Singapore Girl Lite
AdAsia Magazine, Singapore, May 2004 issue
Budget airlines are popping up all over the place, like mushrooms in autumn. For good reason, as in rapid succession both US and European markets have shown. The public has proven to be ready for cheap, no-frills mass air transport and there’s no reason why Asian audiences should be different. Entrepreneurs in the region have recognized this. New companies are jumping to the opportunity and adapting the concept to the Asian market.
And of course Singapore can’t stay behind. There’s good reason for that, too. Much of Singapore’s success is attributable to having a busy air transport hub and an excellent airline that uses that hub as the central node of their network. That hub is Changi of course, and the excellent airline Singapore Air. And true to the way things go on this fair island, the latter has now been assigned the mission of entering the new market, to use its organizational strength and marketing savvy to come up with a new winner in a new segment.
So far, so good, and Tiger Air is born. Thing is, Singapore Airlines became a winner by avoiding the trodden path. It set course in a new direction, where no man had gone before. To branding, and beyond.
Case in question: the Singapore Girl. SIA made marketing history by turning the cold, hard rationality of airline branding around: they went for softness and emotion, and chose the Girl to carry their brand. In fact, the Girl became the brand. And Singapore Air became a winner. The Singapore Girl became the stuff of marketing cases in business schools across the globe, and ended up being copied by many others in the hot air propulsion industry.
Right now, SIA faces a similar crucial choice. Contrary to current lore, it has decided to set up a low budget affiliate. In doing this, they take a risk where others failed miserably: BA with Buzz, KLM with Go, the list goes on. None of the big guys could face up to the rigorous low-cost structure of dedicated budget cutters like RyanAir and EasyJet.
SIA knows this, and thinks it can avoid the mistakes the Europeans made. OK. But what aggravates me to no end is that this is where all the risk-taking seems to stop. Singapore Airlines has become a global brand, recognized everywhere and envied by marketers worldwide for the lushness of its imagery. So what do they call the newborn? Tiger Air! TIGER AIR!
By doing this, SIA are leaving unused the single greatest advantage they have in the world of air travel. And don’t come to me with the usual: “we can’t risk our precious brand.” Nag, nag, nag. Of course there’s a risk – no pain, no gain. But many have proven that you can descend into lower-priced segments from a premium position without sacrificing your brand. BMW are now making small, cheap cars and using their brand equity to sell them. Luxury brands like Armani with its Emporio line are descending from their high thrones into nether-priced regions, maintaining image and gaining wider brand recognition to boot.
SIA are throwing away a fantastic opportunity to rewrite marketing history again, by creating a brand extension into a new segment. Call it Singapore Girl Lite or whatever, that’s for an agency to work out. Take a long, hard look at what makes the SIA brand one of the hottest properties in the industry, and how it can be used to achieve leadership in the new and promising budget airline market. Just do it.
Tiger Air, bah!
Budget airlines are popping up all over the place, like mushrooms in autumn. For good reason, as in rapid succession both US and European markets have shown. The public has proven to be ready for cheap, no-frills mass air transport and there’s no reason why Asian audiences should be different. Entrepreneurs in the region have recognized this. New companies are jumping to the opportunity and adapting the concept to the Asian market.
And of course Singapore can’t stay behind. There’s good reason for that, too. Much of Singapore’s success is attributable to having a busy air transport hub and an excellent airline that uses that hub as the central node of their network. That hub is Changi of course, and the excellent airline Singapore Air. And true to the way things go on this fair island, the latter has now been assigned the mission of entering the new market, to use its organizational strength and marketing savvy to come up with a new winner in a new segment.
So far, so good, and Tiger Air is born. Thing is, Singapore Airlines became a winner by avoiding the trodden path. It set course in a new direction, where no man had gone before. To branding, and beyond.
Case in question: the Singapore Girl. SIA made marketing history by turning the cold, hard rationality of airline branding around: they went for softness and emotion, and chose the Girl to carry their brand. In fact, the Girl became the brand. And Singapore Air became a winner. The Singapore Girl became the stuff of marketing cases in business schools across the globe, and ended up being copied by many others in the hot air propulsion industry.
Right now, SIA faces a similar crucial choice. Contrary to current lore, it has decided to set up a low budget affiliate. In doing this, they take a risk where others failed miserably: BA with Buzz, KLM with Go, the list goes on. None of the big guys could face up to the rigorous low-cost structure of dedicated budget cutters like RyanAir and EasyJet.
SIA knows this, and thinks it can avoid the mistakes the Europeans made. OK. But what aggravates me to no end is that this is where all the risk-taking seems to stop. Singapore Airlines has become a global brand, recognized everywhere and envied by marketers worldwide for the lushness of its imagery. So what do they call the newborn? Tiger Air! TIGER AIR!
By doing this, SIA are leaving unused the single greatest advantage they have in the world of air travel. And don’t come to me with the usual: “we can’t risk our precious brand.” Nag, nag, nag. Of course there’s a risk – no pain, no gain. But many have proven that you can descend into lower-priced segments from a premium position without sacrificing your brand. BMW are now making small, cheap cars and using their brand equity to sell them. Luxury brands like Armani with its Emporio line are descending from their high thrones into nether-priced regions, maintaining image and gaining wider brand recognition to boot.
SIA are throwing away a fantastic opportunity to rewrite marketing history again, by creating a brand extension into a new segment. Call it Singapore Girl Lite or whatever, that’s for an agency to work out. Take a long, hard look at what makes the SIA brand one of the hottest properties in the industry, and how it can be used to achieve leadership in the new and promising budget airline market. Just do it.
Tiger Air, bah!
posted by Jos. at Saturday, May 01, 2004
