For Amira Ayoub, 2024 will be a year focused on networking and experience
Leading company in the Brazilian domestic and international air sector since 2021, transporting an average of 30 million passengers on domestic flights and around three million on international flights per year, Latam wants to connect more with Brazilians. Supported by the slogan Without borders, the brand seeks to inspire consumers to fly.
Latam wants to connect with people in a more human way, reveals Amira Ayoub, head of marketing at Latam Brasil. To this end, the company reinforces its communication in offline media, invests in sponsoring music festivals and will be a sponsor of BBB 24.
My biggest challenge for next year is finding media opportunities, Latam is headquartered and wants to invest, says the executive in the following interview, in which she also talks about the brand’s strategies and pillars.
How long have you been at Latam?
I’ve been at Latam for nine years, I joined to carry out the merger (between TAM and LAN, in June 2012), precisely to support the company in terms of merging cultures. I wasn’t exactly in marketing, but rather in corporate communications. After two years, I switched to marketing, which is actually my training.
Why does Latam aim to democratize the brand and get closer to the public? And what has been done for this?
When we took on the challenge of transforming TAM and LAN into Latam, we obviously had the premise of transforming brands that were local into a global brand. And in terms of transforming it into a global brand, in terms of efficiency and even cost, there was little concern about the marketing part and more about the operational part, which was normal in the movement the company was experiencing. And over time, the brand became distant from the Brazilian public, because it became a global brand, with little local DNA. When the pandemic came, we started to look deeper and understood that we had gone through the worst moment that all airlines and the events area had suffered, which were the sectors most affected. And we understood that the clothes we wore no longer fit. In other words, what is the new Latam? What does the brand want to say after this global transformation in which human beings have changed? And we thought about how to talk to this new consumer. We did a very in-depth research with Ipsos, our research partner, and confirmed what we thought: in fact, consumers changed and were more concerned about having a brand that connected in a human way. And we changed our slogan, which was Together further, to Without borders, in 2022.
And what does the Without Borders subscription do for Latam?
precisely to rescue this local DNA, in all the countries where the company operates. So, be more Brazilian; being more Chilean and being more Peruvian, for example. But Brazil is more important, because it concentrates 50% of the brand’s operations. Unlike other countries, we have a dedicated marketing team, while other countries report to the headquarter in Chile. Without borders is less about geography and more about how consumers can cross their own borders as a person, and that inspires a company like Latam to soar higher and higher. an invitation we make to the consumer about how Latam supports you in every moment of your life. People dream of a leisure trip, of vacations, of traveling with their children, their partners, and this even has an impact on not delaying the flight, because this creates frustration.
Does democratizing the brand also have to do with the objective of democratizing flying?
Yes, but democratizing is not popularizing. Latam is not a popular brand. Especially because when we talk about 220 million Brazilians, only 15% of them fly. The plane is still a means of transport that is not accessible to everyone. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make people dream of flying. Amira, 15 years ago, was a recent graduate who didn’t have the money to fly, but today I’m an executive and I fly. So why can’t the brand speak to everyone by generating this aspiration? Latam wants to connect in a more human way with people and move away from that frequent traveler audience, which has been the company’s focus until now.
What agencies serve the brand? The Without Borders signature was created by whom?
Sem Fronteiras was created by Interbrand, which is the agency that created the Latam brand, and our advertising agency is Graphene, which is a dedicated agency of the IPG Group, formed by WMcCann and MRM to serve Latam worldwide.
And how is the current campaign?
Our campaign is renewed annually. Last year, we launched a more aspirational campaign, and this year we brought a more Brazilian DNA. Next year, my challenge is to start achieving this, because you can’t just stick to the aspirational brand. In the end, build this story with the customer. I make you dream, but what I give you as an asset is also a product. 2024, as shown here firsthand, will be a year very focused on networking and experience.
What will be the strategy to put this into practice?
On the networking side, we’re going to talk a lot about the fact that Latam is the company in Brazil that most connects Brazilians with the world. And on the experience side, activations will still permeate the territory of music. Latam has a very strong connection with this territory, because music is free and everyone can listen to their music. And we believe that when people listen to music, they travel to another place. They travel with a memory of the past, they travel with some dream that is yet to come, in other words, music makes you travel without borders. This year, we had major investments in this area. We are partners with Rockers, the group that owns Rock in Rio and The Town. We were at Primavera Sound and were also sponsors of the Multishow Brazilian Music Award, which in 2023, after 30 years, was shown on national television for the first time. So, we are trying to build the brand with this pillar.
In addition to music, are there Latam sponsorships in other areas?
We also have sponsorships in the sports area. Today, the brand’s ambassador is Marta Silva, voted the best player in the world six times, who also has a lot to do with Latam’s pillar of diversity, inclusion and sustainability. We see in Marta, in a genuine way, a black woman, who was poor and brings several symbols of overcoming in sport. a persona that identifies everything we would like, a very strong strength. Marta is now an ally of our brand. On the sports side, Latam also sponsored the broadcast of the Women’s Cup this year, which was broadcast by Caz TV on YouTube. It is also another pillar that Latam looks at. We look mainly at music, sport and gastronomy. In gastronomy, more than just a sponsorship pillar, we have internal products that are closely linked to this pillar. I’ll give you an example: today we have a project called Brazilian flavor. We bring in chefs who are not recognized, like Helena Rizzo, but are recognized on the outskirts, who now feature on the menu on board Latam. This will be without borders, connecting with Brazilians in a genuine way, also worrying about women, inclusion, sustainability and everything else.
What does the company do to differentiate itself from the competition?
The brand’s greatest strength today is mesh. Among the main domestic players, Latam’s main differentiator is connecting Brazil with the world. Nobody does that. Latam has the highest international frequency: while one has 45 per week, Latam has almost 300 per day. incomparable. But not because it’s the leading company, we can’t think we’re on top of the game and disconnect from Brazilians. So, the way we try to connect with him is precisely by bringing this proposal of Sem Fronteiras, that you will discover the world with Latam. We also have a more powerful loyalty program and an onboard experience that we believe is a strength.
Read the full interview in the print edition of December 18th