The Anti-Intranet, Intranet
“Supporting a very strong, positive company culture, HelloJetBlue offers a combination of resources, tools, and news packaged in a friendly, imaginative way. The intranet keeps JetBlue’s employees, known as crewmembers, motivated and firmly grounded, even while soaring above the clouds.”
Jakob Nielsen, Principal of Nielsen Norman Group.
Behind every great workplace is a great workforce – or “Crewmembers” if you’re JetBlue. From pilots to TechOps to inflight, JetBlue’s 18,000 Crewmembers are the heart of its brand; they’re the faces that greet you at the gate, and the “Welcome back” when you return home. The company’s intranet, HelloJetBlue, is core to how it communicates, inspires and motivates its nationwide crew.
“In designing a new HelloJetBlue, we wanted to tap into our fun value and playful brand voice while at the same time living up to the personal, helpful and simple experience that we are known for by customers and crewmembers alike.”
– Kate McMillan, JetBlue Communications Manager
The Challenge
As JetBlue grew, its intranet became outdated. It stopped representing the brand, became difficult to navigate and lacked the personalization the airline prides itself on. Simply put, it wasn’t JetBlue.
The Solution
We created a social intranet that provides Crewmembers with easy access to tools, resources and information, while encouraging collaboration and communication.
Getting to Know HelloJetBlue
The best intranets are designed for people, not features.
With this is mind, we kicked off the project with a deep dive to get to know our customer and learn about how Crewmembers use and contribute to HelloJetBlue. We user tested our proposed sitemaps, surveyed 2,300 JetBlue Crewmembers and interviewed key stakeholders to understand their pain points with the current intranet.
"Would be great to include personalized areas that are custom to each user."
"Daily news archive is not organized in any way. No year filter, no search, no tags."
"I wish crewmembers could pick their own content for the home page."
"Would be cool if people finder includes Crewmember's photos."
From there, we crafted personas to represent the different workgroups and work types, ensuring HelloJetBlue’s major audiences were targeted and addressed. We mapped Crewmembers’ daily tasks and roles—and even device usage—ensuring we were designing a flexible intranet for each user’s specialized needs. Once we really knew our users, we planned everything with them in mind.
Inspiring
Humanity
Through Thoughtful Design
Up to Date, Up in the Air
Whether there are blue skies ahead—or thunderstorms behind—users now know lightning fast. A status bar at the top of the homepage provides all of the important information Crewmembers need to stay in-the-know.
Responsive Design
We built HelloJetBlue to be fully responsive so Crewmembers can seamlessly get everything they need, whether they’re on a laptop at their desks, or on a smartphone at 35,000 feet.
That’s Fly
To drive engagement and encourage feedback, we added a fun, social component to the intranet. Crewmembers can now show their love for a story or article by hitting the “That’s Fly” button.
Making it Personal. For 18,000 Crewmembers.
The old site said “Hello” but it didn't know your name. Now, Crewmembers see the news, events and metrics that are most related to them.
Starting a Conversation
Users can comment and tag each other on blog posts, allowing for unprecedented two-way communication. So, Pilots? Meet Support Center. Support Center? Meet Tech Ops.
Custom tools
Crewmembers use tools daily to get their jobs done. We transformed a mile-long list into an organized, personalized, highly searchable tool box. Crewmembers can seamlessly search for tools by letter, name, workgroup, or even save the ones they use most often.
Staying True to Blue
JetBlue has one of the most envied brands around. Its 5 brand elements, “Nice, Smart, Fresh, Stylish and Witty,” win the hearts of its travelers and marketers alike. The intranet, while not public-facing, still needed to reflect the JetBlue spirit; the site features micro animations that surprise-and-delight and a simple, fresh and user-centric design. Playful travel riddles along the footer of each page reinforcing the brand and driving engagement, one pun at a time.
To become a great pilot, you’ll
need a good altitude.
Custom Development /
We used all open-source libraries to develop a custom, robust system that fits JetBlue’s exact needs.
Custom CMS
Our flexible CMS provides full-site control and increased administrative efficiency.
Powerful Search
A robust search engine makes finding news, information and people easier than ever.
SAML SSO
HelloJetBlue integrates with JetBlue’s SAML-based SSO system. Logging in is as simple as one click.
AJAX Page Loading
AJAX loading delivers supercharged site speed, and an optimal user experience.
Optimized for High-Volume Traffic
HelloJetBlue is scaled to support millions of hits, everyday.
"It was an honor to work with Imarc. They demonstrated, very early on, a true ability to understand our business and solve for our needs—create a new intranet site, one that would increase engagement and foster community. Imarc delivered incredible results, taking our former site to new heights. We couldn’t be happier with their work and subject matter expertise.”
– Jonathan Weitz, Former Digital and Online Communications Manager
Taking HelloJetBlue
to New Heights
With a more efficient system in place, JetBlue now has a connected and empowered digital workspace that embodies its brand, stimulates its culture and drives (or should we say, flies) its business.
We focused all of the intranet’s assets—content, culture and technology—so JetBlue can spend more time focusing on its most important asset: its people.
