New BA Director of Brand and Customer Experience
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,187
So WHAT is the role of "the new Director of Brand and Customer Experience at British Airways"?
Do we have a definition? My Googling came up with Troy Warfield's TOR [my bold] ...
The role will include responsibility for the brand but will also include a wider remit of customer experience and service proposition as well as overseeing more than 14,000 cabin crew and all customer insight, customer relations, product development and partnership activity, according to the announcement.
Read more at http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/articl...KsLIXBHrVrY.99
Read more at http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/articl...KsLIXBHrVrY.99
#34
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
meanwhile we can look at what she did and said when she worked for Iberia
and interview from 2013 translated by google
As for the low cost aspect of the new Iberia, Martolini says:
"Our new brand is the image of a global carrier , an airline with presence in many markets but at the same time transmitting those values associated with Spain: our affinity With Latin America; The talent inherent in the Spanish character that makes us so authentic and original; And the push that makes us always look forward, that vitality so ours ... ".
On this matter, she points out:
"Our goal is that Spaniards, when they enter an Iberia plane, no matter which airport in the world, feel they are at home; And that customers from other countries feel that, when they enter one of our planes, they set foot in our country. " Maybe there the company is right, because without wanting to stick the finger in the sore, the image that they are going to take is a bit shabby.
A third criticism of the new Iberia brand is the loss of Spanish. However, Carolina Martinoli disagrees: "With our new image, we reinforce the brand Spanish," he says. We have reaffirmed ourselves in the colors of the Spanish flag, especially in the red, because we understand that they are part of our identity: one of the values we must promote is precisely our Spanish character and the benefits associated with it - , Spanish art and character - and the colors of the flag help us to represent that Spanishness in a clear and unequivocal way. The crown will also remain present in our aircraft, in the fuselage, next to the flag and the license plate of the airplane.
and interview from 2013 translated by google
As for the low cost aspect of the new Iberia, Martolini says:
"Our new brand is the image of a global carrier , an airline with presence in many markets but at the same time transmitting those values associated with Spain: our affinity With Latin America; The talent inherent in the Spanish character that makes us so authentic and original; And the push that makes us always look forward, that vitality so ours ... ".
On this matter, she points out:
"Our goal is that Spaniards, when they enter an Iberia plane, no matter which airport in the world, feel they are at home; And that customers from other countries feel that, when they enter one of our planes, they set foot in our country. " Maybe there the company is right, because without wanting to stick the finger in the sore, the image that they are going to take is a bit shabby.
A third criticism of the new Iberia brand is the loss of Spanish. However, Carolina Martinoli disagrees: "With our new image, we reinforce the brand Spanish," he says. We have reaffirmed ourselves in the colors of the Spanish flag, especially in the red, because we understand that they are part of our identity: one of the values we must promote is precisely our Spanish character and the benefits associated with it - , Spanish art and character - and the colors of the flag help us to represent that Spanishness in a clear and unequivocal way. The crown will also remain present in our aircraft, in the fuselage, next to the flag and the license plate of the airplane.
1, The cabin red can be seen as either Chinese or Japanese, not exclusive to Spanish; I almost thought I stepped in a Hainan Airlines aircraft;
2, Cabin crew are very Spanish. Quickly push trolley down the aisle as not many people are interested in buying any food nor drink. Drinks in Spanish supermarket is extremely cheap; Have to say that Iberia Express crew is much better.
3, On the long haul, Cabin crew will bring several moveable foldable chairs with them. When there is no service scheduled, several cabin crew will sit together in the galley, either talk or read magazines. As casual as feel like at home!
If any result can be seen from customer service point of view. I suggest you to look at Madrid-Frankfurt, a supposedly high yield banker's route for Iberia. Its 3 daily A320/321 has been downgraded to 2 daily A320/318/319 and 1 daily CRJ1000 while Lufthansa has 4 daily with 3 A321 and 1 A320. I took this route over the years for many times. And the decline of Iberia in this market is very noticeable.
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,187
From the www >>> http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/articl...rience/1363699
‘customer experience and service proposition [what's that in English?]
as well as overseeing more than 14,000 cabin crew [that's going well]
and all customer insight [what? More pointless questionnaires?]
customer relations [whooo, a real success story - what are you going to do?]
product developmen [BoB? Or something better?]
