Pulling Together in a World Out of Control!

Two different news stories about the same company in late June 2020 told you all you needed to know about the financial state of Calgary-based WestJet. For over 20 years, it was the little airline that couldand eventually didascend from nowhere to become a rival for Air Canada to reckon with. WestJet scraped its way up from having a fleet of 3 planes, 220 employees, and 5 Canadian destinations to being a legitimate global player, acquiring 10 industry-leading Boeing Dreamliners between 2019 and 2021, ambitiously growing its web of destinations globally, and employing over 14 000 by March 2020.

On June 24, 2020, a little over four months after the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the airline industrypossibly foreverthat scrappy, not-so-little-anymore airline was fighting for its life but also clearly coming out of the corner like a bloody-nosed boxer, refusing to throw in the towel. On that day, it came out punching, making waves with two press releases. First, it indicated that it would be forced to permanently cut 3300 jobs, a portion of which would come from the 6900 first laid off in March. Second, it would proceed with plans to lift social distancing restrictions on all of its flights, beginning in July 2020.

The coinciding statements were viewed as operational essentials for a company in an industry with little to no short-term answers to address the impact of COVID-19. They were also positioned by WestJet and framed by the media as counterpunches to provincial, federal, and international regulators, which had largely and unilaterally decided that snuffing out the virus would have to come at the cost of the airline industry.

WestJet, never shy and from its inception always quite sly in utilizing public relations as a communications strategy, had once again signalled to its stakeholders that, while it was down, it was not out.

PR, or public relations, is just one of the five essential promotional strategies discussed in the remaining chapters of this text. Advertising, sales promotions, direct response, and personal selling fill the marketers toolbox when it comes to the Ps of the 4 Ps, otherwise known as the marketing mix. By the time WestJet launched its first flight in 1996, it had become common practice for companies to integrate all of these tools into unified messages rather than utilize the somewhat separate and haphazard message creation and execution of the past. Thus, integrated marketing communications has become the generally accepted practice. Few companies integrate their messaging better than WestJet over the course of its history.

WestJet relishes its role of the feisty but fierce underdog with a good heart. Its advertising, seat sales, and social media throughout its history have always been carefully coordinated to position WestJet as an airline serious about passenger loyalty that doesnt take itself too seriously. The integratedness of its communications could be witnessed in nearly every customer interaction, from its storied Christmas Miracle social media campaign to the self-effacing and light-hearted behaviour of its flight crews. Every time WestJet speaks, there is a cheeky but compassionate sheen atop its serious business practices.

Keeping all of that in balance, however, is a daunting task indeed in the throes of a global pandemic that brought WestJet to its knees. For the first time in its history, WestJet held back on its funster instincts by forgoing its annual April Fools Day prank, a YouTube-driven social media play that has become a gag anticipated by its legions of followers every yearand is widely covered by news networks as well. Just one of the many ways in which WestJet has come to grips with life in the new normal. Trying to keep its head above water, mustering a brave face in turbulent times, while not fully concealing its need to connect with people in a lighthearted manner.

On June 24, 2020, WestJet President and CEO Ed Sims took to social media to speak to WestJet employees, travellers, other Canadians, and (indirectly) politicians and airline regulators about the airline's state of affairs four months into the COVID-19 pandemic. You can watch his address on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WestJet/status/1275853434797862913?s=20. This is an example of which component of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) or promotional mix?

a. advertising

b. direct response

c. public relations

d. b and c

e. a and c

In all of WestJet's social media activity from March through June of 2020, the messaging around its response to COVID-19 was consistent, whether it was a public relations video by an executive or an announcement of a seat sale. Which concept is this consistency typical of?

a. the marketing mix

b. integrated marketing communications

c. public relations

d. advertising

e. direct response

How do questions 2 and 3 help demonstrate WestJet's use of integrated marketing communications?

a. They indicate that WestJet uses a variety of promotional tools.

b. They suggest that WestJet uses other promotional tools besides advertising.

c. They show how the content of WestJet's communications is linked across different platforms.

d. They suggest the WestJet does not do much in the way of personal selling.

e. They indicate that WestJet has a long-term communications strategy.

What is WestJet announcing a Canada Day seat sale on Facebook in June 2020 an example of?

a. sales promotion

b. direct response

c. personal selling

d. b and c

e. a and b