iMedia's news editor reports on the iMedia Agency Summit's second day keynote presentation by Delta Air Lines Managing Director of Marketing Tim Mapes.

"Optimism is the one word that can make change good," said Tim Mapes, managing director of marketing, Delta Air Lines, at the opening of his presentation, "Travel on the Edge: Embracing Change at Delta."

Mapes explained, "The airline has lost more money in the last seven years. 9/11 sent the entire business into a tailspin. Today the industry is trying to work its way out. My presentation is about travel on the edge, and I hope you can find something to inspire your clients to embrace change in different ways."

It's been tough times lately for Delta, which has been experiencing financial challenges. "Delta has lost more in six years than it has made in the last 77 years. But there is nothing more clarifying than failure. This experience has become a wakeup call for us to change," said Mapes.

The managing director of marketing for Delta referenced Darwin's notion of change for survival. "People don't want to change. If you don't embrace the changing world, you will lose out," said Mapes.

Change is the norm
Mapes noted that change is normal and Delta's experience with change could be seen in the following three entities: 

• Changing customers
• Changing industry
• Changing company

"Fundamentally, the airplane industry is not changing while the customer changes," said Mapes.

Most of the airlines, according to Mapes, target the traveling business male but overlook another important traveling audience: the affluent, traveling woman.

"We went after the needs of traveling women. When you ask a guy what he wants in an airplane, it's simple. When you ask a woman, they tell us amazing things about fashion and style. We got feedback to build an experience from the ground up. So, we were in a sense building a lifestyle brand," said Mapes on Delta's creation of its airline called Song.

Mapes explained that these traveling women represented a high income bracket and were booking trips for their family. They were like travel agents who also shared their experiences with friends.

Delta created Song to give consumers, according to Mapes, a great experience not only on the flight but everything leading up to it. This multi-service was done with a heavy reliance on online and interactive experiences. Delta worked with Modem Media to create a site that gave a sampling of in-flight movies, music and shopping.

"We also created a travel photo sharing site to create an emotional connection among customers," said Mapes on how Delta worked with social media marketing.

The results of creating the Song brand earned Delta recognition from Conde Nast Traveler as one of the best three airline brands.

Then Delta was faced with experiencing a possible Chapter 11. The company had to decide what to do with its 77-year-old-brand. The answer came in the form of rebuilding its brand from the inside out while adapting to the ever-evolving consumer.

Delta studied the business traveler audience and discovered that they live, as Mapes called it, "a 24/7 crackberry life." These business traveling customers were consuming media differently and always had their Blackberry and portable handheld devices with them.

"Air travel is a major experience in their life," said Mapes on making that experience the best so that these customers would return.

A positive experience for brand and customer
Mapes explained that brands are faced with a "change or die" discussion to catch up with evolving technology and changing customers.

"Too many organizations based their change on fear, which is not good," said Mapes. "People are much more inspired to change if they see a positive income."

Brands in this position are urged to challenge the agencies, improve the customer experience offline and online and improve company morale.

"We need the agencies to bring new life to Delta. It's all about loyalty and treating the customer well while they travel and while they research about traveling. It's also important to embed a sense of optimism in the leadership to generate a level of excitement because change gets measured in the people."

Mapes closed his keynote presentation on a positive note and said, "Optimism, not pessimism, is the way to accelerate the rate of change."

Roger Park is iMedia's news editor. Read full bio.