Sky-high excellence: Decoding Singapore Airlines branding triumph

Of late, the branding of Sri Lanka for tourism has been in the news, with a new branding and tagline being launched recently, said to replace the old ‘WOW Sri Lanka’ brand. Any new branding of course, will have its share of controversies.  The ‘proof of the pudding’ is how effective the branding will be as time goes by. Without any doubt, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has one of the world’s best branding programmes. This analysis will attempt to study the SIA branding story and highlight the lessons to be learned.
“Products are made in factories. Brands are made in the mind”- Walter Landor
“The brand is the story. The design is the storytelling”- Susan Sellers 

Branding

A quick look firstly at what branding really means.
Branding is the process of creating a strong, positive perception of a company, its products or services, in the customer’s mind. It combines such elements as logo, design, tagline and a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications. Branding typically includes a phrase, design or idea that makes it easily identifiable to the public and helps companies differentiate themselves from their competitors and build a loyal customer base.

So, branding is all about ‘mind games’. It revolves around perceptions. The perception is the reality. It is what one creates in the prospect’s (customer’s) mind.  Today we live in an information overloaded environment, with too much ‘marketing noise’. The mind is a battleground that is continuously bombarded with news, information, marketing messages and calls to action.
Therefore, to ‘get into the prospect’s mind’, it is vital that the brand must be correctly ‘positioned’ to relate to the prospect. Prospects don’t buy - they choose. What matters is the position relative to other choices and to create trust. 

In their excellent 1981 book, ‘Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind’, Al Ries and Jack Trout describe how positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target customers in a crowded marketplace.
A word about names and taglines. It is what begins the positioning process. It is the first point of contact between the product and mind and it is easier to remember a name or phrase if it sounds right and relates to the customer’s perceptions.

History of Singapore Girl

The iconic images and branding of the Singapore Girl was first established in 1972, when Singapore Airlines took over as successor of its predecessor Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). It was an advertising executive named Ian Batey, who conceptualised Singapore Airlines’ first marketing campaign. It centred around (as we all know!) the iconic Singapore Girl, dressed in the elegant and distinctive ‘sarong kebaya’ uniform. 

The ‘Singapore Girl’ was the embodiment of the brand, encapsulating all the brand attributes that appealed to the customer and ‘telling the story. Asian mystique, gracious Asian hospitality and values, caring, warm and gentle, elegant and serene, with exemplary high-quality service. 
The Singapore Girl strategy turned out to be a very powerful idea and has become a successful brand icon with an almost mythical status and aura around her.
Together with the slogan “A Great Way to Fly”, the Singapore Girl has become a visual trademark and brand for Singapore Airlines the world over.

High standards and training 

To build the image of the “Singapore Girl”, the airline runs a rigorous training programme for cabin and flight crew. The airline’s reputation and the resulting prestige of the job have allowed it to be highly selective during its recruitment process and attract the best recruits from the region. The training for becoming a “Singapore Girl” is rigorous and demanding.  There are strict rules and regulations for the crew from head to toe!  
The following rules are stipulated for female flight attendants.

• Colour their hair black or dark brown and no highlights can be used.
• Long hair has to be coiled into buns or French twists. 
• Eyebrows must be shaped and cannot be fake, be it drawn-on or tattooed. 
• Eye shadow must be of the colour prescribed by the company – either blue or brown, depending on skin tone. 
• No fanciful, dangling earrings allowed; only studs or pearls. 
• Lipstick colour must be among the few shades of bright red prescribed by the company. Pink or plum shades are forbidden. 
• No chains and necklaces allowed. 
• Only simple bracelets and rings can be worn. 
• Only small and simple watches can be worn. 
• Nail polish must be of the bright red colour prescribed by the company. Nails should not be chipped. 
• Toenails must be of the bright red colour prescribed by the company. If toenails are unpainted, stockings must be worn as a substitute. 

All this goes to emphasise quality, discipline and standards - attention to detail. The ‘story’ is powerful and consistent. It helps build that all important perception in the prospect’s mind. Nothing is left to chance, for after all, the “Singapore Girl’ is the embodiment of the SIA brand. 

