Brand Business - Daniel Gelemovich of Volaris

Daniel Gelemovich, Director of marketing and digital

Daniel Gelemovich is responsible for all marketing and digital strategies for the low-cost carrier in Mexico, The United States and Central America. Before joining Volaris earlier this year he served as a vice president of digital at Edelman.

For our November theme, PhocusWire talks to marketing chiefs on the challenges of their roles and the impact of technology and data on travel marketing.

Volaris has had strong financial results in the last year. It’s now the leading domestic airline in Mexico, accounting for about a third of all domestic air traffic. What are some of the key elements of your marketing strategy that have fostered this growth?

We have developed a data-driven approach, so we start with a numeric insight that aims to respond to our client needs, then we create campaigns that are social by design.

Traditional media, such as radio, TV, out-of-home and print still play an important role, but we are focusing more and more on numbers and digital channels, so we aim to create pieces of content that can be seen by our clients on their preferred screen, whenever and wherever it´s best for them.

This includes personalization, to be relevant to the different client segments that fly with us.

We also have invested many of our efforts to “bus switching campaigns,” trying to reach segments that are used to travel by bus so they can know that traveling by air has become more affordable and reachable than ever before.

In many cases, it´s even cheaper than bus, plus it's safer and faster. We are committed to “democratize the skies” and make sure that everybody feels welcome at Volaris.

In early 2018 you created a subscription service, known as VPass. Other airlines have tried this model to foster loyalty, but it hasn’t stuck. Is VPass a success for Volaris? And if so – why do you think it’s working?

At Volaris we strive to try new things and embrace innovation in favor of our customers, just as we did with Vpass, our subscription product where you get the chance to fly once a month.

Compared to other products the Vpass customer base is growing much faster than any other. We are receiving lots of customer information and feedback that is preparing us for the future.

Also, Vpass is a product managed by our revenue management experts who use it as one more toolset to maximize revenues and loads for the company. 

Ya Vas is a new vacation package brand Volaris has launched. Tell us about that and how you’ve introduced it to the market.

Our  plans for introducing YaVas, our holiday business unit, considers Volaris.com as a key element on our market entry strategy. Volaris is not only the market leader but also our website is positioned as one of the top travel e-commerce sites in the region.

Mexicans trust their information is safe on Volaris.com, so taking advantage of our traffic and the various online touch oints throughout the Volaris customer journey makes sense to drive leads and awareness of our new brand.

Nevertheless we built YaVas as a new brand with the vision of positioning it by its own in the online travel agency landscape.  

Mexico ranks in the top ten worldwide for time per day spent on the internet. How are you using digital and social media marketing to grow the Volaris brand?

Our approach is digital first, when you realize that Volaris has no physical stores and more than 70% of our sales are done in our website and app you can see how committed is the brand in digital.

We have become the most popular site for travel in Mexico, not just for airlines, but for the whole travel industry, and we have been doing lots of different and fun initiatives to be in the channels that our clients are using the most.

First we think on the channels (what mix should we use - Instagram stories?, a video to share through WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook? etc.); we think of the formats and lengths (pictures, videos, animations, infographics, live video, etc.); and then we try to create relevant impacts.

We try to surprise and keep authentic to our style, this is an example of a unique video created for our bus switching clients explaining how accessible is to buy our tickets:

The same is valid, both for marketing campaign and our social media channels. In our social media channels we also deliver customer care and respond to all customer questions and needs whenever they write to us directly in our properties or using our @viajavolaris.

Consumers need to clarify information, understand options and ask all kind of questions while they are deciding during their purchase process.

Artificial intelligence allow us, with our chatbot and social media software, to be in contact directly in the messaging channels that they already use every day, without forcing them to dial to a call center or visit a store.

We have recently launched our first campaign using WhatsApp, chatting directly with our clients, they contacted us and sent pictures or songs composed by them to be able to win one year of flights for them and their families, and we are also going to name a plane with their last names.

Are you also incorporating offline marketing strategies and if so, how?

Yes, we combine traditional and digital marketing, we don´t see as one replacing the other. The best approach for us is to be present in all the journey of our clients.

The magic comes on how to integrate both and create stories that live in both worlds and migrate from one format to the other with congruence.

Data is critical element of effective marketing. What type of data is most useful for you and can you tell us a bit about how data influences your campaigns.

We use data everywhere. It’s part of Volaris’ agile approach - you can create, hire, adapt, increase or reduce whatever you might need, as long as you support it with the correct data.

We use data to decide when it's the best time to post something, the duration of a social media add, to create the script of our campaigns and more data demanding tasks, such as the number of conversations our chatbot can handle; when to turn on and off a big digital marketing campaign; the right influencer to partner with or the right promotion to be sent to a specific client in a specific moment.

We have an analytics department, we have analytics implants in all teams and analytics capabilities built as part of every unit in the marketing department (performance marketing, influencer marketing, traditional marketing, social media).

What are the greatest challenges of your role?

Our marketing department is expected to be the spearhead for digital transformation.

Technology moves with such a fast pace that it can be challenging. We are currently experimenting in all the forefront aspects of digital and marketing: automation, personalization, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, etc.

What advice would you give an experienced marketing expert from another sector who is considering a move into the travel industry?

Buckle up, this industry moves incredibly fast. You need to be open to take measured risks, empower your teams to react quickly and create deep partnerships with other experts from the industry.

What companies or brands do you look to for marketing inspiration? 

We love our partnerships with other companies that are truly experts in what they do. We maintain a very close relation with Google, with Facebook and so many others.

It has been really beneficial for both to better understand the industry, the specific needs of our customers and deliver fresh and relevant content for them.

What do you think is the next big thing in marketing in the sector?

Well, it´s not new, but it´s crucial to continuously keep evolving the mobile capabilities. It's related with being able to offer fast experiences with a great user experience.

It's important to keep track on chat and conversational commerce and crucial to create fluent teams related to data, personalization and automation.