Monday, June 06, 2005

Re-Branding Kuwait Airways

Dubai Airport last weekend. A variety of airlines from around the world lined up at the terminal gates. All of them looked shiny, fresh and new with bold graphics and bright colors. Somewhere in the middle of the line-up, Kuwait Airways stands there looking like a beggar outside a fancy wedding. So dull, so boring, so dusty...داثرة تضيق الخلق. The aircraft was a dinky Airbus 320 (I think) itself a cramped and uncomfortable plane.

The depressing sight of our national airline looking so bad got me thinking about the Kuwait Airways brand, and how it's been totally neglected and mismanaged. I won't even compare it to Emirates because that would be an exercise that will end in tears and raised blood pressure.

There are many world-class branding consultants who can easily turn Kuwait Airways around with a bold rebranding project; as the old Kuwaiti saying goes عط الخباز خبزك لو باق نصه. I suspect that Kuwait Airways - like many institutions in this country - is run by people who simply don't understand the power of branding and therefore do not appreciate its value and would never spend the money required to rebrand it effectively.

But Kuwait Airways is sorely in need of a total overhaul. The whole customer experience has to change. Everything from the planes to the tickets to the offices, the in-flight magazines, the menus, the uniforms, the signage, the website (piece of crap site if ever I saw one)... Of course all of the things I mentioned are nothing without revitalizing the Kuwait Airways image and perception in people's minds... and that will be the toughest task of all. Don't believe me? Read this from yesterday's Qabas..



إننا لا نحتاج للخوض في اطنان تقارير ديوان المحاسبة، ولا في الفضائح التي فاحت في جلسات مجلس الامة كي نكتشف من هي المرأة ومن هي الشاذية، فتجربة حجز مقعد وركوب الطائرة على متن كل من الخطوط الجوية البريطانية والخطوط الجوية الكويتية، كفيلة باكتشاف ذلك. فعند الحجز على الخطوط البريطانية التي لا تحتاج بها لواسطة لا عليك الا دخول الانترنت وعمل حجز للمقعد ومكانه ونوع الاكل وحجز خط الرجعة وتأكيده والدفع بكرت الائتمان، طبعا البريطانية تمتلك واحدا من اكبر الاساطيل في العالم، فمن نوع واحد فقط من انواع الطائرات فئة 747 صنف 400، تمتلك البريطانية 57 طائرة، بينما يصل عدد جميع طائرات الكويتية 17 طائرة فقط خمس منها خربانة لا تعمل. الكويتية تحتاج فيها الى واسطة ثقيلة كي تحجز اذا كنت على لائحة الانتظار والغريب انك اذا ركبت الطائرة وجدتها خالية. طبعا في الخطوط الكويتية عليك ان تتحمل خياسة نفس بعض المضيفات لأن وراءهن ?ظهر? اي سند من نوع الهامور الكبير الذي يقضي معظم وقته في يخته بالشاليه، وحتى لا يتعكر مزاج ظهر المضيفة التي لا يتجرأ اي راكب ان يمس طرف رمش عيونها او خيط التنورة القصيرة المرصوصة فإن رحلتها يمكن تحويلها من بنغلادش الى لندن، عن طريق كازينو ادارة الخدمات الجوية المسؤولة عن جداول طيران المضيفين. طبعا، اذا كنت جالسا في الخطوط الكويتية فلا يوجد احترام لفئات المقاعد، فبعد ان تقلع الطائرة يختلط الحابل بالنابل، فالدرجة الاولى تصبح خري مري اي سوق جمعة وينتقل الخدم مع معازيبهم، بينما في البريطانية ولا اكبر شارب يتجرأ ان يتعدى فئة مقعده. اما في المطار التعيس الذي عجزت الدولة في ترقيعه، فلا ندري من المسؤول عن تحويل الوان اللوحات الارشادية في المطار الى أنثوية وردية! ناااااعمه جدا الله يسلم قلبها، هل هو ذوق رئىس الطيران المدني أم اخوة رئيس الخطوط الكويتية؟


It's enough to make you give up in despair. Take a look at how Gulf Air transformed themselves. There could be hope for us yet!

19 comments:

  1. I recommend private companies instead of a national company, the more companies the better for competition. I think any of the mega tycoons can establish such a company easily in Kuwait and it is a much profitable venture than rebranding, pumping money, fixing Kuwait Airways, because there are so many negatives in that company that it will not be possible to fix properly to match what is going around.

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  2. we could sell it to indians , since they are the people that most use it and get the cheapist ticket price :P

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  3. I didn't want to talk about privatization because that is the obvious solution to KAC's many problems. But how many of today's private sector CEOs understand the power of branding? Very few, I assure you!

    FCM.. I went on Thai, came back on Kuwait Airways..but this post has been on my mind for a while

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  4. how about villa moda bolling room!

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  5. Zaydoun, Gulf Air still sucks. They made a huge deal about their rebranding and the new colors and yet look at them now two or three years later half their planes still haven't been repainted in the new colors. I think when you go for a rebranding you should go all out and immediately switch to the new color and logo. With Gulf Air sometimes if you're in an airport like Muscat or Bahrain which has lots of Gulf Air planes at the same time, you can notice that not only are lots of planes showing the old colors, there even planes with the colors from before that!

