Westjet Essay

The Global Industry, with the help of globalization, has been connecting the world for the past few years, and have been the missing link to a global economy that is slowly but steadily dominating the world. Over the past 30 years, statistics have shown an average 5% increase of World Air Travel, with the statistics constantly fluctuating up and down, varying due to the economy influence all over the world but it is unquestionable that there has been a steady improvement of demand. Airlines have been increasingly gaining popularity from across the world. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), statistics has shown that the airline industry has been generating a lot of profit for the global growth of the economy, with

airlines making a net profit consisting as much as $10.6 billion in 2013 to a $18.0 billion net profit in 2014, with a total of 1.1% net profit margin increase.1. Source: Industry Financial Forecast Table (IATA Economics)

With increasing competition from the airline industry, budget airlines have become increasingly prominent to meet the needs of those who wish to travel, but are constricted to a lower budget for the flights. WestJet is a Canadian budget carrier that aims to provide affordable scheduled and chartered flight services to approximately 88 destinations across their network, with more than 9,700 passionate WestJetters dedicated to making the passenger’s flight experience a pleasant and enjoyable journey. Founded and established in 1966 by Clive Beddoe and his team of entrepreneurs, WestJet firmly believes in its company’s philosophy and culture, which is to get their passengers to their destinations not via flights, but via their people who have one common goal - to make flights for the guests a special experience because “Owners Care”, hence building their entire corporate culture around on-board passengers. WestJet has also claimed the top spot in Waterstones' study of Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures for four consecutive years, and eventually listed into its Hall of Fame in 2010.

WestJet was designated as a J.D. Power Customer Service Champion in 2011, being one of the only two companies in Canada and the only airline to make the list, and ranked third in Aon Hewitt's best employers in Canada. The airline itself was nominated as Canada’s most preferred airline. WestJet’s vision is clearly listed on it’s website - “to be one of the five most successful international carrier by 2016”, and to establish and make true of its promise to deliver customers a fun, affordable and enjoyable on-board flight experience with its friendly customer-oriented staffs.

This critique aims to analyze and provide insights on WestJet’s integrated marketing campaign - ‘A Christmas Miracle’ to see whether the campaigns are sufficient enough to pave the pathway for its success in reaching its goal and target.

Problems and Objectives of WestJet

Problem: To stand out from the rest of its competitors by distinguishing itself from the rest, and establish itself as an airline that is different because ‘owners care’.

The IATA Airline Industry Forecast from 2013 to 2017 by the IATA shows that airlines expect to see a 31% increase in passenger numbers between 2012 and 2017. By 2017 total passenger numbers are expected to rise to 3.91 billion, which is an increase of 930 million passengers over the 2.98 billion in 2012. With so many potential customers increasing over the years, the airline industry is also expected to see more competition coming in to cater the demands of flight services. The problem then would be setting itself as the airline that is different, holding true to its slogan ‘owners care’, to attract people from its target market and to stand out from its competitors.

According to Yoo and Donthu (2001), brand image can influence a company’s future profits and long-term cash flow. Regardless of what WestJet’s vision, culture or corporate values may be, or what awards they have gained throughout the years, it is difficult for them to gain recognition given that the generic public would just see WestJet as another form of transport. David F. D'Alessandro mentions specifically that "It is a paradox: The more brands consumers have to choose from, the more they need to cling to one good brand.”2. Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. page 18.
With the speedy economical growth at hand and competition growing bigger, most brands are constantly pushing consumers to purchase their goods and services while neglecting the fact that brand loyalty and brand impression are both extremely crucial in retaining existing customers. With good experience and consumers’ confidence and loyalty, consumers are able to act as advertising mediums via word of mouth. The essence of maintaining a good brand image and impression comes from the brand personality itself.

Problem: How is it possible to show a customer-oriented culture in accordance with the company’s values and beliefs while being different from the revenue-driven advertisements that were on the rise?

