Talking to Tim Mapes, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Delta Air Lines
AA: In the many conversations I had with marketers in preparation for writing BrandDigital, a topic that came up in one discussion after another was the challenge to keep the customer’s experience with a brand consistent from one encounter to the next. This topic was top of mind not simply because of the preponderance of new touch points brought forth by digital devices, but because these digital devices allow customers to talk freely and openly with one another about both their positive and their less than exemplary brand experiences. In my conversation with Tim Mapes, senior vice president of marketing at Delta Air Lines, this topic was among the first he addressed.
TM: The airline industry business model is incredibly challenging when it comes to delivering a consistent “on-brand” experience. There are so many touch points with our customers, from the ticketing process, to baggage handling, to the flight, itself. To succeed at delivering on the brand promise, it means not just staying on top of any issues that may arise, but getting ahead of them. While all marketers know that consumers have always had a degree of control, digital technology has given them more control than ever before. By way of example, I was asked to speak at an industry conference about the changing role of the CMO and I told a story about one of our passengers who used his video cell phone to capture the onboard hullabaloo that arose during a flight delay, which he posted in real time, to YouTube. At that moment, this passenger was the CMO. He had more power to communicate something about the brand experience than anyone of us in our corporate offices.
AA: Consumers not only have more brand choices, they have more ways to take the offensive and ensure that their needs are served. In my discussions with marketing and technology professionals the consensus was that companies that are nimble, that are agile, and that are open to engaging customers in dialogue are the ones that will prevail in the digital economy.
TM: Paradoxically, marketers want loyal customers but they don’t ask how loyal they, themselves, are as marketers. Given the seismic change brought about by digital tools, it is absolutely essential to acknowledge your customers, to leverage digital tools to engage in outright dialogue. We use our Delta blog to listen and to respond to customer concerns. There is no excuse for not using digital technology to improve the brand experience.
Many brand organizations wonder how to cultivate their core loyalists.
Listening to what your passengers are saying will give you incredible insight about where your brand is working and, more important, where it’s breaking down. Remember, if you don’t give customers an outlet to let you know what they think, they’ll look elsewhere to air their opinions. The question we asked in developing our online presence was, “do we want customers to talk to us or go somewhere else and talk about us?”
AA: Equally critical is the need for organizations to have a system in place by which everyone involved, bottom- up, top-down can listen to what customers are saying and be empowered to take action. It’s vital in this day and age to get the organization not just focused on the promise, but given the authority to do what’s necessary to deliver on it. Things happen too fast. As you said earlier, it’s essential to get ahead of any issues.
TM: This is especially critical in a service business where employees are on the front line. You’re setting your brand up for failure if any one of your employees is not committed 100 percent in heart and mind to the needs of the customers and, correspondingly, the needs of the brand. You’ve got to build an infrastructure which enables the organization to be ready for customer input and just as ready to respond. Everyone needs to operate like a CMO. It seems so, “duh,” but it’s amazing how many organizations don’t get it.
AA: Many of the people I spoke to said that in the digital environment, digital tools and tactics, digital strategies, can’t be put in a silo. They can’t live in a specialty group but must be organically integrated into the organization. It’s a real-time, rapid-response branding environment.
TM: Absolutely. You can’t pay lip service to customer relationship management and with digital technology there is no excuse for not being connected to the customer, listening to the customer, and using what you learn to make the customer’s experience better. David Ogilvy said, “Advertising is too important to be left to the creative.” I say that in the transparent, see all, know all, world of digital communications, branding is too important to be left to the CMO.
Other conversations
» Vivek Shah - Group President, Digital, Time Inc. News Group (Jan. 27, 2009)
» David Kirkpatrick - Senior Editor, Internet and Technology at Fortune Magazine (Jan. 21, 2009)
» Bob Pearson - Vice President of communities and conversations for Dell (#2) (Nov. 18, 2008)
» Barbara Basney - Director of global advertising for Xerox (Oct. 30, 2008)
» Bob Pearson - Vice President of communities and conversations for Dell (#1) (Oct. 13, 2008)
» Robert Greenberg - Vice President of Corporate Brand Marketing for Panasonic (Sept. 26, 2008)
» Jason Dowdell - Founder of MarketingShift (Sept. 23, 2008)
» Ed Faruolo - Vice President of Brand Development and Advertising at Lincoln Financial Group (Aug. 14, 2008)
» Roy Bostock - Chairman of the Board of Yahoo, Inc. (Aug. 13, 2008)
» Gary Briggs - former SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay North America (July 17, 2008)