What the Idols taught me about brands that should blog

Last week I had the good fortune to be on the same kulula.com flight as the last five contestants in the Idols 2007 season.

I wouldn’t say it was good fortune to hear them sing Happy Birthday over the intercom to one of the cabin attendants, even if it was very sweet of them, but I did learn a powerful lesson through their presence on the aircraft. And it had nothing to do with the fact that our TV heroes look a lot more ordinary in real life than they do on screen.

As the plane taxied into its parking spot at Cape Town International Airport, and the passengers all cheered at the sight of both engines still affixed to the wings, the pilot made a startling announcement: “On behalf of Nationwide airlines, sponsors of Idols, we would like to thank you all for flying kulula.com.”

The penny dropped. All Nationwide airlines flights had been grounded the weekend before, as a result of an engine falling off flight CE723 from Cape Town on November 7.

Its maintenance facilities were still undergoing inspection on the day of my flight, and not even the Idols contestants could override the Civil Aviation Authority in order to fly with their airline sponsors. But they had to get to Cape Town to try on their latest contest outfits, courtesy of clothing sponsor Truworths, which has never had to close its stores due to engine malfunction, or at least has never admitted to same.

So the contestants were herded on to the next available early-morning flight, which could explain why their rendition of Happy Birthday was so off-key. The flight also happened to be on my favourite airline, which I enjoy for the good-natured attitude of its staff and the sometimes silly, sometimes hilarious humour they inject into their cabin announcements.

Mostly, I tolerate the bad jokes, accepting that most of it is all probably scripted in advance. After all, I have sometimes heard the same gags and routines repeated on different flights.

As often, though, real comedic talent surfaces. And the captain’s comment couldn’t possibly have been scripted. It is unlikely that the marketing department was on standby with a scriptwriter in the eventuality of the pilot needing a quick actuality joke. Rather, the punch line to the flight seemed to flow naturally from the attitude of the crew, the culture of the airline and an adventurous approach to communicating with customers.

If that doesn’t sum up the perfect ingredients for a corporate or company blog, nothing does. It was suddenly blindingly obvious that kulula.com needed a company blog. The way these things usually happen, the marketing department or corporate communications is tasked with coming up with a theme and a team of writers. The way it works best, however, is when the staff themselves are allowed to take the blog and run with it.

On the evidence of kulula.com’s Idols flight, that’s precisely the strategy kulula.com should embrace. In fact, it’s what we should expect of the brand.

Does a natural blogging culture lurk behind any other major brands in this country? Nando’s and NetFlorist come to mind. Further suggestions are welcome for businesses that could become Amablogoblogo brands.