THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 17, 2012
47
VOL 1 NO. 037
I
When airline brands fly too low (2)
T was like we started writing on this topic last week out of premonition. The Dana air crash of Sunday, June 3, 2012, took the breath away from every normal person. The enormity of loss of human life is huge; too sad Dana airline and the nation suffered the crash of last week Sunday. May the souls of the departed (those victims who suffered the ultimate consequence for disregard for o human life, obstruction of established system, blatant disregard for calculable mechanics and obvious system corruption (by those that should otherwise have been responsible!) rest in Perfect Peace. Last week we focused on pointing out those issues concerning air travel brands management that are impacting negatively on operators in our local market. Well, may we state here that never stretched our imagination, in the negative, to the point of near-mishap, not to mention an outright air plane crash, when we set out to peep into brands management in relation to air travel brands. As with every brand, our focus was (and still is) to challenge brand owners and managers in the industry into higher standard professional practice and service delivery in the management of their brands, by articulating those evident short-falls and point the way to system over-all, for the good of all. In all intent and purpose, MC&A Digest is concerned with guiding top standard professional brands management by bringing to fore, the grand rules in brands management, advertising and marketing communications practice and service delivery, in the prevalence of professional compromises, short-cuts in the name of technological advancement, etc. Customer-centric or consumer-focused brands management theories are gone from the modern day practice handbook. Brands are now designed to be selfcentered, uncaring, rude, aggressive and wild. Brands are now ruthless in the drive to satisfy self. We once said brands share in human character - emotionally sensitive – and the whole talk about consumer experience is giving expression to that fact. A consumer's reaction towards a brand after the initial experience or encounter, can be said to be equal and opposite to the impression the brand leaves with the consumer at the first encounter. This is true and fundamentally so for every brand – even in a monopoly. So, in worst case situation where the consumer has no choice but to live with the careless irresponsible brand, such consumer becomes a despondent consumer. In a perfect market situation, on the other hand, such brands die. One of the peculiarities of our local market is very high level of consumer-ignorance and carelessness. But again, one can only be careful to so blame the consumer because the situation is nurtured by the authorities who have refused to guide and protect their citizens and people. So on the one hand, about 70% of the market are falling short of being discerning because their ignorance and illiteracy. On the other hand the regulatory authorities and custodians of consumer protection, aid those who are bent on perpetrating evil for selfish and quick gains, to humiliate and even kill the innocent consumer (at a price borne by the consumer). It is sad, indeed. Reactions on the Dana crash have been quite emotional, and at times like this, logical reasoning tends to give way. However, one thing has been clearly established: this monumental loss of lives would most likely to have been averted if someone did his/her job properly. The Black Box is yet to tell its story, but revelations have been coming through to the effect that the particular aircraft involved in the last Sunday crash has been showing signs of failure since before now, and that it should have been grounded long ago. Going by that story, therefore, Dana brand owners would have discounted the risk to pursue immediate gains, by insisting that aircraft do the rounds. Here we are today, counting and mourning our loss of human lives. Put in another way, but for the loss of lives, that aircraft would have still been doing the rounds. I was on a flight from
Abuja to Lagos mid-May, 2012, and mid way we experienced water rushing from the hand luggage compartment, pouring profusely on the passengers two rows ahead of me. Well, in response, some of the cabin crew members came rushing with tissue paper to mop up the water from the passengers' clothes. I was embarrassed on behalf of the airline. But what surprised me more was the reaction of the crew members; the incident was not coming strange to them! What has happened is that the airline has not bothered to take care of that roof water leakage, so far as the aircraft in question could still fly. Now, that is what we consider blatant disrespect for the consumer, a criminal compromise, lack of concern for consumer
