SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the oneworld alliance, in line with its expansion of operations in order to consolidate its presence in the region, has steered a series of impactful marketing activations which has brought rewarding results.
With the year witnessing the airline winning many accolades at prominent airline award ceremonies, the national carrier has been ranked at number 7 in the top Sri Lankan brands, based on the Annual Brand Edition 2017 released by Brand Finance, a London-based independent agency reputed for its business valuation and strategy consultancy studies.
Since 2014, SriLankan Airlines brand has steadily climbed up 4 places from number 10 to 7, growing in brand value from Rs.11.75 billion to Rs. 20.85 billion. The rankings are announced each year based on the brand strength, calculated according to the outcomes of brand equity studies, released in the Brands Annual published by LMD
Commenting on the progress, SriLankan Airlines Chief Commercial Officer, Siva Ramachandran said, “SriLankan Airlines has taken many progressive steps to reach out to its valued customers and the rankings and awards that we have won during the last few months signify the fruition of our efforts and the impact of our presence in the country and the region.”
Earlier this year, SriLankan Airlines won a gold award for its destination video ‘Epic Journey of Sri Lanka on SriLankan Airlines’ at the Golden City Gate Awards, at ITB Berlin. The iconic video captures the cultural vibrancy and ecological beauty of the country through extensive aerial videography; offering the viewer a novel perspective of the island’s experience. The airline element has been preserved in the video through the subtle appearance of SriLankan Airlines’ cabin crew members, clad in the iconic peacock- motif Kandyan sari, blending with the landscapes; thus portraying the Airline’s role as the messenger that carries to the world an invitation to explore the Island.
The airline also bagged the ‘Asia’s Leading Cultural Airline’ accolade at the World Travel Awards 2017 which recognized the apt portrayal of the island’s culture throughout the passenger journey onboard SriLankan Airlines. The award endorses the depiction of the airline’s prominent service attribute - the inherent warmth of Sri Lankans along with the country’s cultural characteristics, adopted in the aspects of modern day air travel.
This award was soon followed by the “Asia’s Leading Airline to Indian Ocean” title, thereby making SriLankan Airlines a winner of two WTA awards. Having inducted ten premier Asian destinations to its global connectivity in the latter part of the last year, SriLankan proceeded add three more vibrant Indian destinations to its route map; Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Coimbatore- which has made SriLankan Airlines the international carrier that operates out of the most number of Indian cities (14) with over 120 flights a week in addition to its seasonal frequencies to Bodh Gaya and Varanasi.
The airline continued to enhance the reachability of the brand, thus becoming the title sponsor of the Half Marathon event at the iconic Melbourne Marathon 2017. With the airlines’ direct services scheduled to start in the late October, SriLankan Airlines’ presence at the course of the historic athletic event on the second Sunday of October was a fitting prelude of what was to come. Through this attempt, SriLankan not only raised brand awareness among the Australians but also positioned the Airline as an entity that endorses sports and wellness. Adopting attributes that are sought after by the contemporary travellers has certainly contributed to the evolution of the brand which was highlighted again in the airline’s simultaneous collaboration with the Colombo Marathon 2017. This granted SriLankan the rare opportunity of playing a prominent role in two marathons in the international marathon calendar in one year.
Over the years, SriLankan Airlines has also been in the forefront of promoting surfing and mountain biking events in Sri Lanka, through which the country’s potential to provide ideal natural terrain for adventure sports is revealed to athletes and enthusiasts across the globe. The year has been a vital one for the Airline, having released two travel specific TV commercials which have been instrumental in inspiring travellers to explore Sri Lanka and the Airline’s range of connectivity options across South Asia, the Far East, Middle East, Europe and Australia. In its progressive communication endeavors, for the first time in the history of 12 years of operations to China, the airline reached out to travellers with new content created in Chinese.
Among all its endeavors, the new brand manual, the elements of which are being currently rolled out across all its customer touch points, is implemented with the aim of elevating the brand to suit the ideals of contemporary travel while preserving the legacy of the national carrier.
SriLankan Airlines, whilst upholding its core values of service, reliability and diligence has steered many futuristic endeavors in order to enhance brand positioning, thereby to ensure due attention and visibility for the national carrier and the country.
