Abigail Holt13131464

Molly Mclaughlin13131327Miles Newlove

12081561Shaun Parsons

13124882

• British Airways was formed in 1974

• It is one of the worlds leading premium international airlines

• They employ 36,758 people• Operate as a full service airline• Their target market are aged 45-

54• BA aims to portray a luxury

image

BRIEF BACKGROUND

• Olympic Sponsorship deal worth £40m• The campaign was to encourage Britons

to stay at home during the Olympics• Included travel bursaries, aspiring

athlete schemes and a volunteer scheme• The campaign running alongside the

Olympics helped to improve the publics perception of British Airways

HOME ADVANTAGE

• TV adverts, Facebook and Twitter were used to promote the campaign [Video]

• British Airways gave away 240 flights and an Olympic Games ticket focusing on former host cities

• BA wanted to back Team GB and said the objective behind the campaign was to give the athletes a ‘Home Advantage’.

HOME ADVANTAGE TACTICS

• ‘Corporate communication is an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonised as effectively and efficiently as possible, so as to create a favourable basis for relationships with groups, upon which the organisation is dependent.’ (Tench and Yeomans 2009:238)

• British Airways uses different methods to retain it’s corporate image of being a typically British company, these include behaviours, communication and symbolism.

CORPORATE IDENTITY

• Van Riel defines the term ‘corporate communication’ as “corporate communication is an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonized effectively and efficiently as possible, so as to create a favourable basis for relationships with groups upon which the organization is dependent” (Van Riel 1995:26)

VAN RIEL’S CORPORATE MIX

• British Airways uses communication to help establish its corporate identity.

• Advertising is used to promote campaigns and new ideas - this is done through the TV, on billboards and on the web

• Home Advantage used a wide range of outlets to promote the cause - TV adverts, Facebook campaign, Google Street View and through Twitter.

COMMUNICATION

• BA aims to encourage certain behaviours among staff to establish its corporate identity

• Their air hostesses emit a feeling of glamour and professionalism

• Image has been key to British Airways from the beginning - when being an air hostess was the first career choice for many women.

BEHAVIOUR

• British Airways has 5 brand behaviours designed to shape who they are

• These values are fundamental in how British Airways try and stay above their competitors through customer service and experience

TO FIND SOLUTIONS

TO DO THINGS PROPERLY

TO KEEP PROMISES

TO LOOK THE PART

TO TREAT EVERYONE AS INDIVIDUALS

BEHAVIOUR

• British Airways uses visual devices which allows customers to associate themselves with the company

• The logo is representative of the Union flag

• The uniform is seen as ‘clean cut’

SYMBOLISM

• The Home Advantage campaign was extremely successful - Virgin Atlantic even reported a loss of £93m

• It is difficult to determine the role British Airways had on the amount of people staying in the UK

• It did support their message of ‘Don’t Fly’

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

• It is odd that a major airline would encourage people not to fly with them - as it would appear there was no financial gain for British Airways to run the Home Advantage campaign

• Emphasis was on the importance of British athletes having a ‘home advantage’ whilst participating in the 2012 Olympics

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

• British Airways has on numerous accounts, not always stuck to their 5 core values.

• Nadia Eweida - forced to conceal her cross necklace. This did comply with their ‘look the part’ value, but conflicted with ‘treating everyone as an individual’

• They responded relatively well - and announced in future religious symbols could be worn openly.

• Damages were awarded to Eweida as ruled by the EU court of Human Rights

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

• To ‘do things properly’ was also a brand behaviour BA haven’t always followed

• 2012 saw 2 British Airways pilots caught on film heavily drinking moments before flying

• Potentially damaging to BA’s corporate image if their customers are aware pilots have been drunk with peoples lives in their hands

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

• British Airways to most would be assumed that it is a successful, high end airline provider

• Customer testimonials have disputed this

• In 2013, one passenger felt so let down by British Airways that he paid to promote a tweet

• This reached millions of people online

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

• It is extremely difficult to properly evaluate their identity due to negatives always being more prominent than positives

• This being said doesn’t mean that British Airways are not the upmarket, luxury airline it strives to portray

CONCLUSION/CRITIQUE

THANK YOU