With British Airways set to merge with Spain’s Iberia airlines, what does this mean for the brands national identity? Sholto Lindsay-Smith, Managing Director at Strategic brand and communication consultancy, Uffindell looks at how the airline can balance its local reputation and global identity, and the role online can play in this.
It is no secret that British Airways has been in talks with Spain’s Iberia about a potential merger, but recent news that the formation of a new holding company called International Airlines Group has been created, heralds a new era in the airline industry and poises new challenges for digital brand managers.
Whilst both the Iberia and BA brands will continue to operate as normal, it raises the fundamental issue of brand equity and how these brands balance a new global presence with their local identity.
Arguably, to realise the potential synergies in the deal and online, the merged businesses should move to a single brand, offering a joined up experience – from airline lounges to limousines and online content management systems to the subtleties of local language – around the world. But this would represent a dramatic shift in airline branding.
As national flag carriers, the role of airlines in projecting their national identity is preciously guarded. As we saw from Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury in January, the threat to the inherent ‘Britishishness’ of the Cadbury brand not only impacted consumer sentiment, but also had more wide-reaching implications for brand equity. Cadbury, just like British Airways, is a national institution and a company that people feel they have an affiliation to.
With the coming together of these global carriers the airlines are faced with a dilemma: how to build a global brand without sacrificing the equity, which rests in the loyalty, and pride in the national brands? The answer may be to create a fusion brand that brings together the best of all worlds. A solution that is not a million miles away from British Airway’s earlier attempt to position itself as a global citizen by using its tailfins as a canvas for local artists. It perhaps failed in practice because the Airline lost its identity in the process as it became fragmented.
But the idea, if not the execution, may yet prove to be the right strategy. The opportunity to become the world’s first truly global airline brand – that transcends national boundaries – must represent a big prize.
By Sholto Lindsay-Smith
Managing Director
Uffindellwww.Uffindellgroup.com
