WTCE 2016: Connected Passenger Needs in a Changing World
Hello everybody!
My name is Michael and I’m Vice President Product at LSG Group. You might have met me in Hamburg recently. As you probably know, earlier this month we were at the World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo (WTCE 2016) where we presented the LSG Group brand for the first time. Pretty exciting!
One particular highlight for me was having the honor to represent the LSG Group together with my colleague Vassilios Georgakopoulos (Director Product Innovation & Concepts) during one of the expo’s interactive presentation sessions. During our presentation, we shared our ideas along the theme of “Connected Passenger Needs in a Changing World” and explained the LSG Group’s renewed understanding of creating a caring and forward thinking collaboration with our customers and partners.
LSG Group: Thinking about a Passenger’s Needs
In order to appeal to passenger needs, we feel that it’s essential to “look” and “think” before you start creating ideas. First, you must reflect on and rethink the whole idea of travelling. In doing so, you should consider the trends and innovations that might radically change the whole passenger experience in the future. We have to stop seeing the world just through the lens of technology. Also, we must keep in mind that the appearance and usability of a lot of travel items might have changed drastically over the years, but the underlying demands are still coming from basic human Needs.
We’re now facing a generation of highly informed passengers who are more demanding than ever. This generation specifically prefers brands that empower them to live a specific kind of lifestyle. These ‘new’ passengers see airlines as lifestyle brands. The decision of which one they will use is closely related to the individual lifestyle they’re following and their specific needs at the Moment.
Passengers with High Expectations
Transparency is, therefore, a crucial value for airlines. The potential effects of new ideas (like “social seating”) have to be taken into consideration when thinking about products and services. Technology is getting more and more intelligent and passengers expect it to be understood intuitively and, yet, be as customizable as possible. They’re used to the technology they benefit from in their daily life and will compare our services with the ones they’re enjoying every day.
However, let’s not forget about food and beverages! Food is quickly transforming into a lifestyle reflecting part of our daily life. Artisanal and meaningful food has changed our expectations regarding offered products. People are now more interested in nutrition, healthy ingredients and additional benefits caused by specific products. Food will continue to be seen as a vehicle for body enhancement in the future.
LTCC: Use Co-Creation to Make Services and Products Unique
So, how can we handle these fast changes and high expectations? Well, together with our customers, we follow our self-developed LTCC Approach: “Look”, “Think”, “Connect” and “Create”. This approach isn’t just theoretical either! We’re already using LTCC to maximize the benefits of our global network and extensive industry knowledge. More importantly, we have already been able to use the approach to co-create tailor-made concepts for our customers. The first workshops and brainstorming sessions we organized have been very successful and have opened the door to a new way of interaction and cooperation.
With this approach, we are able to bring together special teams to develop products and services that are genuinely relevant to passengers and consumers. We use our expertise and combine it with the information that is available to us and our customers’ requirements for the products and services they Need.
Almost anyone can collect information, but turning this data into relevant knowledge is a gift that only a few people have. That is precisely where our co-creation approach comes in. We bring together people with the right skills and the right information to form a task force. This means that our scenarios are very realistic and closely connected with the brand, market and our customers’ passengers.
Interested? Contact me any time!
Yours,