Delivering Your Brand

I had the opportunity to fly British Airways the fall of 2005 – all my friends and family have heard the story about the customer service representative who upgraded us to business class without telling me or my girlfriend. We were coming back from London on a girl’s only trip and had just had a blast in Paris, Zurich and London.

On entering the aircraft and looking for seats all the way in the back we noticed our seats didn’t seem to exist, until some kind stranger said – “those seats are to the front of the plain” note the British accent. After we got over the initial shock that we were seated in business class we quickly settled into our new seats. It was nothing like I had ever experienced – the seats could double as a bed and came with dividers so you could tune out other passengers when you were ready to get some ZZZs. The fight crew were amazing and just plain attentive. They kept giving us warm rags for our hands before and after every meal, and a menu that had five course meals like any five star restaurant, newspapers available in at least five different languages, and as many drinks as we could manage. What a life – I thought! We enjoyed the service so much we were surprised and disappointed when the pilot announced we were landing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. We could have flown another seven hours.

I have told this story so many times that I was now an evangelist for British Airways and I know I have influenced my friends to fly them. In order to beat the competition and do more than just survive, brands must deliver more than expected, they must make the brand experience so memorable that people do exactly what I did – keep talking about it – hasn’t it been now almost four years!

Brands through digital communications can turn word of mouth brand evangelism into a major viral campaign. To be successful your brand has to be extraordinary – it must satisfy customers’ needs and expectations. Brands that fail – actually fail to deliver on their promise to their customers. In the digital world this type of delivery can really be fatal. It does not take much time to get angry customers riled up online. Start the process and see what your customers are saying about you and use this knowledge to improve your brand experience.