#MARKiesAwards MY 2021 highlight: AirAsia flies flag for businesses during tough times

AirAsia Foundation launched Destination: GOOD to support artisan groups and social enterprises across the ASEAN region. However, it faced difficulties when attempting to replicate this marketplace online, including connecting the physical and digital platform through a single sales system.

The pandemic made things worse as customers looked to online purchases. In addition to growing the online marketplace into a self-sustainable system, AirAsia decided to tap on its growing online presence to further help these enterprises by promoting their stories and what goes on behind making consumers’ favourite products. This was met with resounding success. 

AirAsia worked with Meekco.Asia to create online content that would generate interest and encourage them to become mindful shoppers.

AirAsia’s ability to address its pain points during a stressful time such as the pandemic, coupled with its initiative to promote and support smaller social enterprises by telling their stories, impressed the judges, and secured it the bronze award for Most Creative – Government Sector/Non-Profit Marketing at A+M’s MARKies 2021 Awards.

Challenge

AirAsia Foundation, which primarily provides grants to social enterprises, realised that many of these organisations needed more help in business skills as well. AirAsia then looked to develop different ways of working with its grantees, including helping them to develop brand identities and improve their designs, and connecting them with AirAsia staff for training and volunteer programmes.

Thus, Destination: GOOD was formed – a marketplace comprising more than 400 products, carefully selected from over 30 artisan groups and social enterprises from across the ASEAN region. However, AirAsia wanted to do more – it wanted to build DestinationGood.com, which would bridge the gap between social enterprises’ businesses that are committed to addressing different social challenges, and consumers seeking sustainable travel and lifestyle solutions.

It also wanted to connect the online platform and the destination GOOD shop in The Rex in Kuala Lumpur, with a single, seamless sales system. Additionally, AirAsia wanted to promote and sell the products and services on DestinationGOOD.com with its market access capabilities, and scale the social enterprises’ businesses. 

AirAsia faced more challenges when the pandemic hit. As online demand spiked, the brand needed to grow DestinationGOOD.com to become a self-sustainable business as soon as possible. At the same time, AirAsia wanted to use the pandemic to its advantage, by marketing the stories behind the products as well. It wanted its customers to not just simply do good, but feel good as well when they use those crafted products with mindfulness. 

Strategy

AirAsia’s primary strategy revolved around storytelling as a communications tool. To that end, it worked with Meekco.Asia to create various types of content for online marketing. These included stories of Destination: GOOD, as well as stories on each of the brands  across the ASEAN region. They also worked together to create behind-the-scenes videos of the products. 

Additionally, AirAsia wanted to promote stories about its best-seller as well – Malaysia’s well-known brand, AirAsia’s Soggy No-More bags. An exclusive Destination: GOOD label, Soggy No-More, offered accessories made from upcycling expired AirAsia life jackets. 

By repurposing the life jackets, the Soggy No-More project aimed to create value from waste materials and reduce the disposal of non-biodegradable materials from landfills. Its line of bags were made in collaboration with Nazanin, a social enterprise of Afghan refugees in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Especially in a time where travel is not possible, AirAsia wanted to trigger and amplify the emotion to “Do GOOD, Feel GOOD” by supporting its beloved budget airline’s sub-project and local social enterprise at the same time through stories that Malaysians would be able to relate to.

Execution

AirAsia started with building a storytelling website instead of a product-first, hard-sell eCommerce site that supports worldwide delivery. This included a blog page on its site which featured stories, as well as educational pieces, and “Feel GOOD” gift idea stories.

It was also able to achieve its objective of a sharing user database, inventory management and reward system between the website and the physical store seamlessly using a single system. Stories of Destination: GOOD were marketed through its home page, blog and video.

Meanwhile, the various social enterprises brands’ stories, as well as behind-the-scenes videos, were shared on the website’s home page and collection and product pages.

For its best-seller product – the Soggy No-More bags – AirAsia and Meekco.Asia created educational and insightful blogs on the product and what goes into making it. This was also marketed on Soggy No-More’s own Facebook page.

Results

DestinationGOOD.com proved to be a successful digital innovation transformation project, having achieved a seamless online-to-offline integration of its sales system. It was also able to reach more people digitally, especially during the tough pandemic year which had temporarily shut down its physical shop in Kuala Lumpur.

Most importantly, AirAsia succeeded in growing destination GOOD into a self-sustaining business to help market, sell and build the social enterprises businesses.