The recent scandal involving a Chinese inflight magazine’s description of London shows the importance of making content suitable for a global audience
Inflight magazines are one of the most established forms of content marketing around. They have been ubiquitous on flights across the world since first emerging with KLM’s Holland Herald half a century ago.
This week, an image emerged from Air China’s inflight magazine Wings of China. It showed a piece from the magazine warning tourists planning to visit London that “precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people” as well as advising women to be accompanied by another person while travelling at all times.
Much uproar ensued, obviously. The airline withdrew the magazine while the publisher apologised for its “editing mistake”.
Tailor your content
The incident raised a number of issues, particularly about the importance of accurately and intelligently tailoring content for a global marketplace.
And, as is so often the case in content marketing, this means bringing in the experts.
It’s difficult to understand how this kind of error slipped through the net, but we can be confident that whatever editorial filter was in place lacked local (in this case English) knowledge.
There are many other pitfalls that can be easily avoided: not using country-specific dates or traditions in copy, for example. Effective translation is also vital.
But editorial input from somebody with genuine local knowledge will help to avoid the kind of PR disaster Air China and its publisher has experienced. Seek out a trusted, informed editor or sub-editor, and run everything through them.
Brace, brace
Inflight magazines are often seen as a content marketer’s dream. Here you have an established format and a captive (in both senses of the word) audience. In a predominantly Wi-Fi-free zone, strapped into a seat for hours at a time, of course you’re going to flick through the magazine that’s placed right in front of you.
But, times are a-changing.
Earlier this year, Ryanair announced that, instead of an inflight magazine, it would be concentrating on increasing its digital output – with the possibility of free Wi-Fi on selected routes. Ryanair’s inflight selection currently only extends to Runway Retail – essentially a menu of the food, drink and gifts for sale on board. “The days of the inflight magazine are numbered,” Ryanair CMO Kenny Jacobs warned.
Worrying words. But what was more disturbing for content marketers was Ryanair’s intention not to use professional content creators but rather ‘user-generated content’ aimed at passengers taking similar routes, for similar purposes. A family who have been on a summer holiday to Marbella, for example, submit a two-minute video review of the city – with tips for future holidaymakers.
Jacobs reassured that there was still a place for professional writers, photographers and videographers in Ryanair’s output – and that staff writers may even be recruited from this self-generating ‘content engine’ of passengers.
A smooth ascent
Despite this apparently troubled forecast, in reality the move is a simple case of knowing your audience. Ryanair has surmised that its audience is not that of, for example, Condé Nast Traveller. They have no need for aspirational features about dream destinations; rather the efficient, budgeted traveller of a Ryanair flight would prefer bitesize informative chunks from likeminded people.
The success of this move will only become clear over time. What is undisputed is that inflight magazines will continue to provide content to a large audience. Iberia, Spain’s largest airline, carries 17 million passengers a year. An issue of its magazine Ronda is in the back of every seat on national and international flights, in Spanish and English.
There is value in reaching this audience. And to engage as much of it as possible, it’s worth investing time, effort, and region-specific expertise into making sure that the content lands smoothly.
