Business|Adults|Pre-Int|17. Advertising in airlines
Read the quotation and explain its meaning
«For any kind of company you don’t want to be a commodity We fight every day to stand out.»
— Kevin Krone, the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Southwest Airlines
Now imagine you work in marketing for a company. Explain to what extent and why it is important to oversee and provide direction to the following?
Skim the first three paragraphs of an article about a famous brand in the air travel industry
Singapore Airlines
Aviation in Singapore is a key component of the Singaporean economy in its quest to be a transport hub of the Asian region. Besides currently the sixth busiest airport of the world and the fourth busiest air cargo hub in Asia, the Singapore aviation industry is also a significant aerospace maintenance and repair centre.
Nowadays, you can easily say that Singapore Airlines is one of the most successful airlines in the world. The main reason for this is its strong brand management. Because the airline has no domestic flights, it had to compete for international routes straight away. This difficult start led to a strong emphasis on branding. In order to stand out from the other major airlines, Singapore Airlines invested greatly in research and development. They aimed to offer the best technology and excellent customer service.
One of the most important aspects of the brand was the cabin crew. When the airline was launched in 1972, it employed the French designer, Pierre Balmain, to design the uniform. He created a special version of the Malaysian sarong. The image of the Singapore Airline flight stewardess in her sarong became one of the best known in the air travel industry. It illustrated the brand values of hospitality and customer care. Singapore Airlines ran a very detailed training programme for the cabin crew to make sure that the brand was always fully delivered. Their slogan ‘A great way to fly’ also emphasised the high quality of the brand.
Tick the aspects of the Singapore Airlines brand which were mentioned in the text
Match the words with their meanings
Watch out!
Cabin crew members are also known as stewards/stewardesses, air hosts/hostesses, cabin attendants and flight attendants.
Nowadays, with an increase in the number of men entering the field, the term «flight attendant» is the most appropriate and preferred one on all airlines.
Read the second paragraph again and identify the causes for the two effects in the table below, then find a phrase which introduces the reason
Nowadays, you can easily say that Singapore Airlines is one of the most successful airlines in the world. The main reason for this is its strong brand management. Because the airline has no domestic flights, it had to compete for international routes straight away. This difficult start led to a strong emphasis on branding. In order to stand out from the other major airlines, Singapore Airlines invested greatly in research and development. They aimed to offer the best technology and excellent customer service.
Look at these two sentences and decide whether each sentence is about cause or result, and then answer the questions that follow
Watch out!
Cause and effect are often used in business English. The two most common linking words to talk about cause and effect are because (of) and so.
The main clause can be about either the cause or the result, and the subordinate clause will be about the other − and is usually known as a result clause or a reason clause.
- Johnny kicked a ball at the window so the window broke. (result clause)
- The window broke because Johnny kicked a ball at it. (reason clause)
Match each of the causes with the correct effect
The following paragraph talks about the causes and effects in exercise above. Read it and put the words and phrases from the box in the correct gaps
Read the exam tip on BEC Reading Part 6 and answer the questions
Reading Part 6
Multiple-choice cloze
This part tests candidates’ grammatical accuracy and understanding of text structure. This is a multiple-choice cloze test. Candidates have to select the correct word from three options to complete the 12 gaps.
This part has a predominantly grammatical focus and tests candidates’ understanding of the general and detailed meaning of a text, and in particular their ability to analyse structural patterns.
Read the final paragraph ignoring the gaps and trying to predict what kind of word is missing. Put the gap number in the corresponding line
Read the text again. Decide which words grammatically and lexically fit each gap and write them down in the appropriate box
| 1 | A. was | B. has | C. did |
| 2 | A. her | B. his | C. its |
| 3 | A. a | B. an | C. — |
| 4 | A. who | B. which | C. it |
| 5 | A. with | B. to | C. against |
| 6 | A. his | B. its | C. own |
| 7 | A. whose | B. which | C. who |
| 8 | A. on | B. for | C. to |
| 9 | A. we | B. he | C. they |
| 10 | A. without | B. with | C. for |
| 11 | A. their | B. our | C. its |
| 12 | A. for | B. of | C. with |
Role-play the situation
Read about your role and then take a couple of minutes to prepare. When you are ready, your teacher starts the conversation. Remember to follow the instructions.
You work in the marketing department of a company. You think it would be a good idea to spend most of the advertising budget on online advertising. The marketing manager does not seem very keen on it, but he has asked you to find out more.
| After some digging, you have the following information: |
| How it works:
The advert comes up on the screen if someone types in one of your keywords when they are using a search engine. You can choose the keywords from your advert. You can also target people searching in particular countries. |
| What the advert consists of:
You are allowed a title and two short lines to describe your product. Under this, there is a link which will take people to the company website. |
| Cost:
The price depends on the number of keywords you choose. You think that your company should spend at least ________ a month. (You choose how much) The search engine’s website contains many comments from companies who have increased their business by advertising online. |
Watch out!
Try to reach a decision about what percentage (e.g. 80%) of your advertising budget to spend on online advertising.
Match each cause with its effect
Complete the sentences with either because, so or in order to
Read descriptions and write down words. The number in brackets represents how many letters there are in a word
Read the sentences and complete them with missing words or phrases from the box
You will hear a purser conducting a pre-flight briefing with flight attendants. For each gap fill in the missing information
Watch out!
A purser is the head flight attendant onboard.
Look at this example of a pop-up online advert and prepare your 2-minute speech on the topic «Online advertising»
Sports equipment
Great deals on sportswear!
High quality balls, bats, rackets…
- What are the advantages of advertising in this way? Try to think of them and name three.
- Are there any disadvantages you can think of?
- Would you follow the pop-up ad link? Why (not)?
- Have you ever ordered anything online without planning because you followed a pop-up online ad? What was it?
- Do online ads bring additional revenue to companies or it is just a waste of budget money?
Allow your browser the access to the microphone, press the button «Record» and record the speech you have prepared
- Warm-up
- Singapore Airlines
- Airline vocabulary
- Cause&Effect
- A connection between cause and effect
- Exam tip Reading Part 6
- Strategy of Singapore Airlines
- Online Marketing
- Cause and effect bond
- Adv phrases
- Airlines Vocabulary Drill
- Cabin crew briefing
- Speak out your mind