Call Indira Nair’s mobile phone and you are treated to the sounds of Ordinary People, by R&B singer John Legend. It is, perhaps, a fitting soundtrack for the everyman appeal of the brand that Nair represents - Malaysia Airlines.
But little about the MAS story has been humdrum in recent years, from its descent into financial turmoil to its phoenix — like rise from the ashes over the past two years.
Nair arrived at MAS at perhaps its lowest point, in early 2006, after the airline had reported a staggering loss of RM1.3 billion (US$394 million). “In the first few weeks, I was totally overwhelmed,” she admits.
“To be honest it was already so rock - bottom. I thought ‘How much lower can it go?’”
Two years on, MAS has completed its turnaround a year ahead of schedule, and has now embarked on the external phase of its new ‘Malaysian Hospitality’ positioning. In response to concerns about overcapacity, meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines is considering consolidation, which would mark a significant development in Asia’s airline sector.
“The airline industry is in serious turbulence, from the low-cost carrier threat, to huge overcapacity and airlines collapsing,” says Nair. “I’m glad we had the first year when we could cut. Now, the brand is taking shape.”
Nair’s role made her something of an oddity among clients; one of the few corporate brand custodians to hail from a PR background. Unsurprisingly, she feels this has worked out better “from a brand sense”, not least because of the massive imperative to slash spending as soon as she arrived.
“I took a lot of flak for cutting the budget,” says Nair, after slashing advertising and promotional spend, and cutting out sponsorship altogether. “I felt we shouldn’t spend so much money on advertising when we are putting people out of their jobs. So we did a lot internally, in an organisation which hadn’t done much internal communications before.”
Nair becomes increasingly animated as this strand of the conversation develops, pointing out that her decision to drop adspend flew in the face of conventional wisdom. “Theory has always taught you that you must spend, and I was coming into an industry I didn’t know too much about.”
“There was this whole myth that branding equals advertising. That doesn’t work for me. It has to be about the touchpoints.”
Focusing internally, of course, was a considerably cheaper alternative to a big-budget advertising campaign. But Nair takes considerable pains to point out the value of the company’s 19,000 employees to its overall brand image. She notes that getting her own 140-person team, a number that now numbers 70, on the same page constituted the biggest challenge of all. “MAS was Government-owned for many years, so the whole mindset was very different. But my (agency) background of having lived and breathed quality and profit helped a lot.”
Along the way, Nair kickstarted an advertising review that held the Malaysian industry spellbound for the better part of a year, and culminated in the creative shifting from incumbent Leo Burnett to Ogilvy & Mather, via a short stop at Publicis. Nair, of course, remains a non-executive director at Ogilvy PR, where she worked for five years.
Rather predictably, her relationship with Ogilvy has led some to question the agency’s success in the pitch. “I knew people would say that so I stood down from the voting process. Everything was upfront. I cannot understand how I could influence it.”
Nair gives equally short shrift to those who feel that ex-agency people make for tougher clients. “There’s this perception that when you move you become the client from hell. Generally, the people who hold that view hold one third of my experience.
“What I have tried to do is get everyone to work as a team. But trying to get everyone to put all of their guns and pistols down and work together was a challenge.”
It is hard to find anyone at an agency level who doesn’t see Nair as one of Malaysia’s foremost marketers. “The strange combination of her background her management skills and her PR skills - MAS probably couldn’t have found a better candidate,” says one agency source.
“A marketing person wouldn’t have survived. She’s a natural leader and of all of the Board listen to her. Maybe she’s a bit reactive sometimes, but that’s the airline industry in general.”
Indira Nair’s CV
2006 Senior general manager, communications, Malaysia Airlines
2000 Chief talent officer, Ogilvy PR Worldwide Asia-Pacific
1995 Country head, Edelman Malaysia, regional dean of Edelman University
1991 Managing director, MDK Consultants
