What’s keeping me up: HK Express’ Mingjun Lu

After the pandemic, travel has emerged as a passion for Hongkongers, particularly among the younger generation, with 68% planning to travel two to three times a year and 22% intending to travel three times or more, according to a survey by Blue Cross.

This has created numerous opportunities for both traditional airlines and low-cost carriers (LCC) to meet various customer needs, including those seeking lesser-known destinations, more affordable flights, and enhanced travel and in-flight experiences.

Among the leading players in the LCC sector, HK Express has been implementing various initiatives and collaborations to differentiate itself. Recently, it partnered with online travel agency Expedia to launch a one-stop travel booking platform designed to help travellers save time and money through bundled flight and accommodation packages. Additionally, it has collaborated with the Korean dinosaur character Joguman to highlight Korea as a key market for the brand.

Leading a team filled with young and vibrant members who share a passion for travel, Mingjun Lu (pictured), general manager of marketing and ancillary at HK Express, acknowledges the challenges of the marketing role. He said that the external environment is continually evolving, necessitating collaboration with various overseas partners from markets such as Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. "This teamwork is essential for developing marketing initiatives that align with market trends, particularly in social media," he added. 

In this episode, Lu shares with us his biggest worry and what keeps him going.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What is the biggest thing you worry about? 

Competition and understanding the market are important. Over the past year, one of the most prominent issues has been the increase in competition.

While some may see competition as a concern, I view it as a driving force; it pushes us to offer more flexible and better products and services to our customers.

For example, in terms of fare categories and opening new routes, we have approached our launches in a very different way. During the launch of the Shizuoka (靜岡) route last year, we leveraged the IP of the popular character Chibi Maruko-chan (櫻桃小丸子). Instead of merely promoting Shizuoka, we used Chibi Maruko-chan to highlight her hometown, making the destination more relatable to people. This approach prompted the thought, "I like Chibi Maruko-chan, so I want to visit Shizuoka".

This project exemplifies our collaboration with the local government in Shizuoka, which provided us with IP resources. It demonstrates how we can leverage partnerships to tap into the local market. In a competitive environment, this encourages us to explore different strategies - not just touting the merits of Shizuoka, but telling a travel story through familiar and beloved characters.

Another product launch case I can share is our product called "U-First". Previously, we referred to it as priority check-in and priority boarding. We were thinking about how to stand out from the competition through product innovation. That’s why we worked with our insurance partner to include a delay protection function bundled with "U-First". When customers choose the "U-First" product and their flight is delayed, they can access the lounge or claim HK$80. These are some of our product innovations aimed at enhancing the overall customer journey in a competitive market.

In addition to competition, there is market expansion. How can we drive brand awareness in overseas markets? How do we tell our travel story? This is an area we need to focus on and explore more deeply.

We have collaborated with various partners, including tourism boards in other countries and the Hong Kong Tourism Board, to share our brand story and build HK Express brand awareness in international markets. This is one of the strategies we are using to win over customers more quickly abroad.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How do you deal with this worry?

As a LCC, we need to be more agile and quickly identify every business opportunity. This has been a key message from our chief commercial officer in various media interviews to inspire everyone. Our approach is that we don't necessarily need to do a grand launch every time, or invest heavily in campaigns in every market. Instead, we focus on how to stand out using different strategies.

For example, in the Korean market, we may not have many marketing resources to hire a K-pop star as our brand ambassador. Instead, we focus on how to use our limited resources, such as Korean cabin crew and staff, to promote their hometown and showcase how wonderful travel to Hong Kong can be. We share what the HK Express experience is like and provide travel tips. This is one example of how we can quickly build awareness in the local market.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: As a leader, how do you deal with it when your staff tells you the work is creating mental pressure and well being issues?  

Fortunately, so far my team has been very positive. They are younger than I am and are more willing to embrace change, as opportunities arise from change. For example, the "U-First" delay protection plan I just mentioned - if we were in a very stable environment, it might not trigger everyone to think about product innovations to provide a better experience for our customers. Instead, these ideas were actively generated by the team through communication."

As for their well-being, we have several steps to take. First, communication is a very important step. We regularly engage with the team through various formal and informal interactions to understand the challenges they encounter in their work and project progress.

I prefer to encourage everyone to continuously try trial and error, but if they face any difficulties along the way, I take responsibility to help them figure out how to handle things with other departments and senior management.

This is one of my roles in relieving their stress. It's crucial to empower ownership and to take accountability for the marketing portfolio, as well as stabilising the ancillary portfolio as a senior leader.

At the beginning, when I joined HK Express, I was able to share my experience from working in the LCC sector with everyone. Gradually, I learned more about new marketing skills and trends from the post-95 and post-00 generations, including how to engage with fan culture. Interestingly, I learned these things from them. While fan culture may seem unrelated to the airline business, understanding their mindset can help us stimulate this group's travel demand, which is one of the key elements in exploring market potential.

For example, we see that many staff members enjoy special forces-style travel, which inspires me. Some colleagues mention taking a quick three-day, two-night trip starting on Friday and returning on Sunday, then coming back to work on Monday. This inspires me to understand how the new generation approaches travel. By leveraging their experiences, we can create different travel stories to show people that they can choose to fly at night and return in the morning, maximising their travel experience - even if they can only take a day or half a day off.

We can demonstrate how HK Express can provide this flexibility because of our network and frequency. These are valuable lessons we can learn from the new generation of colleagues.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How do you boost employee morale when facing obstacles/challenges?

I often tell my team that when they encounter a problem, they should inform me right away. I’m here to help everyone solve issues and support our leader. Additionally, when some team members achieve small milestones, I encourage the team to celebrate together.

There are occasionally some issues, and some projects may not yet be aligned with other teams. When this happens, they need my help, and I will promptly step in to discuss with the leaders of other departments how we can achieve our goals together.

It’s not always about making big profits. Whenever we reach a milestone, we have various forms of celebration, whether it's a motivating email, a few words of encouragement, or treating everyone to drinks.

I believe that if everyone in my team enjoys their work, we will achieve greater success together.

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