Written by Michael Leander

I was so positively surprised today that I just had to share this story with you. It does relate to marketing. In fact it relates to marketing in a big way.

Having worked around the clock for weeks, trying to catch up with a few too many overdue tasks and prepare quite a few workshops, speeches and training sessions, I decided to test my multi-tasking capabilities. I sent a few emails to potential speakers for a conference - while simultaneously thinking about a presentation I have to do next week.  (I actually managed to do both things at the same time  I think my wife will be proud of me.)

I was especially interested in attracting one particular persons email address. Namely that of the hugely successsful Air Asia founder, co-owner, CEO and multi millionaire Tony Hernandes (It is Tony on the picture to the). Surprisingly, getting a hold of Tony’s email address turned out to be a matter of typing a few characters in a search-engine.

10 years ago i wouldn’t have dared writing someone as successful as Tony.
But today I did - thinking “he’s got his email address out there,probably monitored by an army of PA’s - with a bit of luck a PA will address the matter with Mr. Hernandes and get back to me and that’s perfectly ok“. So I sent the email to him.

I did not expect a reply
BUT to my surprise Tony Hernandes personally answered my email less than 20 minutes after I sent it. On a Saturday for crying out load.

Now there’s the first lesson for other CEO’s or anyone else whom find herself in a power position in this day and age. Read on for more lessons.
I’ve known about Air Asia for some years having considered flying with them on a number of occasions  - but had never known the actual story of how the Air Asia success came about until a few months ago. The story is an impressive one indeed. And it is a very inspirational one.

The insanely impressive success of Air Asia
The Air Asia success is one that I bet any marketer can learn from, not to mention airline executives in Europeand elsewhere. If you follow some of the links below you can learn more a bit about  this (kind-of) from rags-to-riches tale.

After scanning a few articles, I got the impression that Air Asia have developed a unique personality, a remarkable culture and are managing staying true to who they are.  In other words; their secret (which obviously is no longer a secret) is an extremely strong brand DNA with a minimum of dysfunctional cells.

And hey - that is difficult. Delivering or even overdelivering consistently at The Moment of Truth is what we are all struggling to achieve, isn’t it?

But Air Asia seemingly demonstrate an outstanding execution - and in areas where so many others have failed before them. For instance, did you know that AIr Asia are on time with 83% of their flights? That’s quite an accomplishment in the industry.

Now - and please do keep in mind that I am no branding expert -  I have convinced myself that I do understand how difficult it is to deliver a consistent (great) brand experience across multiple customer touchpoints. And it seems that Air Asia are doing just that - piloted by Tony Hernandes.

So how did Tony build this success? And what does that have to do with a fast paced email correspondance between Tony Hernandes and Michael Leander?

Air Asia is build on an open, friendly company culture. An internal culture where anything apparently is possible (check their “so you want to become a Pilot program). So Tony is merely doing what so many other CEO’s still haven’t grasped; he is acting the way he would like his team to react. Answering an email promptly from a complete stranger is part of what Air Asia is all about. An open and connected company.
An airline brand - low cost or not - that understand that even small insignifant experiences can make a difference. A modern brand aware of the power of recommendation. A mark that understand that it takes 10, 15, 25 (can’t remember the number) good experiences to make up for one bad.

I am no journalist and hence will not attempt to write a long article, but merely point you to other articles written by Tony Hernandes. Click the pictures to read more. I am sure you will be inspired.

Once you are done clicking - think about how your company is doing today and how you would like your organisation to prosper in the future.
Can you apply some of the principles Tony has applied at Air Asia?
Do you think it will make a difference whether or not your CEO, your head-honcho shows people - no matter how important they are - the courtesy of replying to their letters? Do you think you can apply the same faith in people - regardless of background, current training and competencies - that Air Asia have in their people allowing the company to build, grow, improve based largely on the motivation of their employees?

<– Hiring without prejudice, click the picture and don’t get confused

<– Work directly under me, using “new media” to recruit people with a direct mail to Tony Hernandes

< — Showing emotions in public, the dream is coming true (a Panangite is a person from Penang)

<– Anybody - yes anybody - can become a pilot

<– Wrong shirt? Nope, Tony staying true to himself

BUT WAIT - THERE’S MORE

Air Asia on innovation and creatitiy: http://www.tonyfernandesblog.com/main.php/2009/01/30/innovation

and this one you do not want to miss;

Is Singapore better than us and why?

Is Tony on Twitter, you ask?
Of course he is, and he is on Facebook too. But I am quite satisfied that I can send him an email and expect a reply. I expect he would reply to serious direct twitter messages as well.

Is Air Asia handling their direct and interactive marketing communication better than other airlines?
I don’t know, but I care. So I am going to find out. I wouldn’t be surprised if Air Asia will prove that they are able to deliver relevant, personalized messages in a timely fashion. Or at least be much better at their email marketing communication than the competition (which by the way is appaling at best). I’ll update you on that once I’ve done my research.

Tony , I’ll shoot the “Thanks my man” right back at you: Thanks for the inspiration.

And finally, if you haven’t been to Malaysia - where Air Asia has it’s headquarter - now is a good time to go. In fact, why not check Air Asia’s flights from London to KL. The address is www.airasia.com