Southwest Brand Gets a Good Rap

Here's a little Friday uplift ...

It’s nothing new or groundbreaking to point out that Southwest Airlines has a great brand. But then again, maybe you haven’t seen Southwest’s rapping flight attendant:



Further proof that no company owns a more fully realized, thoroughly entertaining brand than Southwest. It makes a nice complement to the playful "Grab Your Bag, It's On" campaign they've got going.

And for David Holmes, it's made for his 15-plus minutes of fame--at the company's shareholders meeting, in the Wall Street Journal, even on Oprah and Leno.

Meanwhile, to Southwest's credit, they've appeared to be hands-off throughout. Blogs and news stories routinely attribute the origins of the phenomenon to recordings by passengers with cell phone cameras, not by anyone at Southwest posting and/or spreading the video. That's a key lesson for any aspiring viral marketers out there: it's got to at least look spontaneous.

Since Southwest and its people have been consistently supporting the company's well-grounded (or should we say "high-flying") brand for years, this video is easily assumed to be authentic. Either way, it's fun to watch on a Friday afternoon.