Dancing Flight Attendants -- REALLY!??!??!

Call me a traditionalist - or a stick in the mud - or just plain boring.  But I want my flight attendants focused on safety - not Lady GaGa!

Many of you may have seen the video virally making its way around the world featuring Cebu Pacific Airlines presenting safety instructions through a dance choreographed to Lady GaGa's Let's Dance.  As a branding and marketing professional -- and as a passenger -- I really have to question the decision to position flight attendants as objects of entertainment as a brand strategy.

 

In my earlier days I spent time as the Director of Advertising for Northwest Airlines and had the privilege (or eye-opening opportunity?!) to tour the behind-the-scenes hanger operations close up.  When you do that you realize that, when you fly, your lives are literally in the hands of thousands of mechanics, pilots, engineers and, yes, flight attendants.  One distraction, mis-step or momentary lapse of focus from any one of a number of people along the "assembly line" of flying has the potential to be fatal.

So, what does this have to do with Cebu's brand?  We always tell our clients that every word, action and experience they deliver goes into the creation of their brand reputation.  Each word and action tells the audience something more about who you are, what you stand for, and what you can be counted on to deliver in the marketplace.  If we really believe that, we also believe that dancing safety instructions tell us that Cebu Air is telling us that safety is not sacred -- that entertainment is a strong value in their operations and that their flight attendants are good dancers.  The 8 million people who have already viewed this video now know that about Cebu.

Now, my conjecture is that they made this move in dramatic and oppositional response to Korean Air's flight attendants' reputation as passionate and supreme caretakers of the flying public. Or maybe in response to Thais Airways hold on the reputation for the most beautiful flight attendants.  That's why we tell our clients this... that your own powerful brand can only be created and sustained if built on a foundation of the purpose, values and personality that are authentic to your organization.  Trying to create a brand based on a foundation of marketplace influences will backfire on you.

So, there is my position.  And through sharing that with you you now know something more about me and my own brand.  You know that having my flight attendants bake chocolate chip cookies on the job is OK with me, but dancing safety instructions has crossed my own personal line of reason!  Here is the video for those of you who haven't seen it yet.  

By Susan Waldman, Partner and Director of Strategic Services at ZilYen