    By the way I flew on Kuwait Airways once in Business Class Muscat-Kuwait-London-New York (stopped for a couple days in each city). In every single one of those flights I was the only one in Business Class while First and Economy were full. Do Kuwaitis have something against Business Class?

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  6. Mr. Z

    وهل يصلح العطار ما أفسده الدهر يا عزيزي

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  7. When an entity has too much money, and it doesn't have to work hard to find her sources of income, she will not care about the details. The she i am talking about is Kuwait.

    Look at Dubai for example, their case is totally the opposite. They have become sources of creation of wealth, because they need it. And if we want to compare apple to apple, then look at Abu Dhabi. They are happy with their oil & gas revenue and are not bothered about making it the most attractive emirate in the UAE for foreign investors, shoppers, holiday makers, etc.

    Having said that, I think Kuwait Airways must be first privatized for anything to happen there.

    Second, the reinvention of the KA brand must utilize the company's perceived strengths, which are: SAFETY & KUWAITI.

    The weaknesses are obvious: RELIABILITY & infrequent lines to popular destinations (Dubai & Jeddah for eg), & in flight SERVICE (econ).

    The company's opportunities are: Kuwait's growing population &
    Kuwait's population's travel behavior (frequent travellers).

    The company's threats are:
    Chartered liners like Al-Arabia, & up coming al-Jazira. National liners which travel to the same destinations like Gulf, & Emirates.

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  8. Sheba... thanks for the SWOT analysis. Wanna come work for me?

    ;-)

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  9. Zaydoun, I literally just arrived to Qatar using Kuwait Airways. The whole time I couldnt stop thinking of how bad everything is in terms of branding!

    It looks like a really aging company on its way down! Everything was bad in the flight! From the airline attendant who was very friendly but covered with 1000 layers of makeup to the worst display of food I have ever seen, also the way the stewardess threw the table cloth over it and expected me to fix it, and what I think was really funny was the English newspapers that were printed off the internet!!?

    Last month I was on my way back from Oman on Lufthansa, and it looked and felt amazing from inside, with a brochure explaining the new features coming up soon (including internet usage) with the standard seats that basically turn to beds. Walla on today's flight I kept thinking to myself this CANNOT be the image we give people! Even Saudi airlines which used to be a joke is now rebranded and looks nice!

    But as usual, 3ammik asmakh!

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  10. Oh yeah i forgot to add about the lounge! In Kuwait airport I was early as usual, and decided to check stocks online, so went to the lounge, which looks and feels worse than the planes!

    Out of 2 computers, only 1 works, there were waaay too many people with not enough seats, and I sneaked a peak at the foods and refreshments and had to feel sorry for Kuwait Airways! Oh yeah and the great design of the lounge, where they wanted to capture a bait sha3ar feeling, and trust me they do in more than one way!

    I left after waiting for the pc for 10 mins, and headed to the new McCafe....what a difference!! 1000 times better than the lounge!

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  11. I went up to the new lounge and they wouldn't let me stay. Everyone says its great, but it looks like a hospital cafeteria, and the staff are mean bitches!

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  12. Dear Zaydoun,

    Sure, cham ma3ashi?

    Btw, i just realized that we never had a face to face intelligent conversation! Must fix that. How about we set an agenda for the next time i see you?

    Kind Regards,
    Sheba

    P.S. falast min ams :/

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  13. Sheba.. sure anytime. Although I sometimes suspect I'm even less interesting than the nonsense I write here!

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  14. I`m a budoon , I dont have a passport so I cant travel and comment on Kuwait Airways or any other airways.

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  15. Thanks Tata.. I rest my case

    Everything here is done on the cheap. Nobody wants to spend money on anything, because they always think everyone is out to rip them off.

    But
    كلٍ يرى الناس بعين طبعه

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  16. yeah but overhauling doesn't always make things better. one example is MEA. There old identity was so much nicer and more powerful then todays multicolored times new roman stretched logo.

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  17. Mark.. It's true that an overhaul can hit or miss. Take BA's global rebranding of a few years ago when they painted the tails with all kinds of art from around the world. They lost their British identity and it totally backfired and cost them millions to fix.

    I kind of like MEA's new look, but that's just a matter of taste. But you have to admit that KAC is serious need of an upgrade

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  18. اخوي زيدون ادعوك لزيارة بلوقي و قراية الموضوع عن طيران الخليج
    و كلنا في الهوا سوا صج ان غيرو في الوان الطيارات لكن من الداخل الخدمة ما تغيرت بالمرة. الا اللهم انهم حطو كراسي يديدة على الاولى و رجال الاعمال (توها الناس) و اذا على خياس نفس المضيفات ترا اللي عندنا عندكم ممكن المضيفة تصير المعزبة و انت المسافر الفقير المسكين المفروض تحترم سمو المضيفة و ما تتامر زيادة عن اللزوم و الا مصيرك الحقران لين مصرانك تتقطع. الله يعينا و يعينكم على شركاتنا الحلوة و على طاري الايرباص 320 في طيران الخليج ممكن تطلع من الطيارة و يا ميت من الحر او ترتجف من البرد لان عندهم مشكلة ازلية مع المكيفات و السلام عليكم

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