Swiss: Up from here

m&k: Stefan Vasic, before you 2021 Head of Marketing at Swiss While you were with the airline, your responsibilities included managing sponsorship partnerships. 2020 was supposed to be a «sports year» for your company—but then the pandemic hit. How challenging was that period?

Stefan Vasic: We had to react incredibly quickly—we had to find ways to address not only the new financial demands but also the staffing needs. On the other hand, we were determined to try to retain at least part of our broad partner portfolio. In the end, we reduced Swiss’s sponsorship activities by a third, which was often difficult. At the same time, I learned a great deal from this involuntary learning experience.

Caroline Drischel, as Head of Brand Experience, you had to walk a tightrope—between customers who were canceling trips en masse and the few who continued to fly with Swiss. How much does something like that take a toll on a brand?

Caroline Drischel: The term «balancing act» describes it quite well: Anyone who flew with us during the height of the pandemic should have experienced us as a confident brand; they should have been able to trust our hygiene standards, our customer focus, and our flexibility. On the other hand, those who—and unfortunately, this was a huge number of people—had to cancel their trips should have been «taken care of» by our service staff. Even when frustration and anger were, at times, extremely high. In both cases, our company was—and still is—called upon to deliver on its «brand promise»; this is where it becomes clear whether customer focus is just an empty phrase or something we truly live by. It’s no walk in the park, and we haven’t put the crisis behind us yet.

Specifically, what expectations did you encounter from your passengers?

Drischel: Over the past few years, we’ve focused heavily on the «upper funnel» and sharpened our brand. We emphasized values like inspiration, passion, and emotion. Then, suddenly, everything had to be purely fact-based. The customer who wanted to fly needed to know: What happens next? What do I need to bring with me? They relied on us to help them. And we had to learn to understand this shift in customer focus internally as well. As a result, we engaged in more direct customer communication than ever before.

Vasic: To put it simply, an airline «only» transports people from one place to another. Before the pandemic, entry requirements for individual countries were the responsibility of each traveler and a relatively static matter. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, passengers’ expectations changed in such a way that we, as an airline, were obligated to be fully informed: What do I need if I want to go to Spain? What if I’m returning to Switzerland from Turkey? We quickly recognized this need and took steps to meet it.

What lessons have you learned from this new responsibility, which was essentially imposed on you?

Drischel: The fact that Stefan Vasic and I hold the positions we have today is also related to a reorganization of the entire marketing, product, and customer service division. Even before the pandemic, the Lufthansa Group, as our parent company, had recognized that we weren’t operating with a strong enough customer focus. The pandemic was the catalyst we needed to finally integrate marketing, products, and services more closely.

Vasic: The impact of the pandemic on travel has taken a heavy toll on all of us, but especially on our guests. That is why it is our stated goal to do everything we can to remain in the hearts of our customers—and, more broadly, in the hearts of the Swiss people. At the same time, as a company, we want to—and must—generate revenue and ticket sales. For the time being, the Swiss marketing department will no longer carry out any campaigns that do not contribute to one or the other of these goals.

Also, because the current situation means you have to operate on a limited budget …

Vasic: The next two or three years will be all about maximizing cost efficiency. What we absolutely cannot afford is wasted reach. So we ask ourselves: What spontaneous opportunities can we take advantage of? We’ve even coined a special term for it: «instant marketing»! (laughs) To illustrate, I like to use the example of Euro 2024 «superfan» Luca Loutenbach: It was my social media team that recognized the potential and the effort required to capitalize on his viral photos within thirty minutes. And it took less than an hour for the «superfan» to have his plane ticket to the next Switzerland game. Big impact for a small investment: that’s what we have to keep achieving time and again.

Drischel: That was truly a wonderful story. It made many customers feel: «They see me! In the eyes of my airline, I’m first and foremost a person, not just a number!» That must be our guiding principle in everything we do.

«The next two or three years will be characterized by maximum cost efficiency.»

In the past, you were able to set yourself apart from low-cost competitors through large-scale branding campaigns. Wasted coverage or not, you invested enormous resources in those campaigns. Will a radical focus on the customer now become your new unique selling proposition?

Drischel: I’ll mention a few keywords that represent what we want to stand for in the future: «Trusted Servicing,» «Carefree Travel,» «Tailored Offering,» and «Dialog.» Are we already achieving this one hundred percent? No, unfortunately not yet. But we’re on the right track. You can always tell when you talk to friends and ask, «So, how was your flight?» In the past, it was always about the seat or the food; that’s what people would talk about. Today, it’s about whether I had a worry-free trip and whether everything went smoothly. That’s what our customers expect today, and that’s what we need to deliver.

What does this mean for the advertising campaigns you plan to run in the future?

Vasic: We are currently rolling out a marketing campaign designed to help our guests rediscover the true value of travel. And that value is as individual as each person’s own values. Especially in difficult times, the motto should be: «Travel is what you make of it.» Swiss is here to support people in that journey.

«But we have another dream: to be the airline in Europe that combines a perfect customer experience with certified sustainability.»

You have clearly outlined your tasks for the near future. What are the plans for the «post-coronavirus» era?

Drischel: We share a problem with many other airlines: We don’t know our customers well enough. We have to ask them every single time what their preferences are and where they’d like to fly. We have to ask for their credit card number. That’s why creating detailed customer profiles will be a major, important project. But not because we want to market to them, but because we truly want to get to know our passengers. And because we no longer want to ask on board, «Would you like your water with or without carbonation?» Our cabin crew should already be able to tell when someone boards. Or imagine you’re returning from a business trip to South Africa, and the cabin manager on your connecting flight asks you: «You’ve been traveling for a long time—would you prefer just a light dinner and then some sleep?» By the way, we’re not just thinking about frequent flyers, but also about people who travel with us to Mallorca only once a year. Their preferences are important, too.

Vasic: And that, in turn, affects the offerings we promote in our marketing. I can’t offer a first-class flight for one person to a family of four just because I don’t know that behind the profile there’s actually … a family of four. (laughs). That, too, is part of the issue of wasted coverage. And the better we know the customer, the better we’ll be able to provide that customer with relevant information.

Drischel: But we have another dream: to be the airline in Europe that combines a perfect customer experience with certified sustainability. We don’t want sustainability to remain just a buzzword; we’re serious about it. In the medium term, we want customers, investors, and independent auditors to confirm that no one does this better than we do. Everything we do should be completely transparent—where the water in the cups comes from and the cardboard used to make them; where we source our food for in-flight meals; and what we’re doing to offset our CO2 emissions. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re extremely motivated to get it done.

Caroline Drischel has been Head of Brand Experience at Swiss since February 2021. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic roadmap for all customer, product, and marketing matters at the airline; previously, she held leadership positions at Lufthansa, Swiss Re, UBS, and Renault, among others.

Stefan Vasic He has been Head of Marketing at Swiss since July 2021 and is responsible for implementing all marketing initiatives as part of the global Lufthansa Group strategy. Previously, he headed the Sponsorship & Events department at Swiss, among other roles, and also served as the airline’s media spokesperson for several years.