Southwest Airlines introduced the term "Transfarency" to describe its philosophy of treating customers honestly and fairly without unexpected fees. The campaign highlights Southwest's point of differentiation from other airlines that charge baggage and change fees. Southwest uses the hashtag #FeesDontFly to share customer stories about hidden fees from other airlines and good customer service experiences on Southwest. The campaign has been successful in gaining new customers who appreciate Southwest's alignment with customer preferences for transparency and low fares.
What's going to happen this year in travel? 2017 will showcase some never-before-seen travel trends to delight every generation of traveler. Trends curated by Creative Lodging Solutions.
Experience Mazda Zoom Zoom Lifestyle and Culture by Visiting and joining the Official Mazda Community at http://www.MazdaCommunity.org for additional insight into the Zoom Zoom Lifestyle and special offers for Mazda Community Members. If you live in Arizona, check out CardinaleWay Mazda's eCommerce website at http://www.Cardinale-Way-Mazda.com
What's going to happen this year in travel? 2017 will showcase some never-before-seen travel trends to delight every generation of traveler. Trends curated by Creative Lodging Solutions.
Experience Mazda Zoom Zoom Lifestyle and Culture by Visiting and joining the Official Mazda Community at http://www.MazdaCommunity.org for additional insight into the Zoom Zoom Lifestyle and special offers for Mazda Community Members. If you live in Arizona, check out CardinaleWay Mazda's eCommerce website at http://www.Cardinale-Way-Mazda.com
Presenter: Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media
Description: Brands know that the conversation with active and potential consumers starts and potentially ends with reputation. Here, Rhea will provide actionable steps and real life examples of how to apply reputation marketing to accelerate digital growth, especially in the areas of outreach, content strategy, social marketing, and organic performance.
Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines is a unique and powerfu.docxwilliame8
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is a unique and powerful brand in the airline industry. The company has its own distinctive way of marketing and delivering air travel to customers in a way that other companies in the airline industry, as well as outside of it, might find instructive.
“Southwest Airlines was incorporated in Texas and commenced Customer Service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities¾Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Today [that is, mid-2011], Southwest operates 548 Boeing 737 aircraft among 72 cities. ¼ Year end results for 2010 marked Southwest’s 38th consecutive year of profitability. ¼ Southwest is the United States’ most successful low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. Southwest operates more than 3,400 flights a day coast-to-coast, making it the largest U.S. carrier based on domestic passengers carried as of September 30, 2010.”
[i]
“The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.”
[ii]
This mission gives shape, form, and direction to the Southwest Airlines brand and its marketing strategies and activities.
Al St. Germain, who is global director of the airline practice at Landor Associates, a brand consulting company, asserts that “[a]n airline brand is essentially the sum of the experiences that passengers have when they fly with that carrier.”
[iii]
St. Germain also points out that many airlines have been inconsistent in the experiences they have provided customers over time but that “Southwest hasn’t failed customer expectations because it’s always been a no-frills airline.”
[iv]
From a brand standpoint, St. Germain considers Southwest Airlines to be “a testament to consistency.”
[v]
One powerful example of this testament to brand consistency is Southwest’s approach to advertising. According to Herb Kelleher, a Southwest Airlines co-founder and until recently its long-time CEO, good advertising contains three essential elements: (1) advertising must be true; (2) advertising should fairly reflect the company’s attitude; and (3) advertising should be consistent over time.
[vi]
Generating good advertising and achieving brand consistency at Southwest Airlines is, in part, attributable to top executive participation in monthly advertising meetings. Kelleher says that such involvement is helpful with respect to communicating the congruency of the company’s message to the outside world as well as in communicating to Southwest’s employees that the advertising messages are consistent with the treatment they receive.
[vii]
Another powerful example of the testament to consistency is found in Southwest’s tag line
Freedom to Fly
. Employees think of their jobs in terms of “giving people the freedom to fly”
[viii]
¾a perspective that permeates not just employees’ thinking but all of Southwest’s operations. With regard to employees’ beliefs, .