“Before you can create a great brand, you have to be able to live up to the service expectations that your customers have. The advertising of Singapore Airlines serves to remind people about the high levels of service we provide to the customers but it wouldn’t work if we didn’t live up to those expectations in delivery. We consistently strive to meet the highest standards of customer care and service, to fulfil our promise of being “A Great Way to Fly”.” said Nicholas Ionides, VP, Public Affairs, Singapore Airlines.

This has undoubtedly resulted in  the Singapore Girl, together with the  slogan “A Great Way to Fly” being one of the world’s most successful  brands. 
For over 40 years the “Singapore Girl” has been in every SIA advertisement and publicity effort imaginable from TV to newspapers, magazines, direct mail and online. No other airline comes close to embodying the spirit of the Singapore Girl. 

The Singapore Girl became such an icon, that in 1994 Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London began displaying her as the museum’s first commercial figure. In terms of country image, there is no doubt that the Singapore Girl has done as much for Singapore’s image than its political stability, infrastructure and economic prowess. Singapore Airlines has contributed around 20 percent (or maybe more) to the overall nation brand equity of Singapore. This is remarkable, as over 65 percent of the passengers on Singapore Airlines never really visit Singapore but only use Singapore Changi Airport as a transit hub.
The Singapore Girl has been the one constant of SIA, as the airline went from a tiny Southeast Asian airline, to one of the most respected in the world.

Brand evolution

Over time brands need to be reinvented, tweaked and evolved. Brands need to be ‘shaped’ around changing consumer and market behaviours. This process should naturally happen gradually, step by step and even the smallest changes can lead to an impact on the customer and sales. It is key therefore to evolve the brand over time to keep up with a fast-changing environment trends and stay ahead of the competition. The key word is ‘evolution’ and NOT ‘rebranding’.

For after all, it is because the dinosaurs could not evolve, that they are extinct now. On the other hand the crocodile, which also lived during the dinosaur era, evolved over time and is still abundantly prevalent. 

The latest SIA campaign is a continuation of the long-standing Singapore Girl ad campaigns, showcasing the Singapore Girl’s Asian hospitality, while at the same time adding the romance of travel to life. To present the diversity of the destinations that SIA now serves, there are four different locations (San Francisco,  Paris, Jaisalmer in India and Wuzhen in China) around which the new campaign is designed. The Singapore Girl has ‘moved’ out of the airline cabin into the environment. The unique character of each location comes across strongly and each is a fitting iconic backdrop for the Singapore Girl herself.

Criticism

Like all brands Singapore Girl also has its critics. One is that the term Singapore Girl is sexist, outdated and reinforces stereotypes of subservient Asian women. (SIA - Sorry I Apologise!). The word ‘girl’ has also been criticised in the media. 
The SIA contract for cabin crew was originally time limited, so unless they get promoted, they usually had to leave when they were past 25 years. This seemed to be quite harsh and there was ongoing pressure on the airline to change its stance on this.

It was previously also standard practice for the airline to place cabin crew members on unpaid leave when it was made aware they were pregnant. Once the child’s birth certificate was submitted, staff would be told to quit.
There have been substantial policy changes over the years and now pregnant cabin crew members will receive unpaid leave for 16 weeks before being automatically added to the next flight roster. Also the time bar on serving as a cabin crew has also been relaxed. 

The changes came after more than a decade of campaigning by women’s rights groups in Singapore, who have criticised the airline for discrimination and pushed for more job security for expecting mothers.
The critics however have been a small minority, and the brand has been so powerful and successful, that it has stood the test of time.

“To remove the Singapore Girl icon from SIA is like removing Mickey Mouse from Disneyland...”— Singapore’s The Straits Times
So what are the Lessons to be learned from the ‘Singapore Girl’?

• The brand must live up to the expectations that are being created (the story).
• The ‘story’ must be credible and authentic. 
• The brand should create trust.
• To meet these brand expectations, there has to be discipline, rigorous training, highest quality at every level and touch point of the service and product delivery.
• The brand has to be consistent and should not be changed arbitrarily.     
• There should be only an evolution of the brand, step by step modifications to suit changing market needs. But the core story should remain the same.