Flying high in savvy SIA style

The prospect of introducing Singapore Airlines' (SIA) latest aircraft, the A345Leadership which now flies from Singapore to Los Angeles and back, was daunting as it involved many aspects of the airline's communication arms. SIA vice-president marketing, communications and market development Gerry Oh says: "Our objective was to create an awareness and an interest that would drive business our way. For any airline like ourselves, events are an opportunity to bring to the end user a tangible offering. We use events like these in conjunction with our integrated marketing system. We use print for rational messaging, TV commercials for emotive messaging and we have proprietary media that includes inflight magazines and inflight communication systems. As an airline, we reach between 2 to 2.5 million passengers a month with our inflight magazine, SilverKris. The launch event for the A345Leadership was just one component of the communication channels that we use." For A345Leadership, this included preview events for press and corporate clients. These 'build-up' events were followed by TV commercials to pre-sell worldwide. Then, the airline had to work with local feeder markets on additional PR communication campaigns. The preview events took place at the Raffles City Convention Centre, one for the press in the afternoon and another for corporate clients in the evening. Invitations were sent out two weeks prior to the event. Apart from a panel which was set up for the media's Q&A session, the events mirrored one another in most aspects. Says SIA marketing communications manager Cecilia Tan: "When we launched (the A345Leadership), we had the challenge of trying to excite people without the actual product." To create an element of surprise, no displays were put up in the reception area, where guests congregated prior to the event proper. Guests were then invited to enter another room through a tunnel which was built to emulate a spaceship entrance, with floodlights streaming through a dark opening. Adds Tan: "We wanted to create an atmosphere of anticipation and excitement and when the guests entered the room, they were ushered to an area where a giant image of the globe was stuck on the ground. They sat on sleek bar stools made of chrome and leather on top of the globe and in front of them was a gigantic 60m screen that had a small stage on both sides of it." After an opening speech, the guests were treated to a display of images which were spilt into three parts on the screen amid colourful splashes of atmospheric lighting. A live, five-minute narration explained the traditions of SIA's product innovation history and how the airline was striving to create a legacy of comfort and style. This was followed by a flashback to the key product developments of recent years and awards won by the airline then by a computer-generated virtual walk-through of the aircraft, and finally by a 60-second television commercial aired for the first time. Hidden backdrop When the presentation ended, the screen was lifted to reveal another room which featured a Raffles Class SpaceBed and an Executive Economy Class seat. Two large backdrop displays with a suspended screen in the middle were set up; on the screen was projected an entire product demonstration of the aircraft. SIA flight attendants invited the guests into the room and demonstrated various features of the seats. Food and beverages were served. In January, SIA began deploying the aircraft to various cities in Asia such as Bali, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok to promote the service in regional markets. The aircraft would follow select regional flight paths, for example, a daily route to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore. Then came the inaugural flight and launch event from Singapore to Los Angeles last month. Before passengers boarded the flight at Gate F52 in Terminal 2, they were greeted with a warm welcome of free cocktails and live jazz music. There was also a lion dance to welcome Singapore minister for transport Yeo Cheow Tong. This was followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the minister, who was flanked by SIA chairman Koh Boon Hwee and SIA chief executive officer Chew Choon Seng. The passengers were given name cardholders to commemorate the event. The aircraft was three-quarters full, mainly with individual business travellers and journalists. The aircraft left Singapore Changi Airport at 4pm; scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 4pm local time the same day, or 16 hours later, it set a new record for the world's longest non-stop commercial flight. The Leadership was helped by strong tailwinds and made the journey in just 14.5 hours. When the aircraft landed in Los Angeles, there was a welcoming ceremony officiated by the airport authorities, who arranged for fire engines to spout a water arch over the aircraft for good luck. Says Oh: "Now that we have the technology, we can maximise the opportunities that come with the 'open skies' agreement and this event is significant as it signals the increase in trade and travel. "This is a service that is designed for the corporate executive and MICE traveller, as it offers them the benefit of non-stop travel which gets them to their destination faster, shaving off hours from travel time." By the middle of this year, SIA plans to launch another daily service to New York with the same aircraft. This new service will take 18 hours in each direction, reducing travel time by up to six hours. Another event to launch this service is being planned. The publicity generated from the build-up to the actual event has paid off as Oh says event organisers have already approached the airline to find out about exclusive charters. "Singapore Airlines as a corporation has always wanted to offer direct links to the US and, for us, this new aircraft is a watershed. It allows us to expand into the big US market and stimulate SIA's hub which is Singapore and into the rest of the region." Patricia Wee