“Welcome on board” was the confirmation that I had been successful with my application to join British Airways:
Establishing a new regional office for Sales, Marketing, and Distribution in Europe and outside its home market represented a bold step for the airline and the chance of a lifetime for me to give my career a very different twist by changing industries.
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These were the challenges
- Prepare the airline for the launch of the European single market in 1993
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- Increased competition on European routes to the UK
- Loss of intra-German traffic rights following reunification
- General consolidation of the industry
- Help rebound after negative impact of Gulf War I on air travel
The approach we took
- Established the team and our internal ways of working together
- Built the network with the European and London based colleagues as well as external agencies
- Consolidated all advertising into maximum use of a single master-brand campaign
- Designed, evaluated, launched & operated Europe’s 1st Frequent Flyer programme (Executive Club) to build a loyal customer base
- Participated in the development of BA’s branded Club Europe and EuroTraveller classes
- Developed and launched ‘The World’s Biggest Offer’ post-Gulf War I
- Resources: 5 staff and € 4 m central budget plus € 30 m locally held
The results we achieved
Pioneered European airline marketing:
- Turned around the airline’s negative image in Europe
- Built the first qualified database of regular flyers for an airline in Europe
- Introduced branding as a tool to add value to the customer experience in Europe
- Project managed a multi-national (16 language) campaign across Europe