ny one who has seen the film Rainman will remember the airport scene where Tom Cruise’s mentally handicapped but talented brother, played by Dustin Hoffman, refuses to get on any other plane than Qantas, because it had never crashed – a good plug for the airline and an endearing scene to boot. But staff at the iconic Aussie airline will remember recent history with much less than endearment.
A failed $11bn takover bid by Airline Partners Australia threw the airline into one of the most turbulent times it has ever faced, a period that has seen it dragged through the press daily and led to the resignation of chairman Margaret Jackson.
It is hard to imagine how the brand has escaped damage throughout this controversy. Quantas’ marketing chief Neil Ross is the man charged with ensuring the brand comes through this difficult time. He will have to draw on his 20-plus years of experience in the advertising industry to get him through it.
Ross joined Qantas in January 2006, following stints as managing director of DDB Sydney and McCann Erikson Sydney. Having also set up, run and sold his own agency before, Ross has certainly faced challenging times, though maybe this is the biggest.
So, has the takeover bid had a negative effect on the brand?
“Yes. I think people were surprised and disappointed and feeling let down that Qantas, this great icon, this company that has performed so well on the world stage, could then be sold, despite how well it was doing. People were asking: ‘Why should it be vulnerable if it’s doing so well?’” he says.
In a curious cross-over between business and consumer perceptions, the intense media coverage of the bid has left Ross with a job on his hands to restore the brand to its former glory. Ross believes part of the brand damage has been the result of confusion over business issues, such as sending jobs offshore.
“There was a lot of misunderstanding about Qantas’ ownership. Some people thought it was still government-owned – they weren’t really sure. They thought we’d sent engineering jobs offshore, but they are down in Avalon in Melbourne. There has been a lot of investment, but people weren’t really aware of those things. They take in the negative things they read in the press and that’s as far as the assessment goes,” he says.
“Now we have to rebuild and remind people of what we do.”
He insists that during the bid the brand was always at the forefront of senior management’s minds. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh that doesn’t matter’, it was a critical part. We are very conscious of the Qantas brand,” he says.
the road ahead
In the aftermath, it is decision time for Ross and his superiors. If the airline brand is to rebuild, the right tack has to be taken on new marketing campaigns. The Qantas man will not be drawn on whether any new campaign will directly mention what has been happening.
“That’s yet to be decided. Like the captain of a nuclear warship, I can neither confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons on this ship,” he says.
However, in commercials that have broken in the last few days, as well as moving minds away from takeover talk, there is the responsibility of maintaining Qantas as an iconic Australian brand. Globally it is perhaps the strongest Australian brand and it is a source of pride for Australians. Ross says he alone is not the custodian of the brand, but that all those who work for the company are charged with this. But he admits his role entails “an obligation, a great responsibility to see that it’s not damaged, that it’s constantly enhanced”.
Part of this responsibility comes from the affinity Australians feel with the airline, and goes some way to explain how the takeover could have negatively affected public perceptions. The public has a proprietary feeling towards Qantas, Ross says.
“Every Australian thinks that Qantas in a way belongs to them, just as much as it belongs to the shareholders, which is a very unique place to be,” he says.
Of course, this adds its own pressure. “They love Qantas, but also feel free to criticise it.”
experience counts
It will be a testing time for Ross and the brand, but it will not be his first. His career has involved marketing roles before, including one at SC Johnson & Son, from where he went on to cofound the advertising agency with Smith Ross & Muir. It was eventually sold to Bozell Worldwide. It is clear that the end of this business venture is not a favourite period of his career.
“We were quite successful, but there were issues in the way some of the partners were interfacing with each other and the clients, and we needed to make changes and they were traumatic. It meant that partnership had to change so we elected to sell the agency. But going through that process, there can be some negative vibes. It’s hard to work through. And you just can’t say ‘I’m out of here’.”
Ross was approached for the Qantas job after he left his role as managing director of Interpublic’s McCann-Erickson Sydney following the arrival of new senior management headed by Chris Mort as CEO. Given his background in marketing, and through being the de facto marketing department for some of the smaller clients at his start-up, Ross says it was a natural fit for him to go to Qantas.
People who have worked with Ross say he is a relationship man, who is aware that those who work for him are people, as well as employees.
Ross and his team work with creative agencies M&C Saatchi and Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, while ZenithOptimedia handles its media.
Andrew Varasdi, managing director of SOM, says: “His approach is to respect and understand the importance of people. That creates an environment that allows agencies to deliver.”
Joe Talcott, group marketing director for News Ltd, who worked with Ross in his DDB days, adds that Ross’ “preparation and knowledge” could sometimes make him seem unapproachable, but that wasn’t his own experience. Like Varasdi, Talcott talks of Ross’ focus on building relationships with people on both sides of the agency/client divide. He did not forget all the work was “produced by people”, Talcott says.
Ross must now focus on those relationships as he tries to guide an Australian icon out of one of the most testing times of its 86-year history.
