DMA HK: Linda Wang on Cathay’s data-driven journey into lifestyle ecosystems

In today's competitive landscape, growth is no longer just about capturing market share, but about building new markets. For established brands, this requires evolving beyond their core offering to create a diversified ecosystem. 

By harnessing a unified data strategy, Cathay Pacific is transforming an airline into a multi-faceted lifestyle brand. It now leverages its deep customer relationships to orchestrate cross-vertical engagement, launch new products, and scale its ecosystem efficiently. 

As Linda Wang (pictured), head of lifestyle marketing at Cathay Pacific, explained, the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of relying on a single industry. “During that period, our lifestyle business played a crucial role in providing financial stability by diversifying our revenue streams.” 

“A multi-business ecosystem—rather than relying solely on one sector—enables us to broaden our income sources and reduce exposure to risks associated with any single business.” 

With the belief that Cathay can extend far beyond travel, Wang pointed to the strong performance of merchandise on Cathay Shop and the success of its co-branded insurance products as indicators of untapped potential. “These opportunities should be strategically leveraged as we continue to curate compelling lifestyle products and experiences.” 

At the heart of this transformation is data. She said, “Our ecosystem provides a comprehensive view of our customers, drawing from travel, lifestyle, and digital touchpoints. This rich data enables us to deliver more personalised experiences and drive higher conversion.” 

Selling beyond travel 

But how does Cathay confidently use data to sell non-travel products? Selling non travel products usually requires insights from a wide range of data sources—travel is just one of them, said Wang. “Our travel lifestyle ecosystem provides us with rich demographic, persona, transaction, and digital behaviour data across multiple business lines.” 

Cathay’s data science team applies machine learning models to this data, enabling AI-driven insights that deepen its understanding of customer behaviour and help forecast future actions, she added. “These insights allow us to effectively market and sell non-travel products. Post-campaign data is then fed into our Customer Data Platform (CDP) to validate and refine these forecasts for continuous improvement.” 

Take Cathay’s travel insurance as an example, Wang said the targeting is straightforward. “We embed product information within the booking journey and retarget travelers two days before their trip. For health insurance, we rely on our data scientists’ propensity models, which integrate all available data sources and are continuously fine-tuned based on sales performance.” 

In today’s privacy-conscious environment, consumers are increasingly mindful of how their data is used. According to a YouGov survey, 44% of Hongkongers express concerns about data privacy. 

Wang reassured that Cathay handles customer data with the utmost care. “This framework outlines the processes and controls that ensure our customers' data is used lawfully and protected against theft, loss, and unauthorised access.” 

When data is shared with third-party partners, such as those in the lifestyle space, Cathay implements robust safeguards, she said. “We have data processing agreements in place to ensure the information is processed according to Cathay's standards. Our customers are informed about these practices through our Customers' Privacy Notice, and whenever necessary, we obtain their consent before using their data.” 

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