This book examines how Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier of passengers in the largest market in the world has become the envy of financial performance, customer, and employee satisfaction for the airline industry. For those of us who are involved in Organization Development or Human Resources and toil under the belief that people make a bottom line difference, this is our book. For leaders this is also your book, the lessons learned at Southwest are transferable not only to the airline industry but to any industry. A word of caution, the book is based on an academic/statistical study of the airline industry and reported more as an academic treatise than a captivating book. Don't let the style of writing get in the way of the important message:
Southwest's most powerful organizational competency--the "secret ingredient" that makes it so distinctive--is its ability to build and sustained high performance relationships among managers, employees, unions, and suppliers. These relationships are characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect.
Over time Southwest Airlines has developed 10 organizational practices to facilitate coordination among 12 distinct functions: pilots, flights attendants, gate agents, ticketing agents, operations agents, ramp agents, baggage transfer agents, cargo agents, mechanics, fuelers, aircraft cleaners, and caters by building relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect. The heart of this book is the description of these 10 practices and how managers in any setting can implement them to improve their business performance.
Forward Thinking - The Travel Industry Is In Crisis But One Fintech Sees Hope...John Eilermann St. Louis
Matt Crate could be forgiven for feeling at least a little despondent. As the newly appointed Managing Director of currency exchange platform WeSwap, he is running a travel industry-dependent company at a time when borders have been closed, airlines are slashing schedules
Southwest History and GrowthCorporate Level Strategy.docxrafbolet0
Southwest History and Growth
Corporate Level Strategy
Mission and Goal
Southwest has its mission statement since January 1988 as following: “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit”. The company uses a welcoming approach to deal with customers and employees, utilizing great customer service to deliver the best the industry can have. Therefore, to differentiate itself from other airlines, Southwest places a large dedication to its employees, giving them authority to make the necessary decisions to better assist customers with all the comfort needed. This strategy is key for Southwest to provide respect and loyalty for customers.
By following a simple goal: “A primarily short-haul airline that flies directly from city to city, with just one type of plane - the Boeing 737 - and the lowest costs”, Southwest has its horizon set, making sure to deliver a good service that excise “luxurious” rivals to gather market share, increasing profitability customer value.
Short/Medium-Haul
Southwest Airlines has their strategy focused on short/medium flights across the U.S. They participate in an extremely competitive market, where airlines are constantly hunting for competitor’s market share. Southwest uses different approaches to differentiate itself from the market. By providing good customer service, quick airplane turnovers, no baggage fees, low tickets price, efficient operations, and a great work environment, the company is able to maintain airplanes capacity in desired levels.
Connecting airports with a point-to-point strategy has allowed Southwest to provide service at lower costs. The choice of only using Boeing 737s, and training all the personnel to turnover the airplane in a fast and efficient manner, brings efficiency and pleasure to customers that enjoy a wider range of flight times.
Customer Service
Southwest’s hiring process is one of the strongest points that the company has been focusing to deliver superior satisfaction to customers. Employees are not only assessed on their qualifications and experience, but also on the attitudes they bring to their positions (Campbell, 2010). The process concentrates on prospective employees that fit the service culture of the company. This procedure ensures Southwest that when their newly trained personnel is out to perform, they will create constructive relations to customer requests based on their excellent abilities and passion to work. Southwest believes that training is important and crucial to deal with demands on ground, but abilities and high-class social skills are top-not on the company’s preferences.
By providing an example of what means to be “customer oriented”, Southwest delivers a sense of a friendship that can be perceived by their workforce. The company takes different approaches to support that mentality. Clients receive birthday cards and event inv.
This presentation shows a Branding Strategy project for an MBA class at USC Marshall School of Business.
It suggests the increase of focus on the millennial consumer.
