Opinions about the Qantas PR War are like backsides – everybody has one. As of this morning, a Google search showed 8418 news articles containing the words “Qantas” and “brand”.
Right now there are more assessments flying around than Qantas jets - and most are coloured by the ideologically-tinted glasses of whichever expert happens to be delivering an opinion.
A straw poll of the Lighthouse office reveals richly divergent opinion – especially when it comes to media coverage. If you ask us, Nine’s breakfast TV coverage over the weekend was as pro-Qantas as Seven’s UK correspondent was as virulently critical of airline groundstaff’s handling of stranded passengers.
The bad guy in this fight wears an airline hat or comes from a trade union background – there’s no middle ground. Throw political colour and movement into the mix and you see more polarisation.
So was the iconic Qantas brand was fatally damaged the minute Alan Joyce pulled flights out of the sky?
You don’t need to go far for a definition of brand. Most people agree that it’s the personality that identifies a company, product or service.
Brand perceptions are about the feelings evoked. They’re also very much in the eye of the beholder. One person’s Maker’s Mark Bourbon is another’s ready-mixed UDL.
PR people are fond of saying brands can be destroyed in an instant because (a.) there are many examples and (b.) it’s good for business. In reality, most brands are built or decline over years. The Qantas brand has been eroded over time.
As the world’s longest continually-operating airline, it would be surprising if that wasn’t the case. In 2005 it was rated by consultants Skytrax as the world’s second-best airline. Today it rates eighth.
Increasing competition, the erosion of its monopoly routes and increasing access to the air travel experience by people for whom it was previously a novelty have all played a part. Along with years of “we’ll all be rooned” press conferences by the world’s highest paid airline executive, Geoff Dixon.
Iconic brands are those that inspire adulation that’s out of the ordinary. It would be surprising if Qantas has been one to most people for some time.
A long campaign of industrial whiteanting in the media – a union response to Qantas’ restructuring and off-shoring of its maintenance hub – has chipped away at the airline’s safety reputation.
Ask yourself: Have there been more in-flight incidents or have they just been reported more frequently?
Looking at recent events, the unions handled the executive pay issue brilliantly. They made it a focus of public discussion - even though 98 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of rises because CEO retention is an issue in a global market.
Management overplayed its hand when it leaked details of death threats. On the other hand, it looked decisive when it forced the Government into acting. The subsequent Fair Work Australia judgement that was highly critical of Qantas has barely been reported.
Industrial negotiations may yet break down. Even so, the biggest PR challenge for Qantas now is how to win the hearts and minds of the 300,000-plus travellers inconvenienced this week.
Qantas has to take the public pulse and show it’s able to listen and change. Leverage the fact that the cheaper alternatives don’t appeal to everyone. Give more back to customers.
It’s going to take more than a few thousand free flights and some expensive TV commercials featuring massed choirs of pious, ethnically-balanced choirboys.
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