WestJet’s competitors, Air Canada, American Airlines and Alaska Air are all brands with similar focuses, but they lack brand personality and brand impression - consumers take their airlines on the basis that they could get to their destinations, and that’s it. The next time they take another flight, they don’t remember the airline. They are not distinct. WestJet saw this as an opportunity to stand out from the norm, with the season of giving (Christmas) approaching, and thus decided to dedicate a marketing campaign with their objectives, which is to:

1. Build a powerful brand personality and customer-oriented image that reinforces their slogan “owners care”.
2. Stand out during the holidays by bringing a memorable and heartwarming “real-time giving” experience to both airline guests and WestJet employees.
3. Create an activation whereby guests could truly witness, and interact with, WestJet’s fun and caring culture both online and offline, giving them a joyful and sharable holiday experience.

Strategy of the Campaign

WestJet’s previous advertisements and marketing efforts have been solely reliant on traditional forms of media.

Although they were active on Facebook with 568,869 likes on their page, it was not sufficient enough to make an impact on the consumers. At the same time, Air Canada, American Airlines and Alaska Air were very reliant on using traditional forms of media such as outdoor advertisements to market their brands. With WestJet identifying itself as a customer-oriented airline, they saw their brand positioning as a strength that made the brand stand out from the rest of its competitors, and decided to take a consumer-centric approach to act upon its slogan. What inspired WestJet to start a fresh campaign with a new resolution was the fact that the advertisements and marketing strategies deployed by companies were used again and again as if they were being recycled. The monogamous tactics no longer appealed to its consumers; they knew that the people were looking for something new and they knew that if there was a company that cared for them and made their well-being and welfare as the company’s priority, they would be able to feel them reaching out to their heart. Of course, words were insufficient. They wanted to establish its standing as an airline that distinguishes itself through its fun, friendly and caring corporate culture, and also bringing its brand international recognition since WestJet is relatively not as well known as it is in other parts of the world outside

of Canada.

Author Jon Hamm wrote an Adweek article about marketing and he made a valid point regarding the power of storytelling: “The most powerful way to persuade someone of your idea is by uniting the idea with an emotion. It’s indisputable that the best way to do that is by telling a compelling story.” WestJet was able to look briefly at how brands appeal to consumers. Brands appeal to consumers through:

Thoughts - Brands have a rational appeal which is logical and relates to what they can do. For example, they have to perform what they are supposed to do on the basis of points of difference.
Sensation - Brands appeal to senses. For example, design features, how the brand looks and the opportunities they provide for new experiences.
Emotions - Brands go further than logic to deal with emotion. These values and all they represent appeal to the innermost feelings of many consumers.
Intuition - Consumers react instinctively to brands which they feel are for ‘people like them!'

They also saw the following insights from the season of giving as a good opportunity for a marketing campaign to be launched:
1. Holiday travel lacks fun, with flights and airports at capacity.
There exists an opportunity to break through the clutter of holiday brand activations and capture the sentimentality of the season by creating a remarkable experience for consumers.

‘A Christmas Miracle’ was then a campaign that WestJet came up with, with the aspiration to spread the joy of the season by activating something remarkable, sentimental, and interactive for its guests and employees. In 2013, WestJet developed a strategic social media campaign to break through the clutter of holiday brand activations and capture the sentimentality of the season by creating a remarkable brand-focused experience for consumers. WestJet delighted unsuspecting travellers with a real-time holiday surprise that delivered personalized gifts to guests arriving in Calgary as part of a true “Christmas Miracle.” Having captured the experience, WestJet posted the holiday video on its YouTube page on December 9, 2013, and within days it was the most shared Canadian viral ad in 2013, and among the top five globally. With the support of a strategic communications plan, YouTube views and media impressions far exceeded program objectives, contributing to an unexpected and unprecedented increase in sales during the holiday period. WestJet brought joy and happiness to its guests, and employees by creating and sharing a first-of-its-kind “real-time giving” experience that embodies the spirit of the holiday season. WestJet created an experience for their guest that was not only timely and engaging but it captured the hearts, minds and social media feeds of WestJet’s target consumers across the globe.

Tactics/Tools of the campaign

Tools including advertising, branding, public relations, digital marketing were used to launch ‘A Christmas Miracle’ into action.

Advertising, Public Relations and Branding:
A booth that resembled an interactive outdoor advertisement was in the airport, with a live virtual santa on screen. WestJet guests at airport departure gates scanned their boarding passes at virtual kiosks to share their Christmas wish list.
The WestJet “Digital Command Centre” compiled shopping lists and 150+ volunteer WestJetters purchased, wrapped and personalized gifts for 250 guests.
Guests were surprised at their destination when a festively decorated baggage carousel came to life and it was not just their suitcases that arrived but the gifts they had requested merely hours before. This experience was captured by nineteen hidden cameras.

