Fernandes takes to the sky in CEO brands

Malaysia – Call it what you want but Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes clearly markets himself and his baby AirAsia - ‘granddaddy of low cost carriers’ - successfully especially in rewarding the skeptics.

Sometime last year, Fernandes had reached out to blogger Kenny Sia who had dissed the food that one has to buy in-flight by inviting him to sample a presentation of the airlines’ new array of dishes.

And most recently, Utusan Malaysia assistant news editor Khairuddin Mohd Amin was presented with lifelong free-flights.

Khairuddin left a lasting impression on Fernandes as he had questioned Fernandes on how long he planned to keep the company afloat, when AirAsia first kicked off seven years ago.

It is hardly surprising therefore that Fernandes has topped the people’s brand choice for CEO (13.2%) in a recent study on corporate brands done by Pulse Group PLC, followed by Ananda Krishnan of Maxis and Astro fame at 4.1%

The other Malaysian CEOs listed were Petronas’ Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Merican (3.9%), YTL’s Tan Sri Francis Yeoh (3.8%), the late Genting Group founder Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong (3%), Public Bank Chairman Tan Sri Dr. Teh Hong Piow (2.8%), corporate figure Tan Sri Syed Mukhtar Al-Bukhary (2.6%), Goh Tong’s son Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay (2.5%), Datuk Seri Idris Jala of Malaysia Airlines (2.3%) and ‘Sugar King’ Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (2%).

The study polled 1,000 Malaysians and was aimed at profiling corporate brands and CEOs as a brand amongst Malaysians consumers.

Pulse also found that 16% Malaysians cited Petronas as the highest profile brand amongst consumers with Maxis coming in a distant second with 8.7%.

AirAsia secured 8.5% of the poll followed by Telekom Malaysia, Maybank Bhd, Genting Group, Malaysia Airlines, Proton, Digi and Astro.