Digital: Malaysia Airlines’ biggest ally in mktg & comm post twin tragedy
Dean Dacko, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Malaysia Airlines had the most unenviable job for most part of 2014. The twin tragedy of MH 370, shortly followed by MH 17, posed many challenges for the aviation company, marring its image, reputation and essentially bringing it under an intense spotlight on what its next steps would be.
‘Unprecedented’ was the apt word to describe every aspect of the MH 370 tragedy. It was unprecedented that a Boeing 777 could vanish and there is still no evidence on where that plane is. It was unprecedented in the scope and scale of the rescue mission. And the amount of global attention it received was in the same vein. “We realised early on that we were on new ground and we were required to create solutions that was never done before. There was no guide and we were moving forward on our own,” admitted Mr Dacko, adding, “Our job was not to find the aircraft because we did not have the wherewithal to do that. Our duty was to our customers, and addressing their concerns.”
For the initial four days post the incident, Malaysia Airlines incurred costs of nearly a million dollars a day to take care of the relatives and loved ones of passengers awaiting information on the flight. At the same time, the airline was serving 47,000 paying customers who had to be assured of its service. Mr Dacko believes that the company’s steps towards embracing digital in its steps prior the tragedy held it in good stead.
The business transformation strategy: Not just react, but plan
Mr Dacko explained that Malaysia Airlines was modernising a traditional strategy, taking the company’s communication platforms to digital. “The platforms we built were never intended to support in crisis because we never imagined these events. The work we were doing was to support our business but we found ourselves in a unique situation.”
In a period of two months, the MH 370 incident had received 57.6 million mentions and posts in social media. “That was the level of intensity. There was a 10-fold increase in the hits on our site. Had we not been digital ready, we would have blacked out, and not recovered for four to five days, in the midst of something that was concerning people worldwide,” informed Mr Dacko.
The website moved from one language to 22 languages, and Malaysia Airlines utilised IPG Mediabrands’ Rally team to engage with the audiences and monitor sentiments. The company was engaging and answering 76 per cent of queries within 15 minutes, making it the second best airlines in the social media space according to Wall Street Journal at the time. “We knew we had to do it, and fortunately we had the capability in place. We did not just react but we had a plan,” he said.
The four-way plan immediately post MH 370 began with a blackout of all Malaysia Airlines media assets in the first four hours. The company replaced these with “heartfelt messages” from its top officials. This led to the closure and transition stage, where it worked on moving on from the MH 370 incident to achieve some amount of normalcy. Looking to make a commercial presence again, the third stage was about Recovery & Continuity.
“The initial phases were only digital, because it allowed us to targeted and flexible in re-crafting what we are doing. Most importantly, we were being very personal in our communication,” Mr Dacko explained.
Assertive and direct
The final stage – BAU or Business as usual was achieved by May. The company had already begun to see a jump back in its business to the tune that would have made up for the USD 1.6 billion setback it had suffered in the face of the MH 370 tragedy. But soon after, it was faced with the MH 17 instance. “It was devastating. The entire organisation felt it could not breathe but at the same time, we knew that suffering was not a solution,” recalled Mr Dacko.
The MH 370 incident had prepared the company on a few aspects. The company’ tack for MH 17 was more assertive and direct in its messaging, leading to a quicker road to recovery. “We also realised that we needed to get our brand message out,” said Mr Dacko.
In July, the company played the #StayStrong message, followed by #FlyingHigh in August. From September to February, the company call was #KeepFlying.
The company made a few ‘mistakes’ along the way too including the likes of #BucketList. “Mistakes happen. You have to deal with it with integrity and authenticity and that is what you are as a brand,” Mr Dacko stated.
Prashant Kumar, IPG Mediabrands
Brands live in networks
The role of its agency partner IPG Mediabrands was also under scrutiny in this duration. Prashant Kumar, President, World Markets, Asia Pacific, IPG Mediabrands observed that the role of content was also critical in a brand’s life. He said, “Brands live in networks, and content is the fuel of these networks. All brand growth is people inviting other people to join in, and brand decline, is people creating reasons for people to leave. Connections marry content to breed commerce – that is the new reality of brand business.”
He acknowledged that in a highly competitive and connected market, crisis spreads at thrice the speed of any good viral campaign.
“What you need is a ready real time global, social media machine that can handle the attention your brand receives. Monitoring 58 million conversations, in 14 languages, with 9.4 minutes as average response time is no small feat,” said Mr Kumar.
He explained that leveraging the full spectrum of content through the right channels is critical because there is a need to build a response that is data fuelled and adaptive in real time.
Mr Dacko and Mr Kumar made these points at the ongoing Festival of Media Asia in Singapore.