Rodney Payne - The future of destination marketingRodney Payne
In November 2015, I was invited by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada to present on our experience in destination marketing around the world, and how shifts in the consumer landscape have created a new model for destination marketing and a new role for tourism boards.
Presenter: Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media
Description: Brands know that the conversation with active and potential consumers starts and potentially ends with reputation. Here, Rhea will provide actionable steps and real life examples of how to apply reputation marketing to accelerate digital growth, especially in the areas of outreach, content strategy, social marketing, and organic performance.
Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines is a unique and powerfu.docxwilliame8
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is a unique and powerful brand in the airline industry. The company has its own distinctive way of marketing and delivering air travel to customers in a way that other companies in the airline industry, as well as outside of it, might find instructive.
“Southwest Airlines was incorporated in Texas and commenced Customer Service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities¾Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Today [that is, mid-2011], Southwest operates 548 Boeing 737 aircraft among 72 cities. ¼ Year end results for 2010 marked Southwest’s 38th consecutive year of profitability. ¼ Southwest is the United States’ most successful low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. Southwest operates more than 3,400 flights a day coast-to-coast, making it the largest U.S. carrier based on domestic passengers carried as of September 30, 2010.”
[i]
“The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.”
[ii]
This mission gives shape, form, and direction to the Southwest Airlines brand and its marketing strategies and activities.
Al St. Germain, who is global director of the airline practice at Landor Associates, a brand consulting company, asserts that “[a]n airline brand is essentially the sum of the experiences that passengers have when they fly with that carrier.”
[iii]
St. Germain also points out that many airlines have been inconsistent in the experiences they have provided customers over time but that “Southwest hasn’t failed customer expectations because it’s always been a no-frills airline.”
[iv]
From a brand standpoint, St. Germain considers Southwest Airlines to be “a testament to consistency.”
[v]
One powerful example of this testament to brand consistency is Southwest’s approach to advertising. According to Herb Kelleher, a Southwest Airlines co-founder and until recently its long-time CEO, good advertising contains three essential elements: (1) advertising must be true; (2) advertising should fairly reflect the company’s attitude; and (3) advertising should be consistent over time.
[vi]
Generating good advertising and achieving brand consistency at Southwest Airlines is, in part, attributable to top executive participation in monthly advertising meetings. Kelleher says that such involvement is helpful with respect to communicating the congruency of the company’s message to the outside world as well as in communicating to Southwest’s employees that the advertising messages are consistent with the treatment they receive.
[vii]
Another powerful example of the testament to consistency is found in Southwest’s tag line
Freedom to Fly
. Employees think of their jobs in terms of “giving people the freedom to fly”
[viii]
¾a perspective that permeates not just employees’ thinking but all of Southwest’s operations. With regard to employees’ beliefs, .
This book examines how Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier of passengers in the largest market in the world has become the envy of financial performance, customer, and employee satisfaction for the airline industry. For those of us who are involved in Organization Development or Human Resources and toil under the belief that people make a bottom line difference, this is our book. For leaders this is also your book, the lessons learned at Southwest are transferable not only to the airline industry but to any industry. A word of caution, the book is based on an academic/statistical study of the airline industry and reported more as an academic treatise than a captivating book. Don't let the style of writing get in the way of the important message:
Southwest's most powerful organizational competency--the "secret ingredient" that makes it so distinctive--is its ability to build and sustained high performance relationships among managers, employees, unions, and suppliers. These relationships are characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect.
Over time Southwest Airlines has developed 10 organizational practices to facilitate coordination among 12 distinct functions: pilots, flights attendants, gate agents, ticketing agents, operations agents, ramp agents, baggage transfer agents, cargo agents, mechanics, fuelers, aircraft cleaners, and caters by building relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect. The heart of this book is the description of these 10 practices and how managers in any setting can implement them to improve their business performance.
