Southwest Airlines garners millions of impressions with rapping flight attentant

David Holmes, SWA rapping flight attendant

Southwest Airlines continues to garner positive press by hiring great employees.  It’s one thing to have a well-written mission statement or great ad campaign, but it’s another thing entirely to actually live your brand promise.  Southwest, although not perfect, is certainly better than most airlines. Yes, they cram you on a plane and only feed you three peanuts, but at least they do it with a smile – which is much more than I can say for most airlines. Why do people fly Southwest? It’s cheap and no frills. Yet somehow, it’s the only airline that manages to ‘exceed’ my expectations when I fly. That doesn’t happen when I book my ticket online. It happens at the personal level. It happens when I am greeted with a smile at the ticket counter. It happens when the flight attendant actually smiles when I ask for six peanuts or more water. And it happens when they tell me during their safety announcement that I can store small children in the overhead compartment.

All the advertising in the world will not fix one of the most important elements of building a successful brand – your people. I mean really, what’s more endearing than a rapping flight attendant?  The guy has garnered close to 2 million views on YouTube and has been featured on CNN, Fox News and other major networks.  Now that’s great branding and PR. No matter what your musical taste, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this: Southwest Airlines’ rapping flight attendant