SimpliFlying: Making a great idea take flight (A)

• Main Authors: NETZLEY, Michael, WONG, Adina
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Corporate strategy; marketing; social media; aviation; strategy execution; branding; consulting; customer loyalty; Singapore; Asian Studies; Business and Corporate Communications; Marketing; Strategic Management Policy; Transportation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/124; https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/2831
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Part (A) of the case is about how Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying Pte Ltd, a company based in Singapore, searches for the corporate strategy and vision for his company. SimpliFlying was founded in March 2008, and was originally a blog, which commented on issues in marketing aviation. After thinking about how he could find a niche for his business, Nigam decided to sell his company’s services by combining the three pillars of aviation, marketing and technology through social media. However, he recognised that he still needed to decide on the long-term positioning of the company – should SimpliFyling focus on strategy consulting, or strategy execution (agency) work, or both. At the same time, Nigam’s company was also receiving calls from hotels to help them with branding projects. In the end, Nigam decides that the company should handle business that was related to aviation strategy only. Part (B) of the case covers a specific project that SimpliFlying is handling. By November 2011, SimpliFlying had developed into a reputed aviation market strategy consulting and training firm. Estonian Airline’s social media loyalty programme was not only SimpliFlying’s second major airline project, but also the first airline loyalty programme in the world to be driven purely by social media. Despite the challenging timeline – only eight weeks from conceptualisation to launch – SimpliFlying had managed to deliver beyond expectations. However, Nigam had to consider if the approach he had used was the best way to implement bigger projects going forward.