Diversity at American Airlines :

An Integrated Business Strategy

Denise Lynn

Vice President, Diversity and Leadership Strategies

Colloquium on Global Diversity

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American Airlines: a Tradition of Marketing to Women

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Our goal:

Grow loyalty among our increasingly diverse customer and employee base

Develop and implement a diversity strategy directly connected to our business

objectives

Our approach:

A holistic approach that integrates traditional diversity initiatives with market goals

using cross-functional teams and processes

Our results:

Enhanced understanding of diverse employees and customers

Organizational diversity strategies aligned to diverse market business goals

Diverse teams and interdepartmental partnerships that require employees to think

differently about how work gets done at American Airlines

Diversity at American Airlines

DRAFT

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The First Step: Re-define the Diversity “Conversation”

Compliance

Protect the Brand

Enhance Brand Equity

© 2005 Mill Square Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Next: Inventory All Existing Assets that Matter to Diverse Customers and Employees

Diversity Business Strategy

Marketing

Human Resources

Corporate Citizenship

Suppliers

Products/Channels

• Do our products appeal to diverse customers?

• Can diverse customers easily purchase our products and use our services?

• Do the demographics of our supplier base reflect those of our customers and employees?

• Do diverse customers see our messages in the media they use?

• Are those messages targeted, relevant and appealing to them?

• Do we support the communities and organizations that our employees and customers care about?

• Is this a great place for diverse employees to have successful careers?

• Does our workforce reflect the diversity of our customers and communities?

© 2005 Mill Square Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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American Airlines Infrastructure for Success: Defined Roles and Senior Executive Participation

Employee ResourceGroups

External AdvisoryCouncils

BOD Diversity Committee

Extended TeamSupplier Div,

Customer Service,Products, Online

Core TeamAdv, PR, Sales,

Corp Citizenship,Market Research

Diverse Segment

Marketing Lead

Executive Steering Committee

Executive SponsorsMar Com , HR

Marketing Agency Support

Human Resources Diversity Strategies

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Making Diversity An Integral Business Strategy A Few Examples…

Diverse Segment Business Initiatives

Marketing

Human Resources

Community

Suppliers

Products/Channels

• External Customer Advisory Councils

• AA.com/women and AA.com/rainbow

• Steve Harvey partnership

• Bi-Lingual Hispanic Marketing Campaign

• BusinessExtrAA for diverse small businesses, non-profits

• Segment –specific AA Vacations promotions

• ERG participation in Segment Marketing Plan development

• Diversity Strategies

• JLT

• Susan G Komen cross-segment partnership

• Sponsorships of nonprofits that serve diverse populations

• Expanded Tier 1 and 2 supplier diversity goals

• Inclusion of LGBT-owned businesses in diverse supplier network

© 2005 Mill Square Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Business Results at American Airlines

Active employee engagement and buy-in to diversity– Participation in business decisions (ERGs)

More inclusive marketing for all our customers– Diversity perspective starting to influence other marketing decisions

Faster speed-to-market of new ideas and programs– Employees working in cross-functional teams instead of in “silos:”

this breaks down barriers so work get done more quickly Better loyalty with increasingly diverse employees and customers

– Differentiating American Airlines in the industry

Greater understanding of diversity as a key business imperative

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Benefits to our Customers: Being Relevant In Every Customer Interaction

Marketing

Key TravelInfluencers

Airport, On-Board & Reservation

Center

CommunityPresence

AA.com & Online

Experience

Products & Services

AA Diverse Customer Experience

© 2005 Mill Square Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Moving Forward: Challenges and Obstacles

Measuring results– Hard to establish metrics and baselines– Thinking about diversity in quantitative vs. qualitative ways

Budget concerns– Difficult to sell an increase in the marketing budget– Territory issues

Visibility– How to get attention for the importance of diversity in a crowded

internal marketplace