... and partnership activity’ [Buying into Vueling, Qatar, EasyJet?]
Sorry, I'm no longer a 21st c. Corporate buzzword geek. I worked in Whitehall in the 80s/90s ... and I have no idea what these people are dribbling about. Does anyone use comprehensible English these days?
Can anyone here actually deconstruct that load of scribble? I won't ask my son, who does Executive Recruitment, as I doubt he could untangle that gibberish either. But that looks like a MASSIVE portfolio.
‘customer experience and service proposition [what's that in English?]
as well as overseeing more than 14,000 cabin crew [that's going well]
and all customer insight [what? More pointless questionnaires?]
customer relations [whooo, a real success story - what are you going to do?]
product developmen [BoB? Or something better?]
... and partnership activity’ [Buying into Vueling, Qatar, EasyJet?]
Sorry, I'm no longer a 21st c. Corporate buzzword geek. I worked in Whitehall in the 80s/90s ... and I have no idea what these people are dribbling about. Does anyone use comprehensible English these days?
Can anyone here actually deconstruct that load of scribble? I won't ask my son, who does Executive Recruitment, as I doubt he could untangle that gibberish either. But that looks like a MASSIVE portfolio.
#36
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Offshore Island
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 311
I don't care where people come from or their nationality as long as they can do the job. However, the cynic in me tends to think this will not be the case. Even if she really wants make significant improvements, hers will be a lone voice.
#37
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London
Programs: plenty - ggl, ccr, etc, etc.
Posts: 1,704
So far her new CEO has delivered brand destruction, IT failures, strikes and an ability to hide behind digital media when it all goes wrong.
Hard to see how any new appointment can be worse than Cruz but let's wait and see. As least staff morale can't fall any further - seems to be on the floor already.
#38
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,116
Some serious answers:
What the customer experiences and the service they receive, but also the type of service that is offered and what is not offered, the coherent set of things that BA will do or not do, and how that is offered to the customer. This includes the customer understanding what BA is offering.
"Overseeing" can cover several sort of things, I expect that here it means strategy for hiring and management, and how the product is delivered and the staff are organised.
This is not just surveys. It is market research, and knowing what sort of person customers are (culture, wealth, travelling habits, etc), who is buying the tickets and why, what matters to them and what does not matter to them (in particular what they will pay for and what they will not pay for, and what they will notice and what they will not notice).
The call centers, but also service via the website, other communications, dispute handling, etc.
The hard and soft product, both changes you notice and supply or delivery changes you don't notice.
Probably not investment in other airlines, or even codeshares, but things like co-branding, lounge promotions, who the amenity kits come from, prestige F&B (I'm sure there's some mutual back-scratching with Laurent-Perrier, for example), BA holidays, and so on. Investments in airlines is the IAG board responsibility, and codeshares are commercial operations not customer experience.
It does look like a lot. A lot of that would be almost entirely delegated, I think - so the job of the person with this role is to appoint the correct minion to run part of the work mostly on their own with a general strategy briefing for, say, customer insight research.
What the customer experiences and the service they receive, but also the type of service that is offered and what is not offered, the coherent set of things that BA will do or not do, and how that is offered to the customer. This includes the customer understanding what BA is offering.
"Overseeing" can cover several sort of things, I expect that here it means strategy for hiring and management, and how the product is delivered and the staff are organised.
This is not just surveys. It is market research, and knowing what sort of person customers are (culture, wealth, travelling habits, etc), who is buying the tickets and why, what matters to them and what does not matter to them (in particular what they will pay for and what they will not pay for, and what they will notice and what they will not notice).
The call centers, but also service via the website, other communications, dispute handling, etc.
The hard and soft product, both changes you notice and supply or delivery changes you don't notice.
Probably not investment in other airlines, or even codeshares, but things like co-branding, lounge promotions, who the amenity kits come from, prestige F&B (I'm sure there's some mutual back-scratching with Laurent-Perrier, for example), BA holidays, and so on. Investments in airlines is the IAG board responsibility, and codeshares are commercial operations not customer experience.
