When Singapore Airlines (SIA) finally announced the name of its own budget airline brand, to fly in mid-2012, there were hoots of derision. Why? The name is Scoot.
Huh? What kind of name is that for an airline, budget or not? Defenders of the presumably carefully chosen brand name accepted SIA's insistence that the name Scoot was chosen to project a different identity from SIA. Again, why? How much did it pay the branding experts to conjure up this name?
Then, today (5 Nov), ST reader Ms Judy Lim offered gratis her -- and I would say brilliant -- suggestion: SQoot.
The SIA parentage is at once so obvious yet so subtle. After all, anyone who has flown on SIA knows its flight numbers all start with SQ.
SIA should have held a local naming contest. Too late now. But it's not too late to say "scoot" to the name Scoot and to welcome SQoot.
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Anyway, here's a trimmed down 2 Nov Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, "Singaporeans ask: 'What is 'Scootitude'?":
It’s still too early to judge the success of Singapore Airlines' new low-cost carrier but its name certainly has raised some eyebrows – as well as a few chuckles.
“Scoot,” as it’s called, is Singapore Airlines’ latest bid to win back some of the business it has lost... in recent years [to] Malaysia’s AirAsia and Australia’s Jetstar...
The new airline’s chief executive, Campbell Wilson, says its moniker is designed to evoke a sense of quirkiness, spontaneity and informality — a sharp contrast to the prestige and elegance of its silver-service parent company, which gained global recognition through its “Singapore Girl” marketing campaign in the 1980s.
“Rather than the tried and tired ‘airlines’ this, ‘airways’ that or ‘air’ yawn, (Scoot is) short, sharp and snappy,” Mr. Wilson said in a press release. “It stands out. It’s geographically independent, and can be a verb or a noun.”
Scoot has hired Sparkfury Creative Consultants and its sister agency Tangoshark, two local houses of branding experts. Mr. Wilson said he sought both agencies’ assistance because of their desire to challenge convention.
“That’s exactly the spirit we like and want of our partners and our staff – an attitude that’s unique, the Scootitude that encapsulates our values and spirit and that should be apparent to guests whenever they interact with us,” he said.
The move might seem a belated attempt to give Singapore Airlines a branding edge against the more outlandish antics of maverick airline types such as Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson or AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes and win over a younger more cost-conscious flying market. However, the airline’s branding gurus may have miscalculated their target market’s propensity for rapid-response ridicule.
Renowned Singapore blogger Kin Mun Lee, known by his handle Mr. Brown, tweeted recently that Scoot could stand for “So Cheap-O Overseas Travel” while others have lampooned the name’s association with abusive imperatives to depart hastily.
Mr. Fernandes of AirAsia couldn’t resist a swipe at the move, tweeting “SIA has no creativity. A confused puppy as an airline.”
Perhaps least flattering is Scoot’s veterinary-related homonym: A verb that refers to the canine or feline act of dealing with back-end irritation by dragging itself across the ground.
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Now I dread what name the proposed SIA and Virgin Airlines tie-up will result in. Singapore Virgin?
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