An integrated marketing communications campaign for Cebu Pacific

How does a market leader survive a pandemic and plan for what’s ahead despite all the uncertainties that plague it on a daily basis? How may a brand strategize when most of historical data prove to be barely useful for predicting demand in a time of drastically-changing consumer behavior and shared values? Cebu Pacific has proven itself to be agile enough in the first few months of the longest “freeze” in its operations. However, it has had its fair share of deep dives across the organization whether it be in terms of layoffs, plummeting revenue, nonexistent profits, or single-digit operational capacity. The strategy for this campaign lies in identifying gaps in CEB’s already-granular pandemic campaign framework as a starting point for taking big leaps in anticipation of the restart of tourism in 2021 or later. Identified market opportunities ultimately rest on two key metrics: Engagement and Conversion. Whereas the latter would always be the priority at any given time, the former has found an extraordinary relevance at this time of heavy digital usage, shared experiences, and decreased sales. Engagement efforts aim to prime CEB’s target audience and have them equipped with the right knowledge and travel inspiration to get them through the new normal. Whereas low costs and fares have become the foundation of the airline in the past 24 years, sentiments now have the power to define how CEB will commemorate its 25th year. More than ever, Engagement efforts may demonstrate its potential impacts to conversion. Enter Leah, CEB’s core target market and the scope of this campaign. For her, seeing is believing. Illustrating concrete evidences on Supporting Local, strengthening corporate branding and morale, sustained interest for leisure travel, safety and assistance, CEB’s widest network in the Philippines, continuing to improve its digital assets and platforms, and low fares in sustained seat sales at a time of expected cash conservation to cater to insulated shoppers, essential travelers, and aspiring wanderlusters - to Leahs - are the salient points addressed by the plan considering environmental and competitive analysis through improving the current pandemic subcampaigns and introducing a new one split into two phases - “Onwards and Upwards with CEB BiyaHEY!”. “Onwards” alluding to phase 1, wherein Leah moves forward and tries to regain a sense of normalcy albeit the limited opportunities to do so. Onwards, as CEB adapts to the new normal and shows everyJuan the safety measures it has in place not just in lengthy guidelines and laundry lists but with actual COVID-time travelers - featuring the Juans that need to fly, and the Juans that CEB still enables to fly. “Upwards” in relation to phase 2, wherein Leah sheds the memories and the old ways of the year that was as she and the rest of the country embrace “normalcy” and mobility once again. Upwards, in that this “normalcy” will still be considered an evergreen New Normal for travel with CEB showing that it continues to uphold safety to usher in Juans who will take the leap for Making Moments Happen Again, pandemic or none. Upwards, as CEB and our Leahs paint the skies yellow once again of which will hopefully serve as a nudge to those who are still thinking twice. Finally, “With CEB Biya-HEY!” - an interactive, fun, people-centric, collective kamustahan that gives a voice or a persona to the new normal traveller. The campaign will be cascaded to several content buckets that are relevant and concrete - more easily understandable, bite-sized, and personified travel updates for Leahs to be more involved and have visibility on travel’s actual new normal. In line with budget considerations, usual CEB engagement campaign media mix, and in consideration of the most appropriate channels given the pandemic and the actual objectives of the campaign, digital efforts will consist of Facebook Ads, Facebook/Instagram Organic Posts, Facebook/Instagram Live Videos, Instagram/Facebook/Twitter stories, and digital PR to deliver both video and static brand-made and influencer-made content. Digital allows for a cascade of the campaign to several use cases without bloating costs and encouraging interaction. With CEB BiyaHEY!, CEB may just be able to stand out and have a bigger, louder voice by handing the microphone over to everyJuan. This pandemic context-specific campaign rooted not on brand push content but on consumer insight shall be in place to address rebuilding air travel confidence, making CEB Leah’s preferred airline for when tourism restarts, and generating bookings so that CEB may carry on with its operations and continue offering value-for-money deals that Filipinos love. It is to be noted that as this campaign addresses a specific situation, it is designed to only run for a year as a transition phase for the much hoped-for full industry recovery. Competitive analysis and marketing strategies for the three top PH airlines show the spaces “owned” by each. Ultimately, the aim is for CEB to effectively encroach on PAL’s more evident ownership of Safety through “Fly Safe” and to respond more proactively to AirAsia PH’s #EveryoneCanFlyNow aggressive marketing tactics. Sentiment analysis also showed that CEB’s current brand health, following the release of a much-awaited refund update, has improved, making its social assets ideal environments for releasing succeeding promotional materials. CEB is also said to be best positioned to survive the pandemic more than other LCCs and flag carriers worldwide based on the ISHKA matrix as shared by Simple Flying (2020). The proposed estimated budget for a year-long campaign is PhP3.46M, and it is to be noted that the campaign-specific cash out will only be 61% of the budget, at an estimated value of PhP 2.1M, excluding other taxes that may apply. It has been known that travel demand may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 or even 2024, according to IATA (2020). With this, campaign monitoring will be dependent on identifying key metrics based on active efforts instead of crunching numbers month-on-month, a relatively conservative approach in consideration of the unpredictability of the situation even in the coming year