An introduction to the 6x model by Marc Weber Bång, CEO, SimpliFlying Global Institute

Airline marketing and branding is unique and different from other industries. Because with an airline, brand engagement can last anywhere from 2 hours up to more than 24 hours, both before, during and after the fight.

The reason is not just a matter of how long any fight might be, but airlines also have an incredible number of touchpoints both before and after the actual fight, which provide many different opportunities to interact with their customers in a meaningful way. This sets airline brands apart.

As such, traditional marketing methods are not enough when it comes to marketing an airline effectively and making a truly remarkable brand. This is exactly why the 6X Airline Brand Model (6X Model) was created by CEO of SimpliFlying, Shashank Nigam, - to help airlines be aware of and better understand what these differences mean when it comes to branding an airline and how to go about executing a meaningful brand strategy.

The 6X Model also forms the basis of much of Simplifying’s work over the past 10 years, and it is likewise at the heart of Shashank’s book, SOAR, in which he analysed 8 remarkable airlines from all over the World, by fying to their headquarters and conducting interviews with their front-facing staff as well as their c-suite leadership.

During 2020, we will feature at least one airline analysis based on the 6X Model in every issue, unless it is a special report, like our December 2019 Flight Shaming Special issue of Airline Marketing Monthly (AMM). By the way, if you have any good ideas for topics that we can cover in AMM, do not hesitate to send an email to dirk@simplifying.com.

The 6X Model is also something we cover extensively in our Airline Marketing Fundamentals course, which is delivered by Shashank, and we even provide you the opportunity to do your own 6X analysis of an airline of choice, which we here at the SimpliFlying Global Institute will then provide you feedback on.

Since this is the frst analysis using the 6X model in AMM, we will frst provide an overview of how it works and what it looks like:

The model consists of 6 distinct factors, all contributing to the brand of the airline in one way or another. It is very diffcult to excel in all of the 6 areas, hence most airlines try to focus on a few, in which they can excel. Here are the defnitions of the 6X’s, which we will use in a subsequent analysis of JetBlue.

1. Brand eXpectation: how accurately and successfully an airline lets customers know what it has to offer

2. Brand eXperience: what it feels like to interact with the airline during travel, across all touch-points, at the airport and in-fight.

3. Brand eXpression: how well the airline communicates with customers and staff

4: Brand eXternalities: anything that affects customers that is not in the control of the airline (weather, oil prices, regulations etc.)

5. Brand eXecution: how an airline delivers on its promises

6. Brand X-Factor: the special sauce possessed exclusively by the airline in question that is hard to duplicate for competition.

6X analysis of the month: jetBlue What comes to mind when you think of jetBlue?

jetBlue’s social media marketing efforts do not much traction compared to many other airlines. However, jetBlue consistently communicates the same messages over and over, which helps set the right expectations in the minds of customers, and allows them to focus on that, instead of being clouded by a myriad of different offers. Here is what jetBlue consistently communicate:

- Free infight entertainment, both Live TV, movies and high-speed internet

- Free brand name snacks and drinks (the most popular being their blue chips by Terra) and full-size soda cans ( I always get the Ginger Ale).

- Most legroom in economy class in the US

- Award winning-customer service.

And they work! If someone were to stop me in the street and ask about what I know about jetBlue, these are the things that would come to mind!

Service minded – both on and off-duty

Although I have only fown on jetBlue a dozen times, I have fown with the major 4 US full-service carriers domestically more than 50 times, and my experiences with them have for the most part not been very memorable. However, my jetBlue fights I tend to remember, as there usually always some positive element to them.

In 2014, I was fying from New York to Barbados, and even before I stepped into the I JetBlue terminal at JFK, I was impressed.

The day before I had arrived from Copenhagen with SAS – Scandinavian Airlines, at Newark International Airport, and as it was quite late, the train service from EWR to Penn Station in Manhattan, were not that frequent, leaving me pushed for time to make my connecting train.

Lucky for me, there was a couple that were extremely helpful in guiding me where to go and what tickets to buy and showed me how, and as it turns out, this couple worked for jetBlue. The husband as a Pilot and his wife as a Flight Attendant. I will never forget their kindness, and we have since been in contact with each other. This exemplar way of being when they were off-duty, gave me a good idea of what kind of people jetBlue they hire.

