the Scoot-Away
Stage 4: Brand Strength
Methodology and Evaluation
Our evaluation is based on Interbrand’s comprehensive framework on evaluating the brand strength for a specific brand. The brand strength analysis are categorized into 2 dimensions, internal and external factors where we will use these analysis to examine on how Scoot manages their brand as well as valuing them. The ratings for the internal factors will be based on our observation on their online platforms such as social media platforms and websites. On the flip side, ratings for the external factors are based on our survey results from Assignment 2b.
Internal Factors
Clarity: 8
According to Interbrand, Clarity internally is about what the brand stands for in terms of its values, positioning and proposition. Clarity too is about target audiences, customer insights and drivers. Because much hinges on this, it is vital that these are articulated internally and shared across the organization.
Looking at the existing promotions and marketing campaigns on ‘Scoot’, its values, positioning and propositions are consistent throughout their online platforms and press releases where we observed that these messages were very specific towards one segment of the target audience which is the young at heart. They are very spontaneous and reactive towards explicit messages such as ‘W.T.F – Watch the Fare”. Also, it understands its proposition as a low-cost flight carrier as we see that Scoot has been consistently releasing different price promotions to the destinations which they offer.
Likewise, for the drivers, it is observed that Scoot has a ‘Be a Scoot Pilot for a day” campaign to promote the latest additional of Boeing 787 to their aircraft family implies that Scoot understands its customers’ insights and drivers of having an advanced in-flight experience yet offering a competitive prices.
Overall, our team feels that due to these consistencies, Scoot’s value, positioning and proportion are clearly communicated to their target consumers.
Commitment:7
According to Interbrand, commitment is about the internal commitment to brand, and a belief internally in the importance of the brand.
Scoot remains very committed to its proposition, which is to be an airline for the young, the young-at-heart, the value seeking and consumers who think that travelling is about discovering, connecting, experiencing and enjoying. Through the online platforms, it shows clearly that Scoot stays committed by offering competitive prices to consumers. Likewise, Scoot has spontaneous promotions to different locations which signify that they stay relevant to the brand’s proposition , which is just scoot off to travel destination without much planning.
Suggestively, the internal commitment by the top management is practiced through the middle or service management as we can see that the messages and implementations are consistent.
Protection: 5
According to Interbrand, protection is about how secure the brand is across a number of dimensions: legal protection, propriety ingredients or design, scale or geographical spread.
Scoot has a unique brand name and design that is registered as a trademark under the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. This includes the color scheme used by Scoot which is unique across other airlines.
Scoot has a wide geographical spread in countries they bound for which suggests that the brand is internationally well-known which makes Scoot more secured in terms of the brand-name.
Responsiveness: 9
According to Interbrand, responsiveness is about the ability to respond to market changes, challenges and opportunities. The brand should have a sense of leadership internally and a desire and ability to constantly evolve and renew itself.
Scoot is rated 9 for the level of responsiveness because Scoot is able to effectively manage the customers’ expectation and constantly improve its offerings through customers’ feedbacks. Scoot has been constantly seeking for customers’ views on destinations and making response to it.
Another perspective of responsiveness is that we can see how scoot reacts to challenges and opportunities happening in Singapore and offers spontaneous advertising messages such as ‘WTF – What the Fog” to stay relevant and interesting to the consumers who can relate the message to the recent fog incident.
All these suggests that Scoot is a responsive brand who stays in relevance with the market conditions and in constantly seeking to improve themselves through consumers’ feedbacks.
External Factors
Authenticity: 6
According to Interbrand, authenticity is on how the brand is soundly based on an internal truth and capability. It has a defined heritage and a well-grounded value set. It can deliver against the (high) expectations that customers have of it.
For Scoot, it has a short history since it only started in the year 2011. However, the affliction with the Singapore Airlines has increased the authenticity score of Scoot. Likewise, Scoot can deliver against the high expectations of the customers by understanding what matters to consumers as illustrated in our survey in assignment 2b on Brand Performance.
Relevance: 7
According to Interbrand, it is the fit with customer/consumer needs, desires, and decision criteria across all relevant demographics and geographic.
Through our survey results on brand imagery, respondents were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert scale to the extent to which they would associate the following attributes with Scoot. The top 3 attributes that were being associated were ‘Affordable’, ‘Popular’ and ‘Fun’. These attributes were the values Scoot is trying to portray as we observed a perfect fit between the brand and the target consumers, who are mostly the young, young-at-heart and the value seeking.
Differentiation: 5
According to Interbrand, it is about the fit with customers/consumers perceive the brand to have a differentiated positioning distinctive from the competition.
We gave Scoot a relatively low score on differentiation because during the focus group interview, no respondents were able to perceive any difference between Scoot and other no-frills airlines despite Scoot offering a unique business class seating that has bigger legroom.
Consistency: 9
According to Interbrand, it is the degree to which a brand is experienced without fail across all touchpoints or formats.
We ranked Scoot a 9 out of 10 which is a relatively high score due to Scoot’s consistency throughout all the touch points.
The aircraft exterior and interior design were in sync with the color scheme of Scoot which is unique across other airlines. Scoot’s promotion and proposition were consistent throughout by portraying the brand as an affordable and fun airline. Likewise, their online communications on the website and social media are spontaneous, engaging which suggests their brand values were in sync and consistent.
Presence: 9
According to Interbrand, Presence is the degree to which a brand feels omnipresent and is talked about positively by consumers, customers and opinion formers in both traditional and social media.
Our team feels that Scoot has a very strong presence in Singapore where their social media platforms were constantly updated. Also, the Scoot Facebook page has a high amount of likes which amounts to 842,239.
Understanding: 7
According to Interbrand, understanding is about having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of its distinctive qualities and characteristics.
Through our survey results, most of the respondents gave a high rating towards ‘Popular’, ‘Fun’ and ‘Affordable’ which is in sync with Scoot’s brand proposition. This suggests that the consumers have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of Scoot’s distinctive qualities and characteristics.
