Delta Airlines is now out of bankruptcy and looking smart with a new brand makeover. Despite the new look it seems to be business as usual at Delta as they disappointed me at a number of touch points this week. The first was a cynical interaction I had while taking the train to work.
The signs that line the top of the cars always strike my interest and I often wonder if they are effective. I can see some definite brand equity but not much ROI but that is for another post. This particular car was lined with Delta ads and I love to read headlines so I naturally read them. One said something about a flight you would want to spend extend. I get the irony of the ad but the core irony is that I was stuck on a Delta flight for 3 extra hours recently. I assure you I did no want another minute on this flight or any Delta one!
This ad was funny but to me it just underscored one of the worse aspects of Delta that you sit around and wait. What marketing genius came up with this one? The same guy that decided to market an automobile in a Spanish speaking country that was called Nova(or No Go)? Ha.
That was the first erosion of my faith in a brand that was badly damaged but slowly moving up. Second was when I tried to redeem a voucher given to me for volunteering to get off a flight. I decided to use the website to book a flight to Savannah but only to find that Delta made no mention of redeeming vouchers.
My inital reaction was to call and wait to speak to someone but I figured keep at the website. I continued to navigate through this site and eventually reached my limit. No mention of voucher redemption anywhere!
I called customer service and after 25 minutes of being on hold and being shuttled to different departments I was talking to a live person. She informed that delta.com was not Safari compatible! Can you believe that? No mention on the homepage of site requirements it took almost 30 minutes to find this out.
In today’s age of consumer empowerment, why are airlines consistently aloud to treat us as steerage class passengers with no consequence? I have to say some airlines do listen and they are getting it. (read JetBlue) Most though treat us as they want and we take it. I wonder how long this will last before they feel the backlash.
As the holidays approach, I wanted to talk about holiday cards. Most companies send out the obligatory card with holiday well wishes without using the opportunity to touch base (or whatever). I am definitely not saying you should be a pushy salesman with your holiday card, but by putting a little strategy and thought into your card you can give it a little virality. And a little virality goes a long way towards your bottom line and the company’s overall brand perception.
This video posted to YouTube shows a great example of thinking outside the box to extend a company’s visibility in a cluttered marketplace. Admittedly, this company was completely unknown to me until I saw this video. It was simply a great way to engage viewers, leave a positive impression, and stir up interest in their other work. Because of the video, I visited the website and browsed case studies and portfolio pieces. Standing out in this market is extremely important.
With the consumer B2B or otherwise being constantly bombarded with advertisements, a little positive mojo and creative thinking drastically increases a company’s chances of standing out.
I was riding the train today, when I saw a young man reading Wikipedia articles whilst studying his class work. It immediately started my brain to think about my time in College and the amount of information available back then. The Internet was in its infancy and things like Wikipedia were mere ripples on the horizon. The internet was a series of message boards loosely or not so loosely tied together. Collaborative learning meant organizing a study group and hoping everyone showed up.
All the information available to Kids today is amazing. They are constantly being bombarded by information and must learn to quickly process or dismiss it. Today’s youth must be eons smarter than past generations due to the resources available.
They have become hype-sensitve filters able to block-out advertising and absorb content they desire. This is bad news for brands who face a huge challenge in the coming years attempting to break through these hyper-sensitive filters and score a remarkable product.
As Adverblog pointed out , this is an interestingly grotesque advergame for an Italian website promoting the show Dexter. (you can find the link here) I navigated to the site and enjoyed trying to play the game but my italian is lacking so I ended up without any fingers pretty quickly. The interesting thing here, is that Showtime, has taken an jovial approach to a rather taboo subject - serial killing.
(Full disclosure: I am hooked on the show and find it to be really unique and funny)
Advergame’s to me normally are somewhat boring and full of the usual monotony like the hero figure trouncing a dragon or generic versions of a classic. This advergame, however, is particularly fun because it makes light of losing your digits in a somewhat engaging way that makes you want to talk about it. As the advertising paradigm continues to shift its this type of attention to engagement that will thrive while the interrupt method will “sleep with the fishes.”
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