How Air Selangor’s brand revitalisation is crucial to delivering ‘Joy in Every Drop’?

This post is sponsored by Air Selangor.

In 2020, Air Selangor encountered a series of significant water disruptions that a news article dubbed: "The year of Klang Valley water cuts." These incidents had a serious impact on the company’s brand reputation, resulting in a net promoter score of -23, customer satisfaction score of only 63.6%, and a mere 2.4% positive social media sentiment.

At that time, Air Selangor was still a newly merged entity, consolidating five separate water operators into one, and the company’s reputation had not yet been fully solidified. To restore trust and credibility, we planted the idea of our revitalisation efforts by effectively incorporating crisis communication within our reputation management strategy.

Core of brand revitalisation: crisis management

The team behind Air Selangor's crisis communication management ensures timely and accurate information dissemination to its 9.62 million consumers.

As the largest water service provider in Malaysia that serves 9.62 million consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya, we understand that in times of a crisis, especially water disruption, how we respond can significantly impact public and stakeholder perception.

As such, we have developed a robust crisis communication framework, especially during emergencies, designed to provide transparent, accurate, and timely information to our stakeholders, as well as neutralise negative sentiments that can arise from misinformation. This is done with a punctuated focus through all channels in the effort to build a long-term reputation.

Regular monitoring of social media sentiments is an integral part of this framework. By staying attuned to public discourse, we are able to proactively address concerns, correct misinformation, and mitigate potential reputational risks. This approach has been crucial in maintaining trust and ensuring that our brand remains resilient even in challenging times.

Once planted, nurturing a seed requires consistent care – water, sunlight, and attention – so that it grows strong and provides shade for future generations. Beyond crisis communication, the work we began at Air Selangor in 2021 was a deliberate effort to plant the seeds of change in our brand revitalisation journey.

Today, we are already seeing these efforts paying dividends as we witness the positive outcomes supporting our brand promise – “Joy in Every Drop” – which embodies our dedication to ensuring every interaction and experience with Air Selangor is positive and fulfilling for our consumers.

To gauge the effectiveness of our brand revitalisation efforts, we have identified several key indicators that are integral to tracking our reputation management. By closely monitoring these metrics, we are able to assess the impact of our strategies and make informed decisions to enhance our brand reputation.

A focus on the customer

One of the most encouraging indicators of our progress was the improvement in our customer satisfaction score (CSAT). In 2020, Air Selangor’s CSAT stood at 63.6% highlighting the need for significant improvement. Through focused efforts on customer engagement and service enhancement, we witnessed a remarkable increase to 72.1% in 2021, followed by 84.0% in 2022 – underscoring the success of our brand revitalisation initiatives.

Air Selangor equally focuses on the net promoter score (NPS) as another vital metric to track customer loyalty. In 2020, we faced an uphill battle with a score of -23; however, by 2021, our efforts began to bear fruit, as the NPS improved to +5, and further to +14 in 2022.

In the same vein, social media plays a critical role in shaping public perception. We have seen a consistent increase in positive social media sentiments, which rose from a mere 2.4% in 2020 to an impressive 15.3% in 2023. On the other hand, Air Selangor also gained a positive public sentiment increase from 3.1% in 2022 to 8.1% in 2023. These figures highlight the significant improvement in Air Selangor's brand revitalisation efforts.

Balancing act with our stakeholders

Proactively, Air Selangor works closely with various parties to ensure effective communication is strategically rolled out to reach our stakeholders:

1. Strengthening relationships with key stakeholders – such as members of parliament, state assemblymen, media, local authorities, and NGOs – has been central to our efforts.
2. Additionally, our partnerships with media houses, influencers, lifestyle brands, and payment partners have been instrumental in increasing positive sentiments.
3. Furthermore, streamlining our brand image and voice has been critical in increasing brand resonance by ensuring consistency in our visual communications and customer interaction channels.
4. On top of that, our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative – Sesama Mara – which is a grassroots strategy aimed at assisting the surrounding community, while strengthening Air Selangor’s relationships with various segments of society, has helped tremendously in neutralising negative sentiments.

Our grassroots CSR initiative supports the community and strengthens relationships, helping to neutralise negative sentiments.

Ultimately, on a reputational-building front, we track our success by measuring the level of trust that our stakeholders place in Air Selangor. In 2021, our corporate reputation index was at 78%, and 75% in 2022, reflecting a strong level of trust in our brand. Maintaining and enhancing this trust with key stakeholders is a priority as we continue to evolve.

Teeing it all up neatly, just as nurturing a seed requires consistent care and attention that leads to future growth, our brand revitalisation journey at Air Selangor has been rooted in the same principles of dedication and foresight. As we move forward, we are committed to continuing this growth, staying true to our vision and mission, and ensuring that Air Selangor remains a trusted name, delivering on our promise of “Joy in Every Drop” for the future.