This is one girl who shouldn't be dumped

by Matthew Phan

20 February 2007

Business Times Singapore

High-flyers want the S'pore Girl icon to be just tweaked

(SINGAPORE) Good-looking, impeccably groomed, warm and friendly, even imbued with a mystical Asian essence - and they want to get rid of her? Senior executives said Singapore Airlines should ditch the idea of ditching the Singapore Girl and get on with basic stuff like improving service and entertainment.

Superlatives abounded as they rushed to compare her with various national and corporate icons, the Nike swoosh and the Coke bottle among them.

'Why quit a winning horse? Changing their uniform would be like painting the Eiffel Tower red. While we are at it, some might think it time to update the Merlion - pink, perhaps?' said John Jessen, MD of Smith & Jessen.

Many described the Singapore Girl as an instantly recognisable extension of the airline - in management jargon, she has 'brand equity' - and said SIA would do better to focus on improving operating fundamentals, rather than tweak its already successful branding.

'SIA is under tremendous pressure from its competitors. Emirates has over the years tried to own the title of a great service provider in the airline scene. But what Emirates does not have - and SIA does - is the Singapore Girl,' said Palani Pillai, MD of CRUSH Advertising.

'In the ever-changing world of technology, where there are faster, bigger planes being introduced all the time, the only constant has been the Singapore Girl,' Mr Pillai added.

However, others felt the airline's branding was irrelevant. 'To me, as a traveller, the Singapore Girl visage has no meaning,' said KC Lee, CEO of SIM Global Education & Professional Development. 'The products, services and staff matter - not the spin. Brand image is built on customer experience, not on a logo. SIA would be better off spending time and money on improving products, services and staff.'

Still, most agreed that the Singapore Girl's image should be updated as modern and independent - like Singapore herself - rather than traditional and subservient.

Suggestions ranged from the facile to the fundamental, as CEOs derided everything from eyeshadow to character traits. 'Keep the basic kebaya but perhaps have different variations for the seasons of the year,' said David Keith, president of Asia Pacific, Garner International. 'Surprise the passenger! And the real makeover: let's get rid of the blue eyeshadow from the days when the Beatles were stomping around.'

Wee Piew, CEO of HG Metal Manufacturing, said the girl was 'a hangover from Singapore's colonial past and is an anachronistic image of the submissive Asian - or, more specifically, Singapore woman.

'The modern Singapore woman cannot be more different. She is financially and mentally independent, assertive and can more than hold her own.'

Other mental images of an up-to-date Singapore Girl: sophisticated, cosmopolitan and IT-savvy, capable of juggling both work and home effectively, and - the clincher - 'providing high value professionally with the experience to handle any crisis, such as a terrorist attack, bomb scare, medical emergency, etc'.

Leslie Wa, CEO of HLN Technologies, swung the feminist axe the other way, demanding 'some gender rights reflected in the makeover'. It would be 'mouth-watering' if SIA could include 'a Singapore Macho Man concept alongside the Singapore Girl image', he said.

But the shrewdest comment belongs, appropriately, to a woman.

Said Theresa Chew, CEO of Expressions: 'The challenge now is for SIA to come up with a concept that retains the charm of the Singapore Girl, yet encapsulates the dynamism of a first-class service provider.'

It remains to be seen if SIA's new icon will be the same head-turner it has been - or even a head-turner at all.