Kulula Air shows how to brand your comms mix

I came across Kulula Air recently on The Brandgym blog. Kulula are based in Johannesburg and are the leading low cost airline brand in South Africa.

This is the first time I have come across an airline using their planes and staff as communications channels. The personality of their brand is quirky and entertaining, and as you can see from the photo, they use their planes to get this across.

When it comes to staff, the crew on board each flight do the same, especially when it comes to announcements.

From the flights I have been on, lot's of people don't listen to these. So people might be a little surprised when they're looking for a seat, which is unassigned, to hear, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here. Find a seat and get in it".

Or how about, "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only four ways out of this plane".

So what are the benefits of this?

Word of mouth is one. Since I came across Kulula, I have told lots of people about them and reactions range from, "I'd love to fly with them" to "Wouldn't it be great if Ryanair did something like that".

That raises the question, "Would this benefit the business?"

I did a little test and asked ten people two questions.

1. If the cost of flying with Kulula was the same as flying with another South African airline, who would you fly with?

Ten said they would fly Kulula every time.

2. If the cost of flying with Kulula was €20 different than flying with another South African airline, who would you fly with?

Nine said they would fly Kulula.

So if doing something like this would make a small difference to business performance, it makes sense to do it.

Another advantage of this approach is free advertising in terms of using your planes and staff as communications channels. The best people to talk about a brand's products and services are staff, so again it makes sense to use them.