{"id":586,"date":"2017-01-11T20:13:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T01:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2017-01-12T09:05:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T14:05:30","slug":"out-of-the-ashes-building-a-brand-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=586","title":{"rendered":"OUT OF THE ASHES, BUILDING A BRAND\u2026.AGAIN.."},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/3JBR7ON2-pU”] [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n

PRESS PLAY>>TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO<\/p>\n

OUT OF THE ASHES, BUILDING A BRAND\u2026.AGAIN..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Usually, my first blog of the year is dedicated to reviewing the holiday marketing efforts and commenting on those who missed the target again.\u00a0 Again, this year I could focus on the news of closings at stores like Sears, Macy\u2019s, and the latest disappearance of The Limited which for years failed to communicate a reason to shop any of their many branded stores.\u00a0 Instead, let\u2019s take a look again at what one great company did at the holidays to build its relationship with its customers and communities by going above and beyond promotion and doing something great\u2026and building it\u2019s brand in the process.<\/p>\n

\"\"Once again, WestJet, the Calgary-based economy airline, took a look around and found a reason to do something really extraordinary at the holidays.\u00a0 This time it was to bring the spirit of the holidays and send a message that it\u2019s more than\u00a0 just good business to do the right thing for the people in your markets.\u00a0 This year, WestJet decided to do something big for the people of Fort McMurray, Alberta, which was devastated by wild fires last spring.\u00a0 In case you might not remember the tragedy, here\u2019s a summary from Wikepedia on what happened:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn May 1, 2016, a\u00a0<\/em>wildfire<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>began southwest of\u00a0<\/em>Fort McMurray<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Alberta<\/em><\/a>, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, destroying<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Record fires destroys Ft. McMurray<\/p><\/div>\n

approximately 2,400 homes and buildings and forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in\u00a0<\/em>Albertan history<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>[7]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>[11]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>It continued to spread across\u00a0<\/em>northern Alberta<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and into Saskatchewan,<\/em>[12]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>consuming forested areas and impacting\u00a0<\/em>Athabasca oil sands<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>operations.<\/em>[13]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>[14]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016.<\/em>[4]<\/sup><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>It is the costliest disaster in\u00a0<\/em>Canadian history<\/em><\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

WestJet greets citizens<\/p><\/div>\n

Needless to say,the impact of this disaster on the people of Fort McMurray was indescribable and the holidays would only serve to remind them of their losses– both physical and emotional.\u00a0 WestJet and its employees decided to make this Christmas special in the town and created an event that its citizens would remember.\u00a0 The stories that they recorded from some of the townspeople are moving, the personal contribution and spirit of the employees is exemplary, the gift of a free flight for each citizen was above and beyond.\u00a0 Then the marketing of the event once again proves that a big company can act as a close friend or family in an authentic way.\u00a0 Take a few minutes to view the story at this link and I think you\u2019ll see what I mean.\u00a0 Be sure to scroll to the interviews which are best ROI a company can achieve on something like this:<\/p>\n

Click on :\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/www.westjet.com\/en-ca\/about-us\/story\/christmas-miracle<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

Employees share gifts<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Santa visits Ft. McMurray for WestJet<\/p><\/div>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time that WestJet has won over the hearts of its cusomters at the holidays and I doubt that it will be the last.\u00a0 This is a company that gets it.\u00a0 It\u2019s growth continues by running a good airline but its brand is stronger by being a good citizen.\u00a0 The companies that have downsized or closed failed to realize that branding is a culture that must be sustained and nurtured all year with every transaction and through every communication.\u00a0 With that kind of commitment, we can all look forward to a great 2017.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/3JBR7ON2-pU”] [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] PRESS PLAY>>TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO OUT OF THE ASHES, BUILDING A BRAND\u2026.AGAIN..   Usually, my first blog of the year is dedicated to reviewing the holiday marketing efforts and commenting on those who missed the target again.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":611,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}