News Roundup: Agoda’s new multi-market brand campaign launched, AirAsia’s first fast food restaurant serving inflight meals, China’s airlines and airports growing investments in AI and automation, Perth Airport’s tech boost from Amadeus
Marketing: Agoda ‘s new brand campaign promises ‘Less Hassle, More Travel’
Singapore based travel platform Agoda has launched its first multi-market TVC (television commercial), out-of-home (OOH), digital and cross-channel advertising campaign leveraging Agojis, its brand characters.
The campaign, built on the brand platform kicks off in four markets – Australia (watch video), South Korea (watch video), Saudi Arabia (watch video) and Vietnam, with the first phase running until March 2020.
With its focus on hassle-free cancellation, best prices, and Agoda Homes properties the campaign “reflects Agoda’s goal of providing the easiest booking journey possible to enable its customers to travel more,” said the company in a statement.
The TV commercials, with accompanying OOH executions and digital assets, were created for each market’s launch, telling a cohesive story across all touchpoints. They are seen in key locations including Seoul’s K-Pop Square, in-mall and outdoor LED screens in Riyadh and Jeddah and Sydney airport that, according to Agoda, has “the largest digital billboard on airport land anywhere in the world”.
The digital campaign, comprising statics, video, and carousels, are posted on Agoda’s own social media platforms. The cross-channel campaign also consists of display ads, in-app and email, as well as Spotify in Saudi Arabia.
Developed by BMF Australia with support from Digitas Singapore, this campaign is Agoda’s first following its September brand revamp across its website, app and social media that featured a new logo and also introduced the Agojis.
“The Agojis are the stars of our campaign. We’ve taken a very different creative approach to promote the Agoda travel platform, focusing on the relatable quality of the Agojis and the funny travel situations they encounter, to help our brand stand out in this crowded accommodation and flight space,” said Michael Kost, Agoda’s global director of brand.
He added that consumers could experience the campaign via their TV, social media, Agoda’s website and post-booking communications.
F&B: Now you can enjoy AirAsia’s inflight meals on the ground
As part of its journey to be a lifestyle brand and expands beyond selling flights, hotels and activities, AirAsia has opened its first ASEAN fast food restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that offers its inflight meals at “affordable prices.”
Santan Restaurant and T&CO Café, which started operations on 2 December at the Mid Valley Megamall, is designed to enhance customers’ dining experience through a “personalised digital journey”. It features a smart menu equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning that is able to recommend popular dishes based on time, past ordering patterns as well as demographic taste.
Among the offerings are some of the most popular inflight items such as Malaysia’s Pak Nasser’s nasi lemak and Uncle Chin’s chicken rice, Cambodia’s pineapple fish noodle, Philippines’ chicken inasal with garlic rice, in addition to Asean-sourced coffee and tea, snacks and desserts..
Catherine Goh, Santan Restaurant and T&CO Café’s general manager, described the opening of the flagship restaurant as “the beginning of something great for the Santan and T&CO brands”. The ambitious plan is to open five owned Santan restaurants by 2020, and 100 franchisee-operated restaurants and cafes within the next three to five years with expansions in global markets.
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes added that his “dream” is to open a Santan restaurant in US Times Square, and revealed that a franchise would soon open in China among others in South-east Asia
On why the airline landed the inflight meals to a physical outlet, Goh explained: “We have seen a significant appetite for our in-flight menu offerings beyond our flights across the region and this is our answer to that demand. We are very proud to extend what started out as an in-flight menu into new markets and reiterate our support for local and ASEAN producers, suppliers, apart from creating new job opportunities with affordable franchising.”
AirAsia said what gives the restaurant/café its competitive edge is the pricing, personalistion and convenience. For example, customers can order ahead online at santan.com.my or the T&CO mobile app before collecting the food at the outlet. The app is available for download on Apple Store and Google Play.
Aviation: China’s airlines, airports embrace AI and automation to offer personalised experience
Airlines and airports in China are investing in artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, biometrics and blockchain to expand mobile services and automate the passenger journey with personalised self-service.
SITA 2019 China IT Insights revealed AI is the key technology that is attracting investment, with 88% of both airlines and airports planning major programmes or R&D focusing on virtual agents and chatbots by 2022.
This investment matches the demands from passengers as SITA’s research of passengers in China shows that 64% of them want a digital travel concierge.
“About half (43%) of airlines in the country already have AI-driven chatbot customer services, and the planned investment sould should see the availability of them rising quickly over the coming years,” said SITA.
According to the report, self-service in airlines and airports has also reached a high level of maturity and the adoption of biometrics will bring a “step-change”. Currently 27% of airports have self-boarding gates using biometrics with travel documents, and it predicts this will jump to 66% in three years. More than half of the airports have plans for secure single biometric tokens for all touch points by 2022.
Airlines are also committing to self-boarding gates using biometrics with ID and 60% plan to use them within the next three years to provide a secure and seamless passenger experience through the airport.
To meet China passengers’ demand for mobile services all airlines and 93% of airports are planning investments in this technology by 2022.
Airlines are currently providing mobile services that include flight discovery, airline offers, check-in and flight status notifications. One fifth are also using mobiles to sell newspapers, magazines and movies/TV to passengers.
Airports too are not far behind with mobile services as 81% are offering notifications about flight and airport status. They are also facilitating mobile payments with about three quarters enabling passengers to buy airport services and allow cashless payments via mobile.
The report highlights that blockchain technology is another key area of investment for airlines. Today only 24% have major programmes or R&D, planned, but this is set to jump to 80% by 2022. This is in line with the recent trends and commitments to blockchain technology in the country.
“China’s airlines and airports have a strong record in embracing technology and automation to drive efficient operations and high levels of passenger services. Now they are moving to the next level where they will harness artificial intelligence to deliver more services, faster and to more people, said May Zhou, vice president and general manager of SITA China,
Technology: Perth Airport upgrades passenger services in partnership with Amadeus
Perth Airport in Australia has chosen a fully integrated suite of solutions from Amadeus and ICM Airport Technics to upgrade its passenger handling systems.
Sydney-based ICM, which was acquired by Amadeus in March, provides passenger automation software and self-service bag drop tools for airports and airlines in Asia Pacific and Europe.
The airport will deploy ICM’s Hybrid Auto Bag Drop units and check-in kiosks along with ICM’s common use self-service platform, which allow passengers to check in and drop their bags independently. The units can also be switched to full-service mode and staffed for conventional check-in.
“This provides both airlines and travellers at Perth with the flexibility they need to ensure a smooth journey for everyone, whether they are frequent fliers or occasional holiday-makers,” said Amadeus when announcing the new deal.
Amadeus Passenger Verification will also be installed enabling validation of a passenger’s permissions to go airside using their boarding pass, making this step of the passenger journey quicker and easier.
With this agreement Perth will build on its use of Amadeus’ cloud-based passenger handling platform that has been in operation since 2015. It will also prepare Perth for the future, as travellers are set to become some of the first in the world to use their biometric identifiers at touchpoints including check-in and boarding as part of a planned trial.
“The passenger experience is paramount and with new automated technologies we can serve more passengers to a higher standard, supporting the growth of our airport,” said Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown. “The expansion of cloud-enabled technology at Perth Airport will significantly improve the passenger handling process. Our airline partners can also expect continuous improvements from the integrated technology.”
• Featured image credit (Agoda’s Agojis): Agoda