But let us go back to the fight to Barbados. Before pushing back from the gate, the captain came out into the cabin with a big smile, and in a very enthusiastic and genuine way, announced over the PA system that in only 5 hours, we would all be in the paradise of Barbados and started describing a few things at the destination, which of course got everyone excited for their holiday.

Sometimes people clap when the plane lands smoothly, but in this case, he received a sitting ovation (safety frst�) even before we had left the gate. This experience and many others I have had with jetBlue, whether it be at the check-in counter, the gate, or in the air, the staff of jetBlue express a willingness to help and serve. No wonder they have won awards for their customer service.

When things don’t go as planned

During the summer of 2019, I was fying with my sisters and her 3 little kids, ranging from 2-7 years old. We were fying from Newark to Boston, and due to the weather, we were delayed by several hours.

This was bad news as we had a connecting fight in Boston going to Salt Lake City. We fnally boarded and was seated on the very last row. It was a very warm and humid day, and as we taxied to the runway, the air condition did not work very well, especially not at the back.

This would have been alright, had we not had to wait an additional hour on the tarmac before we could take-off.

I turned to the fight attendant on the jump seat behind me, Michaela King Knight, and explained our situation. She instantly relaxed our minds, by continuously supplying new information and giving tips about how to quickly switch gates in Boston, and just overall very nice, sincere and chatty in general.

She, along with her fellow crew, also did the quickest drinks and snack service I have ever seen (38 min fight only, with only 20 min to serve).

As we landed and had to get off quickly, but as we sat in the very last row and the fight was full, Michaela told everyone to stay seated so that we could disembark the aircraft frst and be on our way. This experience was just one of many that I have had were jetBlue staff went above and beyond to help and take ownership of a situation, despite it being out of their control.

Keeping your promises

Based on the ratings of TripAdvisor, jetBlue does very well when it comes to delivering on its promises. They score a consistent 4 out of 5 in every category, and more than 50% of their reviews are rated as “Excellent”, and about 25% as “Very Good”.

Personally, I have never been disappointed by jetBlue, on the contrary I have been upgraded several times, allowed more luggage and always been treated with respect.

The special sauce

It is hard to pinpoint the X-factor of jetBlue, because it cannot be boiled down to something obvious, like Sir Richard Branson for Virgin Atlantic, Michael O’leary for Ryanair, or the Singapore Girl for Singapore Airlines.

But if we were to give it our best shot, it would probably be their ability to do things differently, especially in implementing new ideas quickly, a lot of which stems from their underlying culture of innovation and technology.

And although this is not entirely unique ie. Delta is also very much at forefront here, jetBlue has some impressive accomplishments behind them, and some interesting plans going forward. Here is a brief overview:

- JetBlue has offered Live seatback TV with up to 24 channels for free since 2000, not through a third party, but by buying the satellite tv provider for $41 million. This was before many airlines even had infight entertainment screens. Especially airlines only operating narrow body aircraft.

- They were frst to introduce high-speed internet service, Fly-Fi, after having developed it with Thales and ViaSat, simply because nothing good enough existed now. The service was free for all passengers too!

- They have the best US domestic business class seat on the market, Mint, which is the frst and only fully lie-fat seat within the United States domestic market. They were rated as the best regional business class in North America by being awarded the 2019 Travelers Choice Award by trip advisor.

- As the frst US airline, they have made planes to start fying across the North Atlantic to Europe from the US east coast, using their narrow-bodied Airbus A321 XLR aircraft.

- JetBlue truly is at the forefront of technological development within the airline industry.

- A big part of this is due to their venture capital arm in Silicon Valley, JetBlue Technology Ventures, which is invests in start-ups that bring fresh ideas to air travel. Since 2016, they have scanned approximately 3000 companies and invested in 28 of them.

Conclusions

jetBlue excel in many areas, but where they truly shine and stand apart from their competition are in two areas: eXperience and X-factor. These two go hand in hand, as everything that jetBlue does to innovate, comes right back into the customer experience, and I believe it is this exact ability that makes jetBlue one of the most popular airlines in the United States.