel Experience

17 November 2011 | While the first priority of airport security is to ensure the safety of passengers and fully secure the air travel process, increasing passenger expectations also demand that the process is completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Even in the age of an increased threat from terrorism and the subsequent introduction of strict rules on the carriage of liquids, aerosols and gels, passengers have set a high benchmark for what they expect from airport security. The weight of importance placed on enhancing the process is highlighted by IATA’s vision for the ‘Checkpoint of the Future’, which was outlined earlier this year.

This concept envisages an end to the one-size-fits-all approach to airport security through a triple-pronged approach: Strengthened security by focusing resources where risk is greatest; supporting this risk-based approach by integrating passenger information into the checkpoint process; and maximising throughput for the vast majority of travellers who are deemed to be low-risk with no compromise on security levels. Although the concept appears strong on paper, making significant changes to such a vital process is bound to come with complexities and some have questioned whether it is, in fact, realistic.

London Gatwick rethinks the security process
However, with the opening of its new 19-lane South Terminal Security product, Gatwick Airport provides an example of the significant enhancements that can be made to the existing airport security process. In a first of its kind project, the airport has adopted ‘Iris at a Distance’ technology to automate and expedite entry to the security area, while colour coding, screens displaying accurate queuing times, and specific assistance lanes, have also been adopted. Read full article »

Estonian Air’s social loyalty program rewards fans for online promotion

14 November 2011 | One of the most compelling aspects of location-based social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook Places are their game dynamic, which rewards users with virtual badges for checking into venues repeatedly, thereby promoting a venue or brand to their friends through Facebook and Twitter. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Virgin America and JetBlue have launched campaigns that reward their fans and followers for ‘checking in’ into their virtual venues.

Gamification
The initiatives by these airlines are early steps in what is called the ‘gamification’ trend, which is described by JWT as “Brands applying game mechanics –incentives and rewards such as leader boards, leveling, stored value, privileges, superpowers, status indicators, etc.– to non-gaming spaces in an attempt to drive certain actions or behaviors.” Gamification can encourage people to perform taks that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites, and according to trendwatching.com it taps into basic human needs: “Fun and entertaining, games allow players to visualize progress, while satisfying fundamental needs and desires – for reward, status, achievement, self-expression, competition, and altruism.” For more on ‘gamification’, we recommend reading ‘Gamification 101: The Psychology of Motivation’.

Social loyalty
Moving beyond location-based reward schemes such as TopGuest, companies such as Badgeville, CrowdTwist, Gamify and Manumatrix have created ‘white label’ social loyalty platforms that allow members to earn points, unlock badges, and be featured on a leaderboard as they engage in various activities such as watching videos, commenting on articles, reviewing, “Liking” or tweeting products and promotions, posting photo’s on Instagram, and participating in polls. Examples of social loyalty programs include ‘Samsung Nation’ and the upcoming Hilton Social HHonors (site is not yet live).

Estonian Air ‘AirScore’
In late October 2011, Estonian Air, flag-carrier of the tiny but internet-savvy Baltic nation, became the first airline in the world to launch a social loyalty programme on Facebook, rewarding its customers and fans for being strong advocates online. Called AirScore, the scheme allows customers and fans to get rewards for promotional actions such as sharing a review of the airline or tweeting a deal. Read full article »

Delta Picks – airline sells products curated by its flight crew

11 November 2011 | Airline crew are one of the most important assets an airline has. Witness Southwest, who is actively encouraging its employees to make a difference, and describes them as someone “who dares to make mistakes; dares to be different; finds a way to utilize people’s special talents; and lives a little on the edge” (examples include a Southwest pilot who held his plane so a passenger on his way to a funeral could make it, or the airline’s famous rapping flight attendant David Holmes).

Cathay Pacific
Airlines such as Cathay Pacific and SAS are also putting their employees in the spotlight. Cathay’s ‘Meet the Team’ campaign has been running for some years now – and recently took some hitting- and introduces a dozen of the airline’s staff through profiles and behind-the-scenes stories in print ads, YouTube videos, on Facebook, and via an iPad app.

SAS
On a similar not SAS has just introduced ‘The Face of SAS’ on Facebook, which highlights several of its employees every week as the airline’s Facebook profile-picture, as well as present themselves and what they do at SAS. In SAS’ words: “We believe that our employees are our single most important asset. Here’s your chance to get to know them – and SAS – a little better.”

SAS also publishes an annual ‘SAS Crew Guide’, a ‘crew-sourced’ guidebook consisting of recommendations by SAS cabin crew and pilots for accommodation, shopping, dining, sightseeing and nightlife in many of the cities served by SAS. The 350-pages guide also contains 13 personal profiles by individual crew members and their favourite cities and is sold online for EUR15 (or 4,410 SAS Bonuspoints) as well as in select bookshops in Scandinavia, the UK and the U.S. The New York section of the SAS Crew Guide is also available as a free iPhone and Android app. Read full article »

SAS lets Facebook fans decide its next summer route

9 November 2011 | The airline industry is busy experimenting with various social media initiatives that aim to use the power of the crowd. Airlines such as Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and British Airways have been tapping into the creativity of the general public to crowdsource products as diverse as designs of loyalty cards, eyemasks, and catering items such as cocktails, snacks and desserts. Meanwhile, Virgin America and Southwest, among others, have recently held ‘crowd clout’ campaigns with group buying site Groupon, offering consumers a deal when enough buyers would commit to the offer.

