Fancy yourself creative? Have the ability to think out of the box? Dare to be different? Well, good news for you. You are in demand.
The opening panel at Asia Connect held in Bangkok this week came through with the clear message that creative people are what’s needed most by companies as they struggle to differentiate themselves in the sea of commoditization but are the most difficult to find.
When asked what they would be investing in this and next year, the travel leaders all echoed a similar message, people – people with specialist skills, people with soft skills, people with high EQ and high IQ but above all, people who are creative.
Morris Sim, CEO and co-founder of Circos Brand Karma, said, “The scarcest resource is creative people. We are going to need people who can think differently and who can help us differentiate.”
And creativity does not only mean the ability to come up with catchy slogans and clever taglines or create unique, differentiated content but one which pervades through every facet of the organization.
In Asian Trails’ case, managing director Laurent Kuenzle said the ability to create something that clients will buy from a destination management company was critical.
People no longer need us to buy air tickets or hotel rooms, but they will use us to buy things they wouldn’t be able to find or buy on their own, he said, so creative product managers are needed.
Which leads to the creation of experiences. Grahame Tate, managing director of IDeaS, said that while the word may be over-used, it’s still the most critical factor that differentiates one hotel from another. “The guest experience is what makes or breaks your product,” he said.
Experiences is also how Brett Henry, vice president-marketing of Abacus International, feels destinations and tour operators can differentiate themselves. Reiterating his belief that destination branding with a single catchphrase was “legacy”, he said, customers were looking for experiences.
Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, also shared how the low cost carrier was bundling price and experience to create demand for Thailand. Right after the problems of May, the airline launched a “Bring Your Baht Back to Thailand” and gave away thousands of free seats. Later, it bundled spa packages with the air fare and promoted them to Malaysians and Singaporeans and sold thousands of packages.
The good news is, demand is coming back to Thailand. “We are still a fun country,” he said, saying that story hasn’t changed. “If nothing happens in the first quarter, we will be back to normal,” he said.
He also shared with delegates that up to 85% of Thai AirAsia’s sales come direct through its website and that ancillaries formed 15% of total revenues, a percentage it hopes to double – through creative unbundling, of course.
The good news though is the panelists believe there are plenty of creative people in Asia. The myth that Asians are not creative because their education system is based on rote-learning is just that, a myth, they said at a later panel during WIT*e held in conjunction with Asia Connect.
Kuenzle said that while checking out YouTube the other day, he chanced upon a list showing countries with the most creative advertisements and the number one country was Thailand.
Jennifer Cronin, vice president, sales and marketing of Dusit International, however said that for the hospitality industry to attract more creative people, some practices had to be revisited.
She cited an example of a new recruit who had a “wild hairdo” and human resource had a difficult time accepting that because it was not in line with the “image manual”. “I said, leave him alone, he’s good at his job,” she said.
That remark got a round of applause from the 50-or so students gathered to be inspired and mentored that evening. That, and the call by Henry that the industry needed to pay higher wages if it is to attract fresh, creative talent.
