Who is New Zealand’s best marketer?

It’s simple really – Air New Zealand. Hands down, no questions asked, the rest of us may as well give up and go home.

Ok, so that’s maybe being a touch harsh to the rest of us who toil away in pursuit of marketing nirvana. But I firmly believe Air New Zealand’s marketing is streets ahead of any other large corporate in New Zealand. Why? For a whole bunch of reasons.

* Tapping into the market need – This time round (as opposed to the last time they faced stiff domestic competition), Air New Zealand has stepped-back and calculated exactly what their market wants from an airline. The resulting “Nothing to hide” campaign is nothing short of genius. “Sure,” you can almost hear them say, “we may sometimes be more expensive than our budget rivals, but with us you know exactly what you’re getting in for.” With over four million views on YouTube, there is no arguing against the success of this campaign. Backing it up with the classic SaverJet clip (below), and extending the concept to in-flight safety videos perfectly rounds-out the campaign.

* Keep it simple – Air New Zealand was quick to adapt to the budget airline method of pricing tickets based on one-way sectors (instead of the traditional method of penalising one-way fares). Then the changes to the Airpoints programme, removing the complex points approach in favour of the completely transparent Airpoints Dollars, made the programme so much more user friendly. The ‘any seat on any flight’ concept was simple to understand from day one.

* Constantly reassess and adapt – Remember the ill-fated selling of Wishbone food on domestic flights? It obviously wasn’t successful, but Air New Zealand was smart enough to realise this and moved quickly to get rid of it. Sure, the resulting vege crisps is hardly inspiring fare, but with most domestic jet services being only an hour or so in duration, who needs more than a light snack and a cup of coffee. Oh and speaking of coffee, fresh plunger is a nice touch.

* Always innovate – Is there a New Zealander even remotely interested in travel who hasn’t used or heard of Grabaseat? I don’t need to elaborate on the huge success of this initiative. But what I will comment on is the excellent way in which the site was marketed – in that it wasn’t. At least, not in any way most of us would think of. What Air New Zealand did was launched it to staff and let it grow virally from there. This gave the site instant credibility. People used it because friends told them about it, and the value was clear to see – not because of some fancy ad on TV.

More recently, the airline’s foray into social media through Twitter with @flyairnz showed a real maturity to first understand the medium, and then come up with new and innovative ways to capitalise on it. This has resulted in the Airpoints Fairy, a Twitter account where, once a day, the Airpoints Fairy will grant customers’ wishes. It could be some extra status points to get to the next level, or a few Airpoints Dollars to have enough for the next trip away. While overall follower numbers aren’t staggering when compared to the huge YouTube audience for Nothing to Hide, Air New Zealand’s approach has been spot-on.

Then there have been the tactical initiatives, such as the recent matchmaking flight from the US, the MTV Mile High Party and the Pink Flight (to name a few) – all signs of a company keen to take a few risks and try new things.

But, while all these initiatives add up to a very successful marketing package, the number one reason why Air New Zealand is my pick for the best marketing in New Zealand actually has nothing much to do with any of them.  For me, Air New Zealand’s success can be attributed to the company’s ability to successfully deliver on proposition through the front-line (i.e. in the air).  I challenge anyone to disagree with my assertion that Air New Zealand’s in-flight service is consistently head and shoulders better than it was five years ago.  For me, this is the key.  A company can have the best marketing any of us have ever seen, but if the front-line service lets down the brand, the marketing budget has been wasted.

This is the challenge for all of us. Successful marketing isn’t just about coming up with great ideas to harness new technology, or creating an inciteful TVC that cuts through the clutter.  Instead it is about aligning all the drivers of brand experience to deliver a level of service that can be counted on and doesn’t fail at the final, and most important hurdle.  Those of us working in organisations where measures of customer service and satisfaction aren’t up to scratch must take heed.

Well done Air New Zealand.