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Virgin Blue Audit
Many say Richard Branson is the modern day Robin Hood with Virgin playing the cast of his merry men and women. Some
truth lies in this analogy, particularly in the skies over Australia. Both Sir Robin and Sir Richard have actively
pursued methods to help reduce class differences created and enforced by the powers that be, political and/or
organisational. They both have fought aggressively for justice, equality and 'the people' in a jovial yet highly
effective manner.
As a brand extension of Virgin, Virgin Blue's big idea is naturally all about consumer advocacy achieved through
challenging tradition and raising the competitive bar in favour of the every day shopper. This does two things, firstly
it scares the crap out of the incumbents of any retail category Sir Richard is heard talking about, and secondly it
delights and excites millions of consumers who know they are about to have access to a more affordable mobile phone,
credit card, holiday, CD or flight.
For Australians, Sherwood Forest is at 40,000 feet somewhere between Melbourne and Brisbane, and it is there that we
can all share in the spoils delivered by the organisation promising fairness.
The Promise
Before making any promises, Virgin Blue and their agency took steps to look at the Australian air travel market and
assess the environment. What they found was an industry suffering from elitist positioning, exploitation from the major
players, and a very confused if not despondent public. In the last 10 years many Australians had lost or forfeited
money or fares from the series of Compass collapses, thousands of reward points and maybe even their job as a result of
Ansett hitting the tarmac at speed.
According to Sean Cummins CEO and Creative Director of Virgin Blue's agency Cummins & Partners, "Virgin Blue entered
the market of a proud country that had lost faith in its major airlines. From this understanding Virgin Blue addressed
the two critical issues for any airline entering the market at this time - credibility and 'Aussieness'".
With that emerged some very clever branding and campaign work that positioned and launched Virgin Blue as the
challenger brand - or as Cummins puts it, "a brand that challenges people to fly more for less."
According to Virgin, they want the public to see their brand as standing for passion, personality, fairness and a
genuine enjoyment in what they do - everyday. The consistent communication of these values with 'wit and warmth'
promotes a very clear message to the Australian public..." Fun and Fantastic service for less, from the team at Virgin
Blue, Who love what they do".
Presumably making this kind of promise is easy if you know it can be delivered. David Huttner, Head of Strategy
and Communications for Virgin Blue, says "Our team at Virgin Blue is fantastic, their focus and commitment to
delivering outstanding customer service is unrivaled. We have invested heavily in positioning ourselves as the low fare
airline that will 'Keep the Air Fair', but that doesn't mean that customers should expect or will be given anything
less than great service"
Virgin Blue has found that recruiting people from diverse backgrounds and experiences creates a culture that supports
delivering service at the highest level. The airline refers to its customers as 'guests' because they see themselves
primarily as hospitality providers.
The Delivery
Everyone who's ever traveled on Virgin Blue has a story they love to tell, whether about the message on the bag
measuring device at check in saying "You can bring as much emotional baggage as you like but hand baggage has to fit in
here" or stories about onboard experiences with the staff. The fact is that Virgin Blue has been thorough to the point
that every time you interact with the brand, the idea behind the message is the same. From the no nonsense on-line
booking, to having to pay for the onboard food & drinks, to the welcome message from Branson on the fuselage as you
board, every part of this experience makes sense.
What has intrigued us most of all is just how a brand can achieve this high level of service with such a consistent but
distinctive style. We spoke to cabin crew, check-in personnel and even had a chat with a baggage handler. The main
thing that stood out was the one thing that need to - all were happy, appeared comfortable in themselves and seemed to
love what they doing. These people appeared to be living the Virgin Blue brand.
Employees loving what they do? We spoke to the Head of Recruitment, Learning & Development, Dave Rundle, to find out what
Virgin Blue does to ensure that their people are happy 'walking the talk'.
According to Rundle, the recruiting process is of primary importance to Virgin Blue. He described at length how
the process has become detailed, regulated and well established with a strong emphasis on finding people who are happy
being themselves.
Huttner concludes; "At the end of the day, the outstanding performance of our team speaks for itself, we have an innate
flair for delivering service. Virgin Blue management doesn't send out memos telling staff how to look after our
customers, they know it intuitively".
What you think
In an effort to compare brand promise with customer experience, Brand Behaviour surveyed over 100 people who regularly
flew from a variety of demographic backgrounds. Our first, deliberately broad question asked what their opinion of
Virgin Blue was. The majority of respondents had good things to say, many chose to comment on the advertising over and
above the flight experience. Of those that had traveled on Virgin Blue, but most said something about 'fairness' or a
better deal.
The Verdict
Positioning itself just below Qantas in the market, with a value system equally as compelling but perhaps more relevant
to today's market than that of Qantas (built around patriotic pride), Virgin Blue has earned permission to compete
directly with it's larger rival. The monopoly that Qantas has enjoyed since the fall of Ansett has probably not done it
any favours from a consumer perspective. In fact the situation has played straight into the hands of Virgin Blue, who
have been able to adopt that wonderfully endearing Aussie position of the underdog doing well.
But what of the all-new Jet Star?
This counter attack, sent by the challenged to challenge the challenger may indeed already be challenged itself. For
without any direct correlation to share or relate to the established values of its parent brand, and no obvious idea or
compelling proposition behind its low prices, it becomes nothing more than a cheap alternative.
The challenge for Qantas will be to imbue some sort of emotional idea or added value into Jet Star's proposition. As we
all know, value shoppers are one of the highest yielding consumer groups, if they feel they are getting value, price
becomes much less important. Some of the most successful brands we know operate in the lower end of the market with a
big idea over and above price, think Ikea who have democratised good design, Target who are 100% happy, even Woolies
and Coles with their freshness and service both have differentiated big ideas that sit over and above their every day
low prices.
In a world where products and services are now all so similar, it will be the brands that stand for something over and
above the lowest common denominator who survive.
This is why we believe that until a better considered challenge is made, Virgin Blue will continue to re balance the
scales.
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