Digital / Social Media Marketing:
On 9 December 2013, the WestJet Christmas Miracle video was unveiled on WestJet’s YouTube page and amplified through PR and social, including promoted posts on Twitter and Facebook.
WestJet announced that for every 200,000 views the video reached, it would provide free flights to reunite a family in need through its long-time partner, Ronald McDonald House Charities. This prompted people to share the video. (Branding)

A proactive communications plan included:

Interactive Press Release: Distributed nationally across the wire ensuring timely media pick up and in-depth stories. The release was accompanied by the video, a blooper reel, and a b-roll interview with a WestJet spokesperson.
Broadcast Media Tour: After listening to top radio stations to find out what hosts wanted for Christmas, WestJet elves hand-delivered personalized gifts and media kits the day the video launched. WestJet also armed television shows across the country with flight giveaways and offered interviews with “Virtual Santa” live via Skype.
Reactive Media Relations: Due to international success within 24 hours of launch, WestJet initiated a reactive media relations strategy, fielding global inquiries, arranging interviews and monitoring coverage.
Internal Awareness at WestJet: Having become a source of pride at WestJet and reaffirming its fun and caring culture internally, employees shared the experience with guests, stakeholders and their personal networks.

Branding

Instead of being reliant on traditional forms of advertising, WestJet’s decision to incorporate interactivity with its customers to establish itself as a customer-oriented airline by utilizing elements that invoke human emotions has no doubt successfully helped to catapult WestJet to greater heights. By building a bridge from WestJet’s culture and beliefs to the consumers through the usage of social platforms in the digital age, the brand has succeeded in resonating with the consumers by proving that the brand stays true to its slogan, ‘owners care’.

Integration of Tools - Messages, Transmission Media and Receivers

1. Start small and bring it big
WestJet, like any company, would have had a budget for this project. They had two options for this Christmas Miracle: reach across many, many flights and provide all travellers with small delights or offer a smaller number of travellers much bigger delights.
WestJet could have taken the simpler route and sent its message across by providing customers with candy canes and Christmas cards. By doing this, they could have a wider audience covered while meeting a smaller budget.
However, they dived big and took the plunge by attending to a smaller audience pool, which meant less gifts were received. This allowed WestJet to craft a more unbelievable, heart-warming story. A story that was then more shareable, and this message that ‘WestJet cares’ will reach more people through media transmission.
2. Make it unusual, out-of-the-box, or hard to believe
In order for someone to view and share any content, there is normally some degree of disbelief. In WestJet’s case, this was both the size of the gifts - which included diamond rings and very large flat-screen TVs - as well as the extreme effort that went into organizing, purchasing, wrapping, and delivering the gifts by the time the travellers landed.
Stories that people tend to share with their friends are often sensational and out-of-the-ordinary stories that are out of the norm. They can be about a man who climbed to the top of a mountain without shoes or food; a family that donates, volunteers, and gives back even though they have nothing themselves; a dog that can balance absolutely anything on its head. These are not common stories. People don’t care about common. No one shares common.
3. Clever use of media transmission
WestJet cleverly delivered its message across to people through the use of social media, and online media. They knew that traditional forms of media were often over-used and too overly common that it no longer intrigues and grabs people’s attention. They relied on the use of social media and media platforms to advertise themselves; true enough the video was spread across by receivers watching it, who eventually become a source of media transmission for the dissemination of the message.

Results

The WestJet Christmas Miracle video increased brand awareness and loyalty opportunities from within and beyond North America, as evidenced through video views and overwhelmingly positive media and consumer feedback. There was an additional 4.58MM views on other WestJet YouTube videos, demonstrating consumer engagement beyond this initiative. WestJet grew brand awareness globally with 235 countries having viewed the video and top countries include: US, UK, Brazil, Finland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, Philippines, Czech Republic, Mexico, France, Netherlands, and Australia.

