Alaska Airlines-West Coast Vibe

ALASKA AIRLINES - WEST COAST VIBE

In our January report we talked about “Different Works”, an advertising campaign by Alaska Airlines that celebrated the merger with Virgin America by trying to show that pairings that don’t seem immediately obvious can work.

Fast forward several months and Alaska Airlines has now taken the decision to retire the Virgin America brand within the next two years.

Alaska Airlines chose to do by announcing a revamp that would see the airline take on some of the best attributes of the Virgin America brand. A corporate blog post, asked passengers to imagine themselves “shazaming every song on an upbeat playlist”, sitting in a “mood lit cabin” and watching “all the free movies you have time to watch.”

This was then supplemented by a YouTube video titled ‘West Coast Vibe’, which sees a young woman sitting in the new Alaska Airlines cabin, with the video finishing with the strapline, “We’re saving you a seat.”

With Virgin America being the highest ranked US carrier by far in Skytrax’s list of the world’s top airlines, Alaska Airlines’ decision has attracted a fair amount of comment, with Sir Richard Branson himself penning a “Dear Virgin America” farewell letter.

Many industry commentators have pointed out that keeping two airline brands running side by side was never realistic, both from a financial and an efficiency point of view.

That hasn’t however stopped negative coverage from appearing. For example, tech publication TechCrunch published an article which said that “it’s usually not a good sign when companies think they can slap some mood lights on something and recreate a culture that’s unique from any other company in their industry.”

The theme of authenticity is one that SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam picked up upon in a SimpliFlying Live show pointing out that Alaska Airlines has a loyal fan base and a strong brand in its own right.

In the video, Shashank Nigam advises Alaska Airlines, and other brands who might face a similar situation in future to “fight on your own turf”, rather than try and duplicate someone else’s list of features, as this could lead to expectations that can’t be met: “Just be Alaska.”

KEY TAKE-AWAY

An airline brand is more than a list of features, it also includes the emotional connection a consumer makes with you. Adopting certain products from someone else doesn’t make you them.

As a result, in any take-over or merger it makes sense to play up the things that make your own brand great. Use that as a starting point and show how you will be building on those attributes and features post any merger.