British Airways fails to soar with new strapline

To Fly. To Serve.

Now, whilst BA was once a national treasure, part of the furniture and the very fabric of what made us proud to be British, recent years have seen the brand take huge hits, not just in profits, but in brand equity. Numerous strikes, ridiculed comments from high up (no pun, sorry) and the ongoing battles between cabin crew, ground staff and flying staff have had the knock-on effect not just of delaying millions of passengers, but also putting on hold our romance with BA.

So personally speaking, it’s going to take a lot more than a fancy new strapline to rebuild that trust, that love, that brand perception and hence, the brand reality.

But that’s not my main thrust of this post. According to an online article today over at Marketing Week, Nigel Bogle, BBH Chairman and co-founder stated that the new strapline was, ‘“something that a copywriter wouldn’t have thought of, because it comes directly from the brand’s core values.”

Excuse me, but I’m not sure what kind of copy monkeys the esteemed marketing man has been working with lately, but isn’t getting to the very core of a brand’s values one of the key aspects of a writer’s job.

I’d say it’s mandatory.

Mr. Bogle elaborates, “British Airways had to come up with a strong concept that was able to speak to both consumers and staff at an emotional level. There’s a desire from both consumers and staff for the brand to succeed, which is very rare for a company of British Airways’ size.”

If I can just break those two sentences down:

The first accounts for what is known in the trade as a hygiene factor; in other words, of course they needed to come up with a strong concept – whether they’ve had years of banging each others’ heads and the self-destruct button or not. A strong concept is what you expect.

It’s what BA, as a client should bloody-well demand, given the fees they’re probably paying to their capital agency.

Also, it ‘needs to speak to staff and consumers at an emotional level’; again that rather vulgar ‘hygiene factor’ phrase springs to mind. I’d be tempted to utter, ‘You don’t say…’ but I wouldn’t be so rude.

And if you want to really talk hygiene factor, take a look back at the strapline. There’s at least two words out of the four in total that are wasted on me.

That’s 50% of the strapline that doesn’t really do anything.

It’s British Airways. Do we really need to mention the ‘flying’ thing?

As for the second part of that elaboration, about a ’strong desire from both consumers and staff for the brand to succeed’ together with the qualification, ‘which is quite rare for a company of British Airways’ size’.

Quite rare indeed… and not strictly true.

Many customers are still disillusioned with BA, upset even. Trashing folks’ holiday plans and disrupting business continuum tends to rile people. Badly.

And I know one or two people at BA, who are so disenchanted with their employer that they could no longer give two hoots whether the company succeeds or fails. Okay, that’s not a massive poll of employees, but it’s just as sweeping as the statement from Mr. Bogle.

Can agencies shape the future of brands?

The article then goes on to question the value of the role that agencies can take within branding exercises:

“Can an agency help to shape strategy earlier on in the branding journey – or will agencies always be broadly consigned to simple branding techniques like finding the ’perfect strapline?’

I would always answer a big fat ‘YES’ to getting involved earlier. And yes, they can help shape the strategy and hence the future of the brand. But the brand has to be happy to trust those people assigned to do the job. And of course, as Mr. Bogle alludes to, the staff has to be with them all the way too.

And what of the strapline itself – which of course, we all know, certainly does not maketh a brand new brand?

Well if this particular strapline could never have been created by a copywriter, I think BA need to ask for 50% of their fee back for the half of the line that’s wasted, and go out there and hire themselves one.

A copywriter who will get to the heart of the brand’s values and will address its real issues.