35MM+ views on YouTube – one of the most watched viral ads of 2013 worldwide. (It exceeded goal of 500k by 7,000%)
Video received 192,500 YouTube likes, 172,800 shares, 26,800 favorites, and 29,000+ comments.
328MM+ media impressions world-wide from 1,600+ media stories (exceeded goal of 26MM by 1,200%)
11,000% increase of new subscribers to WestJet’s YouTube page (30,747 new subscribers)
42.2MM Twitter impressions specific to #WestJetChristmas and related keywords.

Trended in Canada for 2 days (December 9-10, 2013)
3.2MM Facebook impressions combined on two promoted posts.
WestJet received approximately 4X the number of daily Facebook fan posts when compared to its competitors throughout launch week.
Fantastic media coverage from the PR team, with articles from Forbes and Mashable.

Assessment of the Campaign

Creative, and tackles human emotions. Stronger and firmer brand image.
The main reason why ‘A Christmas Miracle’ by WestJet managed to take the world by storm is because of its ability to relate to the human emotion, and thus leaving an everlasting imprint on the human memory. It is also unique in the sense that it is a campaign that does things for people without expecting anything in return in contrast to plain old campaigns that central around the company itself. Though the campaign’s main aim is to promote brand equity to the masses, WestJet has managed to accomplish this without making it seem like it is the main motive - people will be more concerned about the fact that WestJet is, as its brand culture states, a brand that cares for the people, and that will make them tick. There might be cynics, and there might be people who pass it off as a publicity stunt, but very rarely would people come across a company that dedicates itself into doing things for people - and actually proving it. That alone is enough to make it stand out from the masses. Combine that with integrated marketing campaigns, and you get a combination of genius, and more genius. Up till today, ‘A Christmas Miracle’ is still considered one of the best marketing campaign up to date.

No evidence of correlation between viral marketing and sales.
However, despite the hugely raved success from the marketing campaign, there is zero evidence to prove the amount of correlation between viral marketing and sales. That means that even though WestJet was successful in conjuring up a campaign to reposition its brand image and gather a lot of attention for the people and the media, it does not necessarily translate to sales, especially in an airline industry - most people would not consider the brand when they choose an airline to fly on. Rather, the airline they picked would be dependant on how convenient it is for them (whether it meets their time and dates) and the price. The price matters the most. If we assume that there were about 200 passengers and that each passenger received a gift averaging $100 in value, then the gifts cost $20,000.00. The soundstage and labor costs probably cost a few thousand dollars extra, so we’re talking about $20,000 to $30,000 worth of investment from WestJet. The expenditure that was used to implementing the marketing campaign was an expensive investment that did not guarantee monetary feedback, but it did change the customer’s perception of the brand.

Lack of traditional marketing makes it targeted to technological-savvy people only.
The fact that WestJet decided to step out of the threshold of traditional advertising and marketing methods to emphasize much of its marketing campaign on new media meant that it would only cater to people who were utilizing new media. Therefore it did not target older generations of people, but the tech-savvy audiences. However, WestJet was smart. By catering to tech-savvy people and using such a brilliant marketing tactic that involved human emotions, WestJet would be the talk of the town, and the new generation of people would help spread the word across town, possibly to the older generation. It’s free advertising.

Conclusion

WestJet’s strategy to incorporate raw human emotions and a story into a marketing campaign is the ingredient to its success.

The most powerful way to build a brand is to connect with customers on an emotional level. Consumers respond to human, emotionally driven content, and they’re likely to share that kind of content with others. WestJet took a big leap out of its boundaries to show that it was a company that prioritized the customers, and it was not afraid of showing that to the world. Passengers, employers, employees and the general public all have the campaign imprinted deeply into their minds, and when their brand is mentioned, the first thing that strikes the mind of the people would be the ‘Christmas Miracle’ campaign that brought its passengers to tears of joy. Not only did WestJet make lasting memories for those passengers, but they made their brand memorable. Millions of people are now talking about WestJet, and that’s something that cannot be bought with by money. To an extent, WestJet’s succeeded in providing itself a positive brand perception, and also established goodwill with the publics, but only with the help of the integration of the new media in this

age.

With the digital space constantly allowing for fresh and new activations, brands need to constantly reinvent themselves. It’s not just about positioning brands with a seasonal angle this time of year, but becoming known for it – establishing a new idea that is contextually in-line with what consumers are looking for.