Event recap: Building a brand at 35,000 feet
On possibly one of the most quintessentially pleasant mid-spring evenings cherished by Minnesotans who’ve endured the long, cold dark, approximately 200 MIMA members and guests chose to resist the temptations of warm sunshine and the lingering scent of lilacs drifting through the air to instead convene at Solera on the 19th for the May event.
Crazy? Hardly! These Twin Cities-area marketing professionals were all eager to listen to local-girl-done-well-for-herself, Porter Gale – VP of Marketing at the brand innovator, Virgin America Airlines. And as the photo gallery shows, a good time was had by all.
Some of you may remember when, once upon a time, she was at Martin Williams. Indeed, some of her old cronies were in attendance to help keep her on her toes. On this day, she flew in from San Francisco to talk about how her company uses interactive channels, including social media, to make limited marketing dollars go, well, farther.
If you’ve flown in the last 20 years or so, your airline experience may have focused on enduring the process of getting to your destination rather than enjoying the journey. One of the things Minneapolis advertising legend Ray Mithun used to say is: “If 13 is unlucky for someone, it must be lucky for someone else. We decided, at the start of our business, to be someone else.”
While Gale did not refer to this tenet of the agency that bears Mithun’s name, the point is: in an industry full of brand mediocrity, Virgin America decided to be lucky number 13. The heart of its marketing strategy, according to Gale, is to position the airline as different from anything else in the category. The company’s goals are to create an airline people love and to reinvent travel.
When Virgin America profiled its customers, the company realized its best customers are opinion leaders who enjoy using social media and other new technology. So it is using this information to help distance itself from the competition and chart a new course for airline travelers by using three innovative social media marketing approaches.
- Create buzz-worthy experiences
- Engage customers and listen to them
- Connect with customers on a genuine level rather than “marketing at them”
Gale’s slide set and the podcast from her presentation both provide details on how Virgin America executes on these approaches. Check the resources section next time you visit this website, as they should be available soon. Perhaps some ideas may translate well to your company and industry? Or spark creative marketing ideas of your own?
She left lots of time for questions and answers. And audience members responded by asking her to elaborate on many different topics. Following are selected insights on social media shared by Gale.
On customer relationships
“Social media should be authentic, real and honest. People should follow because they want to.”
On celebrity endorsements
“Most of the people fly Virgin already and just do it for ticket trades. We look for natural relationships matched to a purposeful reason for the endorsement.”
On co-branding partnership opportunities
“We don’t have an agency helping source our partnerships. We believe in ‘less is more’ and ‘going deep rather than broad.’ Chemistry and fit is important to us, as is having a fair and equitable relationship.”
On marketing team structure
“Sir Richard (Richard Branson, major shareholder and corporate “celebrity”) is a risk taker. If you believe in taking risks, you need to empower your people.”
On measuring ROI
“Our guests are using social media. Since they will talk, we joined the conversation. We look at how our social media strategy affects customer relationship management.”
On the pace of change
“If someone says they are social media experts, you should question them.”
Which memorable concepts did you take away? What quotable quotes made an impression on you? Why was listening to Porter Gale and schmoozing with your MIMA colleagues the best use of your time on one of the few remaining warm, yet bug-free evenings left to enjoy this spring? Please share your comments.
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May 26th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Porter Gale’s quote: “Social media should be authentic, real and honest. People should follow because they want to.” is a great concept for all brands to consider. While the amount of followers or “likes” is good to have high, the true value is made by customers who are engaged in the brand and want to continue supporting it. If you have 150 active and committed followers, it doesn’t matter what your actual follower count is. The 150 are the ones that are going to spread your message and support it (or let you know when you need to change things up). Those are the numbers that matter.
Thanks for a great blog post!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
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