Interview: Marketer Terence So on how to turn staff into brand elements in a campaign

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE is proud to present Content 360 – Hong Kong: Content that captivates, a conference about content marketing, content trends and storytelling in a year amidst the return of live events, cookie deprecation, the integration of AI in marketing, new devices, global sporting events and weekend shopping trips to mainland China.

Taking place on 26 June at Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel, our 28 speakers will share with us their insights and experiences on content strategy for topics such as integration of content with commerce, cross-border marketing, and the use of AI in content creation.

Joining us on the panel on how to empower staff as key opinion sales officers in the post-pandemic era is Terence So (pictured), head of marketing (Hong Kong and Macao), AirAsia. With an emphasis on “Teamwork makes perfect”, So is experienced in driving business growth and brand building for global brands across the travel, hospitality, FMCG, and technology sectors.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, So emphasised the importance of incorporating brand elements when strategising for every marketing campaign.

While AirAsia's cabin crew is one of the most iconic elements of the airline, they are consistently featured in its advertising and content. So said talented cabin crew members actively participate in various on-ground activities for AirAsia, including dancing flash mobs, DJ performances, and even serving as emcees for events of the airline.

So also believed that featuring employees annually in marketing campaigns will become more common. He emphasised that incorporating the keyword "Fun" into the brand DNA and corporate culture creates positive and memorable experiences that employees are eager to engage with and amplify.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How does AirAsia's marketing department work with cabin crew (many of whom are KOLs with large fan followings of their own) to promote branding messages? Can you share some examples?

We pride ourselves on being the “people’s airline”. Having that said, our promotional assets are not only our flights, aircraft, and services, but most importantly, our Allstar employees, especially our uniformed staff.

The AirAsia brand DNA is all about being fun, energetic, and bold. Hence, our Allstar "Fun team" consisting of several multi-talented cabin crews was formed with the mission to promote the brand by taking into consideration what our guests would relate to. Our guests appreciate and are excited to interact with our fun and friendly cabin crew. Considering this, we tend to lead our campaigns with our crew.

When planning every marketing campaign, brand elements are crucial to inject.

One of the most iconic is our cabin crew. For that reason, we must chip in our cabin crew as a brand element in the creative to demonstrate our image. You will easily be able to find them in the advertising and content. 

Additionally, we will try to explore the on-ground activity and invite our “Fun team” to join and perform for customers. Our talented fun team members may perform dancing in flash mobs, and pose as promoters in on-ground activities to interact with consumers. Furthermore, we even have cabin crew who used to be DJs who could help to act as Emcees for our event.

When it comes to driving the AirAsia brand messaging, most Allstars are very much living and breathing representations of the brand.

Having said that, we of course, make sure that they are well briefed on the key messages that each campaign intends to deliver so that they may also help to amplify it on their own channels.

Moreover, it can mutually benefit AirAsia's official social media channels as well as the staff's own social media channels as well.

For example, in November last year, we launched a ticket giveaway event and a video campaign that aligned with our new creative theme in Hong Kong and Macao, "Small Win, Big Happiness”(喜細飛). As part of the campaign, we featured energetic performances by AirAsia's flight attendants, as well as traditional Thai dance performances to showcase the vibrant culture and travel excitement in Southeast Asia.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How do you incentivise these staff to share content and promote AirAsia on their social channels? 

To be honest, we do not have any specific incentives to encourage staff to do postings on their own social media channels. However, as a global airline, there are always certain happenings in different markets at all times of the year. 

Hence, we always welcome all Allstars to share the content and promote our brand. Besides, when crew participate in off-line events, it also counts as their working hour. As our Allstar have a high sense of recognition towards our brand and their role, more than often they are willing to share fun working content on their own social channels. It reflects our values and also their personality. 

We also believe in having good staff engagement and encouraging a healthy corporate culture.

Staff are more willing to share and promote the brand organically when they feel comfortable and enjoy their working environment. Most of the social media content that staff share on their own platforms comes from their own efforts.

We believe staff engagement and corporate culture are crucial parts of that. If staff enjoy the open mind, fun culture, energetic working environment, and valuable opportunities, especially interests and hobbies, they are willing to share and promote it organically. 

For example, we always engage them to give a performance to the public while they are enjoying it very much. The social content that staff share on their own platforms comes from their heart. And eventually turning it into a WOM (word-of-mouth) for spreading messages.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Do you think featuring employees annually as part of marketing campaigns will become more common? Why do some brands excel while others don’t?

Featuring employees is becoming more common nowadays, we could easily name a few brands in different industries by using similar tactics. Here are my thoughts on why.

Firstly, employees truly understand the corporate and brand value and it is injected into their DNA. It will be easy to spread and deliver the messages significantly without putting lots of effort into driving them.

In addition to what is mentioned above, employees are the most valuable assets an organisation has. It's their abilities, knowledge, and experience that can't be replaced.

Meanwhile, authenticity is getting more important. We are in the era of influencing marketing. Most brands are engaging certain influencers (macro and micro) for marketing purposes while their community does create the power for driving purchases and trials.

Customers prefer to trust the most authentic sharing from a people rather than simply advertising.

Incentives are also one of the key factors to drive employees' willingness. However, compared with celebrities, the ambassador cost is far far away. Also, when choosing to invest in our employees, it is not only for the short term but also for the long term. Then why not?

When you ask “Why do some brands excel while others don’t”, the following came to my mind straightly.

“Fun” is the key element to engaging with people as it could easily create positive and memorable things that employees are willing to engage and amplify. If it is not fun at all, it could turn out to become one of the tasks or works.

Moreover, the service industry is particularly suitable for featuring employees as integral components of marketing campaigns. The core of the service industry is “human touch”. In daily business routines, the service industry still relies on humans to serve customers in this digital era. We observed that some brands are starting to use technology to smoothen and minimize the hassles when serving clients. 

However, humans are still important in some crucial parts of the business routines. In addition, human touch could truly build a relationship and emotional connection with each other.

Join us this coming 26 June for Content360 Hong Kong, a one-day-two-streams extravaganza under the theme of "Content that captivates". Get together with our fellow marketers to learn about AI in content creation, integration of content with commerce and cross-border targeting, and find the recipe for success within the content marketing world!

Related articles:

Interview: Marketer Rudd Liu on how to localise content for HK and China audiences
Interview: Chubby Hearts HK’s curator Sam Lam on how to bring content to life through events
Interview: Marketer Charlotte Ho on why event marketing matters for branding