satisfaction. The value essence of air transport is speed and luxury comfort. Otherwise other travel options are railway, water transport and road transport. Any of these can go to cover distance. The unique offer of air transport as stated above, constitute the key selling point of competitive advantage, for air transport. Now, if any of the parts that make up this unique offer is taken out, what then becomes the benefit of air travel to the traveler? It is even worse when a failure to deliver on such promises is due to negligence, carelessness and utter disregard for the consumer's person. A consumer satisfaction-driven brand will ensure it delivers on its promise at all times, at all cost – because it knows and respects the fact that the consumer's satisfaction is the whole essence of its being. So talking of character traits, a brand must be emotional to the point of caring for its consumer's well being, as a way of life. But again, this is Nigeria, and as is often said, anything goes. If it were to in India that crashed aircraft would not have been permitted to leave the ground. But in Nigeria, somebody somewhere can choose to look elsewhere. Same reason those running fake and adulterated drugs will go all the way to India, Indonesia and even Korea only to ask for very poor quality semblance of known brand names (some of them even have the effrontery to name their own brands) to be produced for them, for sale in Nigerian market – where anything goes. That is why we at MC&A Digest will also hold the authorities responsible for the rot in our market(s). In every market, worldwide, quality of goods and services are closely screened to meet acceptable standards, in protection of the people against abuse at the market place. So, while KIA Auto is reported to be the fastest growing auto brand in the US, it clearly the cheapest new car in Nigeria. That tells the entire story, if we know the strict adherence to top-most quality auto standards of the Americans. Nobody in America will go near the Nigerian spec or variant of KIA
Automobile – the same KIA they rush for in America. Can you imagine that? While one will not like to play racial discrimination here, we like to state that the Indian is most likely to push for more till the goose that lays the golden egg dies. But let's leave system failure aside, what will it profit a brand to gain all the profits in a short time and loose its soul? As of a fact, every brand that sins at the market place shall die, with time. Think of generational transfer of consumer loyalty; how can a brand with negative image at the market place live for long in the mind of its target users? It will all come to nothing at the end. As we once listed in one of our articles on this page, permitting all such compromises poses some threat to the brand itself, the owners and the consumer. So, we are all affected at the end of the day. We are sure that plenty negative reaction would have trailed any attempt by us to mention that compromises in brands management could result in death or loss of human life, before the recent Dana air crash. But here we are; 153 passengers plus crew members and some ground-level casualties have passed on as a result of poor brands management practice! The accident of last Sunday amounts to national tragedy. This nation has lost men and women of immense value by any standard and promising children this country would have gained from, in the future. As mere mortals, we commit the accident and the incidence to God, as we believe in His Almighty. Last week, we ended the consideration of those key and definitive characters of a good brand at RELIABILITY, from where we are continuing this week. As a character trait, reliability is loaded in definition of behavioral pattern. Reliability is in itself a combination of TRUST and DEPENDABILITY. So to the extent that a brand is considered reliable, it must be trust-worthy and dependable. You will agree with me that these are all very precious character traits difficult to earn and very important and necessary of all our protection. Which of the brands in Nigerian market today can be said to be RELIABLE? It is not enough for a brand to deliver on its core promise to be reliable. To earn consumer respect a brand must invest in respecting its consumers, demonstrating respect goes beyond the ordinary surface value relationship. A local airline in Nigeria must know and appreciate the fact that average Nigerian will consider having to pay for light refreshment at about 35,000 feet above sea level an affront on his/her person (after struggling so hard to pay the exorbitant sum for the flight ticket. How do you appease a man hurrying for a scheduled meeting only to suffer undue delay at the airport leading up to his missing the appointment – yet the airline shows no regret; and continues in that pattern as a business practice?! How would such brand expect to be considered reliable? That air travelers still patronize such a brand is only due to constraints, especially lack of better alternative – which time will take care of. We are constrained to cut back on the extent of this analysis of healthy brand character traits, because of the immediate fall-out of the Dana air crash. With the increased federal Government's interest at overhauling the aviation sector, we can only hope the industry will be sanitized for better and more responsive service delivery. However, operators within our market must know they are brands in a competitive market; a growing market with all the trappings of a free market. They must begin to expose themselves to learning the theories and practice of brands management and they must begin to consider engaging brands management experts for over-all better brand personality. A badly managed brand is doomed to fail with time, no matter the size of its initial investment. So, for their own good, they need to properly position as brands, in line with global best practice.