What's up brand builders! Stephen Houraghan here of BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video I'm gonna show you a brand case study from Southwest Airlines so you can
see why this brand has achieved iconic status and look at what you can take
from their success into your own brand.
now if you're new to the channel and you want actionable brand strategy tips and
techniques to grow your business well then hit that subscribe button and the
notification bell and you'll be well on your way now back in 1967 two guys sat
down at a bar in San Antonio Texas and they came up with an idea for an airline
now this idea was all based on making air travel more affordable to the
everyday person and they wrote down on a napkin three points and those three
points represented the three major cities of Texas which were Dallas
Houston and San Antonio now for the first seven or eight years the airline
operated as an interstate-only airline and went between those three major
cities in Texas but then in 1979 President Jimmy Carter signed a bill to
deregulate air travel and that's when Southwest Airlines really took off now
in that bar in San Antonio Texas in the initial conversation between the two men
the conversation was based around pricing and the cost of air travel and
that's what they really focused in on with the idea of Southwest they really
wanted to focus in on price and making air travel a lot more affordable
now today budget airlines are absolutely everywhere but back in 1967 this was a
revolutionary idea and because they were so focused in on that idea and that
position that they wanted to own in the market they were able to build a brand
and a business from the ground up with that position in mind so because they
were so crystal clear on the position that they wanted to own in the market
they were able to focus on that position while building the business and building
the brand they wanted to be able to provide low-cost airlines and a low-cost
service to their customers so they looked at all of their costs and they
streamlined all of their costs and that started with their fleet
Southwest only operated with Boeing 737 so everything from parts to
mechanics to training everything everything got to do with the cost was
streamlined and that meant that none of their competitors could compete with
them on their prices now although price was a huge factor and a really important
element of their positioning strategy it wasn't the only element of their
positioning strategy Southwest didn't just want to be the cheapest they wanted
to be the best they wanted to offer the best service and the best experience so
they put a lot of focus in on that experience so they wanted to be the most
helpful airline in the industry as well as the cheapest airline in the industry
so they focused a lot on their staff and on their training and making sure that
the interactions and the overall brand experience was a friendly one so
although the low prices really did put Southwest on the map it's not what has
kept them where they are price alone is not what kept them where they are what
really kept them where they are is their commitment to that brand experience and
together with the lowest prices in the industry and the best experience within
the industry that is a potent position that they own in the mind of their
audience another unique aspect to the Southwest brand was in who their target
market was so back in 1967 air travel was a bit of a luxury and it targeted
the top 10% but Southwest went after the everyday person they wanted
holidaymakers businessmen business women families young travelers frequent flyers
just everyday people who wanted to travel by air so while their competitors
were going after the top 10% and we're trying to appeal to them with ideas of
exclusivity and three-course meals and crystal glasses Southwest went a
different direction and they targeted a group of people that didn't want that
they didn't want that exclusivity they just wanted a no-nonsense approach to
air travel now when it comes to budget airlines we've pretty much all had our
fair share of bad experiences and the idea with budget air travel is that
they're always trying to get you with something they're trying to get you with
add-on fees for this or cancellation fees for that but that's not what
Southwest Airlines is about either they're about really being that
most helpful airline in the industry and they're not about trying to catch you on
every corner they really want to be helpful and they're really clear in
their messaging as well their tones are warm and friendly and that translates
right throughout the brand experience and brand interactions and the
face-to-face interactions as well so they're a brand that feels human they're
not trying to catch it at every corner they're not trying to take your money
off you they really just want to give you a good experience of air travel at a
low cost and this comes across in their digital communication as well on social
media so back in 2016 they had a massive tech failure and it delayed hundreds of
flights and it disrupted thousands upon thousands of people from getting to
where they wanted to go but Southwest was proactive in their approach they
went onto social media and they engage people on the front lines people who
were pretty upset about the experience and about what had happened they were
apologizing on their social channels they were engaging people one on one so
they really showed the human aspect of the brand through their digital
communication so it just goes to show that this is throughout the brand it's
not just one separate department it's not just a one-off experience with a
nice face-to-face employee it's right through at the brand experience and all
of this human interaction and human engagement it's all very very
intentional and strategic and this comes from the very very top because Kelleher
encouraged his staff from the early days to be informal to have fun with
customers and to really show their human side and this now has become part of the
brand communication and part of who the brand is and it really does come out at
every single touch point so really this is something that comes from the top it
comes from the early day it's in the fabric of the brand and that's why it's
become such a cult status and has earned such a cult status and even their New
York Stock Exchange ticker code is LUV so that love is being shown right from
the very first touch point right from the New York Stock Exchange ticker code
and everybody who joins the brand is encouraged to be human and
to show that human side so that is a really really important factor in the
success of the Southwest brand in the fact that they're all human now there's
no getting away from the fact that Southwest is an airline and most
airlines have massive budgets and most small business owners can compete with
that but their budget is not what has made Southwest their budget is not what
their customers talked about it's not what their customers really benefit from
in terms of the experience yes they've been very smart in their positioning in
terms of trimming those costs streamlining those costs to allow them
to be able to offer those low-cost airline fares but it's really the
emotion the connections that they've built with their audience the
interactions the communication and that love that's being shown right throughout
the brand and the human connections that they're building with their audience
that has really really made Southwest the success story that it is so when you
think about your own brand and the brand that you're building yes you might not
have millions of dollars but there are simple things that you can do there are
simple things that you can look towards and look at the success of other brands
that you can bring into your own that doesn't require any budget it doesn't
require any spend and it's just simply attention to detail the small details
and really making sure that the experience of your customers is
something that they're going to want to come back for but I'd love to hear from
you I'd love to hear your experiences of brands that have made an impact on you
and brands who have given you an experience that you would want to go
back for time and again let me know in the comments below if you've got any
questions at all if you've got any suggestions for me for brand case
studies that I can do for you then let me know in the comments below I'll do my
best to answer all of those and if I can do a case study for you I will if you
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below I'd love to hear from you until next time brand like a master and I will
see you in the next video!