SAS ‘Sommerflyet’
Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) ‘Sommerflyet’ (‘summer plane’) campaign has tapped into ‘the wisdom of crowds’ to determine its next destination. The airline recently announced it would start 21 new leisure destinations for its summer 2012 schedule and reserved one of its aircraft next summer in order to let its more than 110,000 Facebook fans choose a 22nd destination.

Says Christian Kamhaug, Head of Social Media at SAS, “Every summer SAS reduces capacity on its domestic networks in Scandinavia. These are mainly business-driven, high-frequency routes, and as we all have 4 to 5 weeks of vacation here in Scandinavia, business traffic grinds to a halt in June and July. SAS used to park planes and send crews on vacation, but in the last couple of years costs have been cut by 23 percent and now it’s more profitable to operate these planes, even to low-yield leisure routes.” […] “More than 110 000 people follow Scandinavian Airlines on Facebook and we think it is great to let our most dedicated fans influence our product in this way.”
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Aeroports de Paris teams up with consumer brands to offer free airport amenities

See our Facebook page for more images

7 November 2011 | Faced with ever more experienced consumers, who routinely ignore the commercials and ads thrown at them, brands have found new ways to break through the advertising clutter to reach and engage consumers. Coined by trendwatching.com, ‘tryvertising’ can be thought of as “product placement in the real world, whereby brands integrate their goods and services into daily life in a relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not on the message.” Being high-traffic locations with a diverse and international mix of consumers, brands see airports as a good setting for tryvertising campaigns, while for airports they are an economical way to improve the service, or even as an additional source of revenue.

The free, branded, airport amenities are also examples of the ‘marketing as a service’ trend (or ‘Brand Butlers’ in trendwatching.com lingo). When advertising no longer talks at you but actually does something for you, then it becomes a service. Brands get meaningful exposure, airports get happier travellers and consumers perceive the brand as an emphatic and helpful resource.

While tryvertising/brand butler services can be found at airports around the world (see our Facebook page for an extensive slideshow), Aéroports de Paris, which operates Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly airports, has embraced the concept on a large scale.

Samsung and Sony brand spaces
At the end of July 2011, consumer electronics brand Samsung opened the ‘Samsung SoundCorner’ at Charles de Gaulle airport’s terminal 2B boarding lounge. The free entertainment and music lounge consists of individual alcoves equipped with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets to relax while listening to music. The tablets give access to the SoundCorner application, developed by Universal Music, which offers a selection of a hundred songs to listen (the selection is renewed every month). The alcoves also have connection stations to plug in passengers’ own devices so they can listen to their own music via the directional sound speakers fitted in every alcove. A central screen also plays video clips non-stop.
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‘No-frills chic’ carrier IndiGo becomes India’s second largest domestic airline in just five years

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4 November 2011 | There’s no doubt that the low-cost carrier business model has boomed in the past decade. Focusing on innovation and enhanced experiences on top of the traditional low-cost model, ‘no frills chic’ airlines such as Jetblue and Virgin America have created a loyal following. In recent years, this concept has been spreading around the globe, albeit slowly, with start-up carriers such as Virgin Australia, Azul from Brazil and Japan’s Starflyer focusing on the passenger experience in order to differentiate themselves from established players.

IndiGo
In India, a very competitive market that is growing at the world’s second fastest rates, IndiGo has become the second largest domestic carrier by securing nearly 19 percent of the local market in just five years. According to IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh, the airline’s philosophy is “to make travel as hassle-free as possible — low-cost but high quality — and that’s why we are popular both with budget travellers and high-level corporations”.

Since its launch in 2006, IndiGo has been the fastest growing low-cost carrier in the world, while posting profits over the last three years. In the 12 months ending March 2011, the airline achieved a 25 percent profit margin on its operations, generating a profit of USD132 million. Traffic in the 2010-11 fiscal year grew with 39 percent, with average load factors above 80 percent. IndiGo ordered no less than 100 A320 aircraft when it started operations and in 2011 pushed for an additional 150 A320neos (for delivery between 2016 and 2025), as well as 30 more A320s, which besides for domestic growth are intended for international expansion.

Branding the passenger experience
IndiGo’s media campaign has focused more on customer service and less on pricing where it is hard to be competitive, and the airline’s avant-garde branding has been a major differentiator. Collaborating with branding agency Wieden + Kennedy, IndiGo has come out with campaigns focused around the no-frills chic concept. Cheeky print ads promoted IndiGo’s same-day return flights from major Indian cities, extra seat pitch (2 inches more than India’s industry standard) and new aircraft. IndiGo’s check-in counters feature banners saying “India’s Coolest Airline” and check-in queues have “Cut The Red Tape” signs. Read full article »