3 Reasons Virgin America’s Brand Experience Is Beating United Airlines

Karen Tiber Leland
Sat, 16 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Last month I had the pleasure of flying on my first-ever Virgin America flight from San Francisco to New York. Over the past 20 years, I’ve flow over a million miles on United Airlines alone, and only on occasion do the words “pleasure” and “flying” appear in the same sentence.

Flying used to be fun; today it’s more of a test of one’s ability to overcome adversity. That’s in part why the Virgin America flight made such an impression on me, as both a branding consultant and a frequent flyer. It was an interruption of business travel as usual and a great brand experience.

When I spontaneously said to the businessman in the window seat next to me,“Wow, this airline has a great brand,” he enthusiastically replied, “I love this airline. I’m a million-mile flyer with United Airlines, and I hate them.”

“I’m a million mile flyer with United, and I am not too happy with them right now myself,” I said.

Without skipping a beat, the woman on the aisle seat to my left chimed in. “You know, I’m a million-mile flyer with United, and I can’t stand them.”

OK, what are the odds? How bad does your brand experience have to be that three of what arguably are your best business customers (3 million real air miles between us) all state a strong dissatisfaction ranging from irritation to hate?

Just to be fair here, I have had good brand experiences on United Airlines; they just have been incredibly inconsistent. I’ve also got nothing against United’s flight attendants. To the contrary, I feel sorry for them. Many of the folks I’ve encountered flying on United are friendly – and frustrated. They want to help, but their hands are often tied by policies and procedures that favor saving a few bucks over building a winning brand.

Think about it. Both airlines are essentially performing the same function: flying me in roughly six hours from San Francisco to New York. It’s what goes on in between that makes one brand better than the other. There are three specific things I took away as a branding consultant from my experience last week, and I think there are a few lessons here for every business, big or small.

Keep up with the times. Great brands stay ahead of the curve, or at least get on the bandwagon fairly quickly. Virgin America has wireless on most of its flights and an electrical outlet at every seat that fits today’s standard laptop plug. The last four cross-country United flights I have been on, due to old airplane equipment, have had no wireless, and no electrical plugs at the seats.

In your business, is there an area where you know you need to upgrade or adapt to be in sync with the way your customers work and live today? For example, is your website responsive and mobile enabled? Given how many people today access sites via their phones, that’s the gold standard.

Customize your brand experience for your customer’s convenience. Virgin has given a fresh new spin on the old “chicken or beef” style food service in the sky. Every seat (not just business or first class) has a video screen that allows customers to order and pay for a wide array of food and drinks, which is then personally delivered to their seats within a few minutes. No waiting for carts to come crawling down the aisle, only to be told the only thing left by the time they reach you is Salisbury steak.

Are their opportunities to customize some part of the product or process you offer that would make it more convenient, pleasant, or empowering to your clients?

Elevate the ordinary. Virgin America grabbed my attention from the get-go with its off-the-charts MTV-style presentation of — wait for it — the safety video. It was, I feel slight geeky saying, entertaining. I watched in absolute amazement (and I was not the only one) as I learned how to “put on your life jacket in the case of an emergency,” from singing, spinning, and dancing instructors.

What “business-as-usual” activity, product, service, etc., do you offer that you could upgrade to interesting, fun, or innovative by approaching it in a new way?

Virgin America, if you are listening: Congratulations on living your brand experience, and don’t rest on your laurels. Keep creating. United Airlines, if you are listening (and I hope you are) please show some loyalty towards me for my million mile status and take a note from the Virgin America playbook, by making it more about being inspired to live your brand, not just advertise it.