Forward Thinking - The Travel Industry Is In Crisis But One Fintech Sees Hope...John Eilermann St. Louis
Matt Crate could be forgiven for feeling at least a little despondent. As the newly appointed Managing Director of currency exchange platform WeSwap, he is running a travel industry-dependent company at a time when borders have been closed, airlines are slashing schedules
Southwest History and GrowthCorporate Level Strategy.docxrafbolet0
Southwest History and Growth
Corporate Level Strategy
Mission and Goal
Southwest has its mission statement since January 1988 as following: “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit”. The company uses a welcoming approach to deal with customers and employees, utilizing great customer service to deliver the best the industry can have. Therefore, to differentiate itself from other airlines, Southwest places a large dedication to its employees, giving them authority to make the necessary decisions to better assist customers with all the comfort needed. This strategy is key for Southwest to provide respect and loyalty for customers.
By following a simple goal: “A primarily short-haul airline that flies directly from city to city, with just one type of plane - the Boeing 737 - and the lowest costs”, Southwest has its horizon set, making sure to deliver a good service that excise “luxurious” rivals to gather market share, increasing profitability customer value.
Short/Medium-Haul
Southwest Airlines has their strategy focused on short/medium flights across the U.S. They participate in an extremely competitive market, where airlines are constantly hunting for competitor’s market share. Southwest uses different approaches to differentiate itself from the market. By providing good customer service, quick airplane turnovers, no baggage fees, low tickets price, efficient operations, and a great work environment, the company is able to maintain airplanes capacity in desired levels.
Connecting airports with a point-to-point strategy has allowed Southwest to provide service at lower costs. The choice of only using Boeing 737s, and training all the personnel to turnover the airplane in a fast and efficient manner, brings efficiency and pleasure to customers that enjoy a wider range of flight times.
Customer Service
Southwest’s hiring process is one of the strongest points that the company has been focusing to deliver superior satisfaction to customers. Employees are not only assessed on their qualifications and experience, but also on the attitudes they bring to their positions (Campbell, 2010). The process concentrates on prospective employees that fit the service culture of the company. This procedure ensures Southwest that when their newly trained personnel is out to perform, they will create constructive relations to customer requests based on their excellent abilities and passion to work. Southwest believes that training is important and crucial to deal with demands on ground, but abilities and high-class social skills are top-not on the company’s preferences.
By providing an example of what means to be “customer oriented”, Southwest delivers a sense of a friendship that can be perceived by their workforce. The company takes different approaches to support that mentality. Clients receive birthday cards and event inv.
This presentation shows a Branding Strategy project for an MBA class at USC Marshall School of Business.
It suggests the increase of focus on the millennial consumer.
Rodney Payne - The future of destination marketingRodney Payne
In November 2015, I was invited by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada to present on our experience in destination marketing around the world, and how shifts in the consumer landscape have created a new model for destination marketing and a new role for tourism boards.
2. Southwest Airline’s
“Transfarency”
campaign embodies
the company’s no
surprise approach to
fees, having a sense of
humor and ultimately,
connecting with
their customers.
utotune,
crowdfunding,
google, selfie,
hashtag and
tweet — these words share
a commonality. All were
new terms when they hit the
scene and were so frequently
used by pop culture they
became infused in the English
language. They each received
the honor of being recognized
as actual words as they were
officially added to the English
dictionary. We can now thank
Southwest Airlines for what
might be a new expansion of
our vocabulary.
BY NONA PHINN
BBBTRUSTED.ORG 25
3. “Transfarency” is a summation of our
philosophy and everything that Southwest
stands for,” explains Anne Murray, Senior
Director of Marketing at Southwest
Airlines. Southwest first came to life on the
back of a napkin, vowing to be bold and
different amongst the other airlines in the
industry. This was the premise on which
Southwest began operating in 1971, as the
only airline providing intrastate service at
a time when most travelers opted to drive
if their travels weren’t taking them across
state lines. “We started out different and
we want to remain different from the rest
of the industry,” advocates Murray.
