Marketing in the Sky
“If there’s anything at all we can do to make your flight more enjoyable, please let us know.” I was flying back from the ACFW conference in Minneapolis last Sunday when those words came over the plane’s intercom. Maybe it’s because I’d had only two hours sleep the night before and felt irritable, but the cynical thought popped into my mind, “What a lie.”
Really? You want to make my flight more comfortable? Wonderful! First off bump me up to first class. Then let me hang out in the cockpit for awhile and watch the pilot fly the plane. I’ve always wanted to do that.
“We sure appreciate you flying with Delta, it was our pleasure to serve you, and from all of us on the flight crew, we hope to see you again very, very soon.” Hmmm, I’m struggling to believe the pilots and flight attendants are pining away, waiting for me to book another trip.
Does anyone believe these platitudes? Of course not. So we shut them out. The message is insipid, and we know it’s false. (It’s not just Delta. Every other airline—other than Southwest—pumps out the same kind of drivel.)
As a marketing guy I shake my head. Here you have 100-200 people CAPTIVE on your plane that you can give an honest message to, one that will brand you into their minds, and the airlines don’t take advantage of it.
What if they said this instead? “Thanks for choosing to fly with us. We know the seats are too close together to be comfortable, and if you’re stuck in the middle, well, it’s a pain in the backside to fly that way. But this lets us keep our fares competitive, lower than our competition 95% of the time. So if we can get you an extra pillow or blanket to make it a little easier to get through the flight, let us know.”
The point? In your marketing materials, don’t lie to people. Look at your ad copy. Would you accept it as true if you were on the other side of the message? Or would you say, “Yeah, right.”
If it’s the latter, talk to your marketing department and tell them to get real. People have a deep fondness for truth in advertising.
They might even believe you.