I know this post is copy heavy, but there are some branding nuggets to take away if you stick with it.

So I sat in on a presentation by Sonya Hagan (The West Coast Marketing Manager for Jet Blue) at the Portland Chapter of the AMA yesterday. She had some very inspiring branding insights, and I thought I would share some of my thoughts.

To begin, I personally see the airline industry as a whole, and I am not brand loyal by any means (I have 12 FF #'s). In the auto industry, consumers are quick to urinate on a Ford, or preferring to push a Ford rather than driving a Chevy, etc. I do not come across that brand evangelism in the airline industry (it is usually complaints). So taking my everyday consumer position, there are only 2 airlines that personally stick out in my mind:



1. Alaska Air. They bring around complimentary NW MircoBrews. Such a small token, that goes o-so-far.
2. SW Air. They are the Pearl Jam of the airlines with their Renegade approach.

With that said, I tend to pick an airline based on schedule and price. If I have a bad experience, that airline is blacklisted in my mind, UNLESS the price and schedule fits for my next trip. (Although, there is ONE airline burned into head, that seems to go above and beyond to make the trip a miserable experience.) I digress. I am here to be constructive.

For the most part, if I have a great experience on an airline, I usually cannot recollect the airline for a multitude of reasons:
1. Flight partners dilute the brand (was I on an extension, or the original carrier)
2. Saturation of the same marketing message (smiling attendant, leg room, blanket, etc.)

Back to Jet Blue

It seems that the overall Jet Blue branding play is: "unexpected service." They take action before the customer asks. e.g. If you are delayed for X hours, they automatically email you a voucher.

I am not going to get into the February JFK debacle, because I am confident that there are tons of blog posts about that already. What is more interesting to me, is their approach to branding.

In my opinion (albeit influenced by the West Coast Marketing Manager), they "GET" the fact that every touch-point with the consumer is an opportunity to extend the brand message. For example, they have partnered with Bliss Spa to offer red-eye (although the avoid that term) passengers an "overnight" package, complete with soothing lotion, eye masks, etc, to try and make the experience as comfortable as possible.

This struck a cord, because I thought that the airlines couldn't afford things like blankets, water, or toilet paper (being somewhat sarcastic). Shouldn't the model be to spend big dollars on attracting ticket sales through PPC, adverts, etc.? Then why the heck is Jet Blue spending just a few dollars to actually service and "retain" their clients. Its a ludicrous strategy (with a dry undertone).

They have isolated their reservation system (similar to Southwest), but have recently entered an agreement with travel aggregators such as Expedia (and exploring others). They view those as "advertising channels," and numbers show consumers using the platforms to explore schedules and pricing, yet going back to the airline direct for conversion.

I could also talk about anti-gouging policy (Jet Blue has a max. $399 ticket), and the customer bill of rights, but in short, I am sold on Jet Blue without even flying on their airline.

Those are my thoughts for now. In addition to the United Airlines Post below, this might turn into a series of airline posts

Comments welcome. Andy Posted by: Andy at 2:12 PM  |  Permalink