Can anyone here actually deconstruct that load of scribble? I won't ask my son, who does Executive Recruitment, as I doubt he could untangle that gibberish either. But that looks like a MASSIVE portfolio.
#39
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,267
#40
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
the proof will be in delivery. Won't be hard to better the utterly inept Smiskek-like Cruz (that's being unfair to Smiskek probably).
So far her new CEO has delivered brand destruction, IT failures, strikes and an ability to hide behind digital media when it all goes wrong.
Hard to see how any new appointment can be worse than Cruz but let's wait and see. As least staff morale can't fall any further - seems to be on the floor already.
So far her new CEO has delivered brand destruction, IT failures, strikes and an ability to hide behind digital media when it all goes wrong.
Hard to see how any new appointment can be worse than Cruz but let's wait and see. As least staff morale can't fall any further - seems to be on the floor already.
As suspicion of the forum goes that Alex Cruz is stubborn and possibly been ran by another hidden figure, I would like to believe the new director's biggest assets is to follow orders.
To be cynical about the whole things (without any proof but only speculation), the appointment could be all about 'diversity' and 'gender balance' in top management jobs. Whether she can do a good job to save BA from downward trends or not we should be patient to wait and see.
#42
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
You are wishing for the impossible.
First, the seat design and related matter is not under her control;
Second, the new new generation of CW seats is already revealed for A350 and B787-10, and there is no plan to progressively retrofit yet. So until 2020, you will be stuck with the current seats until the CW Mark III seats be available on A350 and B787-10 from 2019.
If you like other business class seats on other carrier better, I strongly suggest you to solely fly with that airline. You will have the current seats across BA fleet (B777 and B747 at least) well into 2025. BA might retrofit B787 as they are newer planes. But I do not see them to spend money to upgrade the B747 and B777-200ER seats. B747 will be gone relatively sooner, yet B777-200ER may be around until 2030 without retrofit of the CW Mark III seats.
First, the seat design and related matter is not under her control;
Second, the new new generation of CW seats is already revealed for A350 and B787-10, and there is no plan to progressively retrofit yet. So until 2020, you will be stuck with the current seats until the CW Mark III seats be available on A350 and B787-10 from 2019.
If you like other business class seats on other carrier better, I strongly suggest you to solely fly with that airline. You will have the current seats across BA fleet (B777 and B747 at least) well into 2025. BA might retrofit B787 as they are newer planes. But I do not see them to spend money to upgrade the B747 and B777-200ER seats. B747 will be gone relatively sooner, yet B777-200ER may be around until 2030 without retrofit of the CW Mark III seats.
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 10,709
https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/0...itish-airways/
Whilst I appreciate that some people will understandably feel this appointment isnt helpful or necessary.
As we all know relationships is the biggest part of business and life. Its obvious at present the dynamics need a little resetting and this can be helped by changing one or two people. Beneficially adding so much more to teams and the company in general. All we can do, is wish her luck, and hope she enjoys the majority of her time at BA.
Whilst I appreciate that some people will understandably feel this appointment isnt helpful or necessary.
As we all know relationships is the biggest part of business and life. Its obvious at present the dynamics need a little resetting and this can be helped by changing one or two people. Beneficially adding so much more to teams and the company in general. All we can do, is wish her luck, and hope she enjoys the majority of her time at BA.
#44
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Lemonia. Best Greek ever.
Posts: 2,285
Having done rather a lot of senior recruitment in big corporates, the old story about internal versus external appointments generally holds true.
If you are looking for change, you recruit a heavy hitter from outside the group. Preferably some one who is "independant" and can stand up for what they know is right.
If you are not looking for change, you look internally and find someone who fits, or nearly fits.
If you are looking for change, you recruit a heavy hitter from outside the group. Preferably some one who is "independant" and can stand up for what they know is right.
If you are not looking for change, you look internally and find someone who fits, or nearly fits.
#45
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL Platinum, AA Platinum, Hilton Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 69
BA has lost the plot, from branding, to service, to just about everything, so completely in the last 10 years that for this, I am sure, perfectly capable lady to have any meaningful impact on customer experience is akin to basing your pension plan on lottery tickets. Best of wishes to her. Please prove the doubters wrong.