Landmark might sound like a very grounded name for a
high-flying aviation company, but it is one that resonated immediately with all
200 customers it was tested on, says Andrew Farrant, marketing communications
vp at the newly named Landmark Aviation.
Alphabet-soup corporate acronyms and cute high-tech names
hinting at links with mythology left them cold. What caught the traditional
business aviation community's attention was a name with a traditional ring to
it.
Landmark, hinting of the sort of place in Boston where you
would invest your mother's money, really struck a chord. Visions of aviators
having a network of landmarks around the country played an emotive role. And
much to Garrett/Piedmont Aviation/Associated's astonishment, the name was
available.
The company knew it needed a solid, meaningful name if all
parts of the business were to pull together toward a single vision. "We had to
know who we are before we could execute what we are," Farrant told Show News.
The old names, while carrying a great history and customer recognition,
wouldn't gel together to provide that focus: to woo customers with seamless,
one-stop service that makes them want to use Landmark facilities.
"From a long-term perspective we can envision an environment
where somebody could land at one of our FBOs and be greeted by a line service
guy or gal with a PDA in their hand that gives full visibility of that customer
across our network." said Farrant. "'Great to see you; we understand you had
your aircraft in Springfield last week and we did some engine work. How is
everything? Oh, by the way, we noticed there was a tear in your seat back;
looks like you are going to be here for a couple of days—we'd be happy to get
that resolved for you while you are here.'"
To get to that point is a tremendous challenge.
"We had to get the brand established, the culture
established and the strategy established before we could start to take material
steps," said Farrant. "We have already begun the process of cross-training
across the businesses. At the simplest end of the scale we want staff at an FBO
to be well enough educated to provide customers access to any opportunity for
taking advantage of Landmark's other services."
Integration of Landmark's companies has been a major focus
over the past year in preparation for the new strategy. Background efforts have
included implementation of a single financial platform as the first step in
creating the information technology network Landmark will require to track its
customers' needs.
"We were adamant that from the start this wouldn't be a
program where everybody wakes up one day and all we've done is change the sign
on the wall. We've all seen that before," Farrant said.
