民航业的真正威胁在于品牌形象蹩脚

    当然，大型民航公司也知道品牌的重要性。“美国航空正处于重组进程中，我们计划变成一家非同一般的航空公司，”美国航空女发言人在声明中称。“本公司期待完成重组之后，能为顾客带来全新、不同往昔的体验。”塑造协调一致的企业文化也是美联航首席执行官杰夫•斯米塞克的重要任务。去年，他告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune）：“我的管理团队和我本人正在投入大量时间，培养这种新文化。我们很重视这一点，因为任何整合都有沦为平庸的风险。”截至本文发表之时，达美航空尚未回应记者请求评论的要求。

    目前，规模较小但品牌形象好的航空公司取得了不俗的成绩，可能会开始给大型民航带来压力，迫使其改变品牌战略。“我觉得压力将来自区域性的民航公司，他们很擅长塑造独特的消费者体验，并围绕这种体验打造企业，”品牌咨询公司Prophet美国分部总裁安德鲁•皮尔斯表示。“这些企业将变得更加强大。”尽管大型民航严防死守，这些小公司仍可能夺走其份额。如果没有协调统一的品牌战略，这些民航巨头只能继续打价格战。如今燃油成本和消费者行为模式都难以预测，处在这样的市场，民航公司本来就已经困难重重，品牌形象千疮百孔恐怕是它们最不愿意看到的情况。

    译者：小宇

    Of course, the major airlines know that branding is important. "American is in the middle of the restructuring process and plans to emerge a very different airline," an American Airlines spokeswoman said in a statement. "The airline looks forward to emerging from the restructuring process with something new and different for its customers." Creating a coherent corporate culture is also on United CEO Jeff Smisek's to-do list. Last year, he told Fortune, "My management team and I are spending a lot of time on developing the new culture. [We're] very focused on that because you do run the risk in any integration of ending up with mediocrity." Delta did not respond to a request to comment in time for publication.

    For now, the success of small airlines with strong brands is likely to begin pushing against the branding approach of larger airlines. "I think the pressure is going to come from the regional guys that are getting pretty good at creating a unique experience and delivering around it," says Andrew Pierce, U.S. President of brand consultancy firm Prophet. "Those guys are going to become more formidable." They could chip away at the edges of a market that big carriers guard closely. Without a coherent brand strategy, those major carriers will continue to play the price game. And, in this market, with fuel costs and customer behavior difficult to predict, a broken brand is the last problem any airline wants on top of everything else.