Differences that, according to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, have made
the airline the nation’s largest carrier in
terms of originating domestic passengers
boarded. Today, Southwest flies to
97 destinations in the U.S. and seven
international locations. During peak flying
times, Southwest operates more than
3,900 flights daily. They do so with more
than 49,000 employees caring for more
than 100 million passengers annually.
With numbers like this, no wonder
Southwest had plenty to celebrate in
2014 when the company revealed its
heart to the world.
Today, most of us are familiar with the
bold and dynamic heart that is coupled
with the Southwest name. When it
launched, Murray says for the company it
was about “being able to show the world
what our brand has become and not
turning away from what it has been.” The
airline had just completed its acquisition of
Airtran Airways, which added international
destinations to Southwest’s repertoire and
in the same year, the abolishment of the
Wright Amendment (an amendment that
restricted nonstop flights from Dallas Love
Field airport to destinations within Texas
and neighboring states) had taken place.
With plenty to be excited about, this new
visual identity was not about walking away
from the old but more about reminding
individuals why Southwest is so unique.
The heart for Southwest is everything.
It’s a symbol the airline feels best tells its
story. The company uses it to depict how
it does business, how it treats customers
and how it acts. “It’s how we behave not
just as individuals but individuals that
make up the company called Southwest,”
explains Murray. The airline is committed
to connecting with its customers and
helping to connect customers with what is
important to Southwest.
SOUTHWEST FIRST CAME TO LIFE ON
THE BACK OF A NAPKIN, VOWING TO BE
BOLD AND DIFFERENT AMONGST THE
OTHER AIRLINES IN THE INDUSTRY.
In October of last year, the airline introduced us to
“Transfarency”, which the company defines as a
philosophy in which customers are treated honestly
and fairly, and low fares actually stay low — no
unexpected bag fees, change fees or hidden fees.
This is what Southwest has always believed and
what the airline has now done is given it a name.
26 TRUSTED SUMMER 2016
5. A key way that Southwest shows
it’s different from other airlines is by
showing that the company’s beliefs
align with the beliefs of its passengers.
Southwest understands the customer’s
expectations and agrees. As the airline
industry began to add baggage fees and
all the other airline carriers followed suit,
Southwest said “no.” They believed that
taking bags on travel is a necessity and
should be something that comes with the
price of a ticket. Murray tells us, “From
the beginning we didn’t think this was
right. We think this is core and should
be a part of what you get. You just might
need some clothes.”
This alignment with customer beliefs
has been critical to the airline’s success.
As Southwest took on its bold, new
look, they began to look for ways to
clearly articulate the sum of all value
they bring to the industry and to the
marketplace as a whole. The concept of
Transfarency fit just perfectly for them,
by highlighting the airline’s low fares and
no hidden fees and its desire to have fun
with bringing this concept to market.
Transfarency goes back to the heart of
the airline — a transparent company
offering low fares and no hidden fees, no
hidden anything. Murray describes, “Our
industry has become not a surprise and
delight moment but a surprise and cringe
moment.” She paints a great picture of
showing up to the airport to check in and
being blindsided by additional fees or
having to pay for extras that one might
expect to come with the cost of a ticket.
“This is the opposite of what Southwest
stands for. People want a great price to
get them from point A to point B as well
as great service and that’s who we are.”
Southwest has developed a number
of creative initiatives in order to bring
Transfarency to life. They take great
pride in the commercials featuring
Southwest employees exemplifying
incredible acting skills and showcasing
great dance moves. Another place to
encounter the company’s employees
is on the Transfarency website where
quizzes and educational content around
hidden fees are used to raise public
awareness of the company’s new term
and the importance of what it means.
Every employee is shown having a bit
of fun, choosing not to be mean spirited
towards the competition but instead just
“poking fun” at their way of doing things.
The use of employees in advertising is
another key part of the company’s strategy
of being transparent. Passengers are
given the opportunity to meet employees
they will fly with when they choose to fly
Southwest, get a taste of who they are, their
personalities and are able to connect with
trusted faces who represent the brand.
