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The Singapore Girl global marketing tool played a significant role in the $1.39 billion net operating profit for the fiscal year that ended in March 2005 (Singapore Airlines, May 2005), as well as the comparable profits from previous years (Astbury, 1986). This is despite recent hits by the December 2004 tsunami, the SARS outbreak in 2001, the war in Iraq and increasing fuel prices.
An Asia Pacific-based advertising recall survey firm International Research Associates (INRA) that surveys every three years found that SIA’s advertising was steadily increasing in unaided recall in three successive surveys: in 1973, SIA advertisement recall was 21%, in 1976 it was 32% and in 1979, it had risen up to 50%. In comparison, the average advertising recall of about 40 airlines in similar studies was only 9.6% (Harvard Business School, 1989).
No other airline comes close to reaching the same level of unaided advertising recall, thanks to the Singapore Girl and her slogans like “Flying High with the Singapore Girls” from 1979. Europe’s biggest carrier British Airways (BA) had “The World’s favourite airline” as a slogan, but recall was poor (Chan, 2000, pp. 462).
What in their branding has caused Singapore Airlines to be so successful with advertising recall? What keeps the customers coming despite the higher prices relative to their strongest competitors mainly serving Asia, such as Thai Air and Cathay Pacific? Why has SIA been the top ranking airline in Condé Nast Traveler surveys despite the average food and legroom that is no better than that of other airlines (Lindstrom, 2005, pp. 17)? Endorsed by one of the world's leading experts on marketing, Dr. Philip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, and CEOs and Chairmans of companies ranging from McDonald's to Disney and Mattel, branding guru Martin Lindstrom says it's sensory branding.
In his recent book BRAND Sense (2005) based on a global branding study, Martin Lindstrom explores the effects of leveraging the five senses of touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound on brand building. He uses Singapore Airlines as an example of the company that has leveraged the five senses best and has therefore created a "smashable" brand, i.e. a brand so integrated and synergistic that were the logo to be removed from the other components, the components would still recognizably represent the brand (Lindstrom, 2005, pp. 33). Based on input from focus groups from all over the world on among two hundred of the world’s most valuable brands according to Interbrand, SIA ranks No. 1 in sensory leverage, scoring 96.3%, followed by Apple (91.3%), Disney (87.6%), Mercedes (78.8%), and Marlboro (75%), to mention just a few. The criteria for sensory excellence involved asking the following questions (Lindstrom, 2005, pp. 206):
A key point of Martin Lindstrom's research is to understand that many of our daily purchasing decisions are not rational, but led by appeals to our five senses of which we are often unaware. From the sensory branding perspective, we can also understand how SIA’s consumer loyalty was built in ways the consumer is not even in control of.
Creating a world of experiences
In the 1930s, the flight attendants occupation was considered a glamourous one in the hearts of Americans. In 1953, stewardesses or "hostesses" were recruited only if they met the strict height and weight guidelines of the ideal 5”2 and 5”7 and weighed between 100 and 120 pounds, "corresponding to her height." Stewardesses then fit model-like proportions: "airplane aisles were the catwalks of the age" (Reaves, 2003). Unfortunately, due to blows to the travel industry causing recent budget cuts to compete with budget airlines and a shift to focusing on safety, the glamour of the job has waned. Airlines have been basing their promotions on cabin designs, food, comfort and pricing, ignoring the provision of a complete, sensory experience. Singapore Airlines, however, kept their leverage of the easiest parts of a customer to appeal to--the five senses--to offer the emotional experience of air travel.
SIA’s brand platform emphasizes smoothness and relaxation, and in contrast to the orientation toward function that many other airlines have, SIA has presented themselves as an entertainment company. In short, as quoted earlier in the words of cabin crew training chief Ban Eng Goh (Clark, 2002) SIA is not just a means of transport; they provide access to a world of experiences which without the trained Singapore Girl would never be realized. The aircraft cabin provides the ambience lighting, in-flight entertainment system, movies, music, newspapers, amenities and other mechanical provisions, but the Singapore Girl is the human being who mediates between the airline and its passengers. She answers the needs of the passengers by being able to communicate in the language the passenger speaks even if it is not English, she brings the food, water, blankets and answers questions as to how to use the in-flight systems. She is a personification of the airline.
The Singapore Girl and the airline together aim to offer a place of relaxation, entertainment and transport so smooth it might hardly be noticeable. The stewardesses’ visually outstanding presence, which to loyal customers brings to mind the distinctively warm and vigilant yet professional service, overpowers better than other airlines the mechanical monotony of air transport. The world they offer is a humanized, restful ‘’place’’ as distinct from the ordinary, repetitive travel routes frequent travelers dread. The development of the world of experiences in the aircraft cabin can be compared to the development of places, such as the city, the town, the plaza and the rest area, all of which break up large areas and long travel routes into smaller places that induce stopping and rest. As our lives speed up, many people are choosing to spend holidays in slow-moving places for recuperation. Therefore, the development of places improves not only the city’s appearance but is fundamental to the health of its inhabitants (Day, 1990, pp. 159). The Japanese in particular have been known to withdraw to remote country side areas known for their pure air and hot springs in order to calm and neutralize the fiery ailments in their bodies. SIA has made use of the same principle to create their unique place.
How do they create this experience?
SIA synergizes appeals to the senses of sight, smell and sound to strongly link each "sensory touch point" to each other. Each sensory channel is optimized to consistently reflect and communicate the brand’s core values (Lindstrom, 2005, pp. 113).
SIA has built into its leverage of sight, smell and sound its unique Asian heritage symbolized and synergized by the Singapore Girl—a physical embodiment through make up, uniform and physical form of the exotic and the aesthetic beauty of Asian culture; carrier of a beautiful scent that permeates and adds an additional bodily dimension to the fleet; and one who embraces the sounds of Asia in her strolls through commercials and pre-take-off videos. In particular, just as Intel owns a sound and Colgate owns a taste (and McDonald’s has come to own the negative smell of stale oil!), SIA owns most perceptibly its unique scent, color scheme and the Singapore Girl look.