Has Cathay Pacific Lost its Way?
The recent airing of the latest Cathay Pacific TVC seemed like a misguided attempt to leverage last year’s depression that was SARS. Although a year late, the airline still feels the need to drum up people’s spirits. One wonders what the rationale behind their “dreams” campaign can be.
Sure, it’s a nice idea. Look to the skies and achieve your dreams, realising your true potential. Oh, and while you are up there, you can find Cathay Pacific there too. Right, okay. And what exactly does this have to do with the airline? Business men, who represent Cathay’s core target segment, need little reminder of how to achieve their dreams being the go-getters that they are normally are, and it’s doubtful that they’ll credit any of their achieved dreams to an airline. Except maybe Richard Branson.
One suspects that this is a hangover from the SARS period and that Cathay Pacific, actually one of Hong Kong’s prominent benefactors both as Cathay and as Swire, is sounding the rallying call for a more positive outlook. Of course, any marketing folk worth their salt wouldn’t have ignored the post-SARS landscape completely and failed to notice that people had quite happily moved on to the next drama.
I know, it must have been to use that catchy soundtrack again. “I Can Fly” probably hasn’t irritated enough people yet over Asia and beyond. Even if you’ve heard it before, now you can hear the cacophony that is the jazzed up version. Oh joy. It’s only marginally better than the soundtrack that the Hong Kong Tourism Board has inflicted on us featuring the rather dubious English voice talent of George Lam.
Okay, it probably wasn’t the soundtrack. Could it have been to build brand equity in fostering the idea that an airline can really help you to achieve you dreams? Can the perception really be that despite all odds, you can do it and there is Cathay Pacific sitting there right behind you supporting you to realise them? Airline as cheerleader is probably gracing someone’s PowerPoint presentation.
Although one would wonder if that person knew how to use something as modern as PowerPoint given that the airline as an inspirational icon pretty much had its heyday in the fifties and sixties. The era of inspiration and awe from aviation is over. To quote a number of pilots I’ve talked with, commercial aviation is often a glamourous bus route. For passengers, it often remains a hassle and something they would rather avoid.
Of course, could we see a return to airline as inspirational icon for dreams, styles and fantasies? View from the Top certainly showed an airline seeking to return to the heady days of when airline travel was true to the reflections expressed in the book “Coffee, Tea or Me”. The point with Cathay is its strategic direction doesn’t seem to be found anywhere.
I guess the TVC’s are just symptomatic of an airline that has lost its way. From what I hear, the company is becoming more China-centric, in the hopes that Beijing opens up more routes for them. People I have had the chance to speak to over the last three years from the airline have said that one great thing about Cathay used to be its international complement of staff. It was truly an Asia-wide airline and it could claim to be more international than any other airline. Hell, it’s not even constrained by being a national carrier for Hong Kong. You’ve got Dragon Air for that.
Now there is an increasing requirement for all cabin staff to speak Mandarin. Sure, the emergence of China as a market surely dictates this but in your marketing vision are you seeking to become China’s national airline? One can only wonder…
Perhaps the TVC’s are designed to take the emotional leadership highground. A little pointless a year after SARS. Even during SARS, the airline’s own leadership had its faults. Spouses of cabin crew had to write in to demand why the company didn’t enforce a policy of mask wearing. Might not have protected against the disease scientifically, but we’re talking emotional leadership.
The problem with Cathay’s marketing vision is that it has none. It wants to be so much yet fails to deliver on any one clear promise. This TVC told me I can achieve my dreams. Cathay’s role in that was less clear. The airline also recently told me what’s cool about New York and where Woody Allen hangs out. Cathay’s role was sort of clear there (it flies twice daily to JFK) but still so what? What’s cool about New York isn’t necessarily what’s cool about the airline.
Cathay boldly promises me that if I travel with Cathay Pacific, I will say to myself “Now I’m really flying”. It’s such a bold statement. Almost visionary like. It has potential to draw upon the tangibles that the airline and its frontline staff can deliver. Yet until now, I’m still waiting for someone to prove that when I pick Cathay over Singapore Airlines, British Airways, United, Virgin or any of the other carriers, why exactly, I’m now really flying. An airline as great as CX should be able to prove this to me and at the very least convince me.