Transfarency is bigger than a campaign
for Southwest. It has become a part of the
fabric of this airline. All of Southwest’s
“We started out different and we
want to remain different from the
rest of the industry.”
28 TRUSTED SUMMER 2016
6. messaging is infused with this perfectly
descriptive term. “For instance, we might
be talking about our rewards program
and you wonder what a loyalty program
has to do with Transfarency. Well, the
fact that we don’t have blackout dates is
another point of differentiation,” Murray
clarifies. “So, we’ll make a strong message
to ensure that the customer knows that
is a unique point of difference with the
Southwest rewards program. Our sign off
of that message is ‘That’s Transfarency.
No hidden surprises.’”
Transfarency is also helping to shape
the company’s engagement strategy. With
the use of the hashtag, #FeesDon’tFly,
Southwest encourages passengers who
select to fly with a competitor to talk
about their not so happy experiences
through its social media channels.
Here Southwest is creating a space for
passengers to take a stand against the
airline industry all while still having
some fun. Stories that detail hidden
or extra fees charged by other airlines
are associated with the Southwest
#FeesDon’tFly hashtag. For example,
one passenger posted a message about
being charged an additional $200 for a
name mistake on their ticket while others
tweeted about how much extra they had
to pay for checking in baggage and seat
selection. Each of these stories are read
with a tone of regret and an assurance
that their next flight will be with #SWA.
For those who do fly Southwest,
#FeesDon’tFly is also used to depict the
wonderful customer service they received
and share some of the great ways the
airline bent over backwards to help
them in some tough spots. These stories
mainly focus on how the passenger was
not charged for accommodations and/
or modifications that needed to be made.
Also highlighted are the extras that came
with the flight that the competition has
decided over the years to make obsolete.
BBBTRUSTED.ORG 29
7. “It’s interesting, hashtags usually trend
for 24 hours and then they are gone. This
one had staying power because it spoke
to the power that exists with our public.
They are taking a stand and saying, ‘I
don’t have to put up with airlines that
don’t fly the way I expect them to,’”
informs Murray, “and there is an answer
and it’s Southwest.”
Southwest has found that the airline’s
ability to stand its ground and not
cave into the pressure of following the
trends is earning it new passengers
every day. Murray calls it inspiring.
They see customers leave one airline
and come fly with Southwest because
of the feeling of being mistreated and
the need of wanting to do business
with a company that aligns with their
way of thinking. For Southwest, this
goes beyond the price of a ticket. The
airline expends a great deal of effort
ensuring that this national brand (that’s
going international) feels like home
to its passengers. “Being that heart of
the community to every community
we serve is the goal,” explains Murray.
To reach this goal, Southwest is an
active member of the community.
Initiatives such as supporting active
military and their families as well as
aiding individuals with medical needs
sit high on the company’s priority list.
Southwest has vowed that the initiatives
they are involved in are those that are
near and dear to the community’s heart
and its own.
Murray finds it tough to imagine
anyone who would want to do business
with a company that doesn’t stand
for the same things they do. At Better
Business Bureau, we are finding that
same thing to be true.
What’s next for Transfarency? It’s
going international. Southwest will take
the leap and begin sharing its new word
with customers outside the U.S. With
this next bold move, we’ll hope to see
Transfarency added to more than just
the English dictionary. g
“So, we’ll make a strong message to ensure that the
customer knows that is a unique point of difference with
the Southwest rewards program. Our sign off of that
message is ‘That’s Transfarency. No hidden surprises.’”
30 TRUSTED | SPRING 2016
#FEESDON’TFLY: SOUTHWEST IS CREATING
A SPACE FOR PASSENGERS TO TAKE A
STAND AGAINST THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY
ALL WHILE STILL HAVING SOME FUN
30 TRUSTED SUMMER 2016