Continental Airlines versus US Airways

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Most of you know that I am somewhat of a travel snob. I like to think of it more of a safety issue. Not that being in first class is actually “safer” in terms of air disaster, but that I travel frequently and have a very low tolerance for casual travelers. (Ok, yes, and a very low tolerance for a lot of things in life.)  So, for the safety of those around me, I always book a first class ticket.  I adore the comfort of a bigger chair. I even go as far as trying to get the first row of seats to allow extra leg room (even though I’m under 5 feet tall.) I like boarding the plane early and getting my stuff ready for what is surely a long stint of uninterrupted work – no phones, no text, no email – just real work like public relations plans, social media content and strategy, and the stuff that seems to pile up in the inbox of my daily 300+ emails that I have to personally answer.

 

Now, for years now, I have been a huge fan and zealot of Continental Airlines.  I fly them EVERY time – except two occasions: a quick trip to Vegas where I’d have to fly via Houston, or over the water because everyone knows that domestic overseas travel even in first class just doesn’t compare to the luxury of an international carrier heading outside of the country.  I tell my staff to fly Continental or one of their partners (their SkyTeam Alliance allows for travel and mileage accrual on great partners like Delta and Northwest) and that the beauty of travel is being loyal to one airline so that as they travel and collect miles, then one day soon they too will be up in the front of the plane.  Part of the reason I selected Continental was due to direct flights to NYC where I also have an office. The other was the Skyteam Alliance with Malaysian Air who has the most amazing first class experience to China where we also have work. The other is also that for my team or friends that may travel with me, Continental has managed to still serve food (yes, on every flight and even in the back of the plane,) waited the longest to charge for any bags (and are still a bit lower priced on that fee and in first class waive that charge,) and seem to have logical flight patterns, pricing, and amazing customer service.  So, for years now, I’ve been a loyal Continental First Class traveler and for the non-first class traveler could boil the logical choice to be the same due to the nice meal and free drinks alone.

 

However; this past week I traveled in first class on US Airways and realized that first class among domestic carriers, much like first class on international carriers versus domestic is NOT the same at all.  It seems that the $1000+ tickets for first class on US Airways has been just as diluted as coach tickets.  US Airways didn’t feed the first class passengers on 3 hour flights (you ALWAYS get fed on Continental – first class AND coach.) They served us in plastic cups. The flight attendants were grumpy (ok, so that’s also almost always the case on American Airlines as well.)  Their first class cabin isn’t assigned an attendant for the flight. Instead, they all go to the back of the plane, so once you’ve been handed a basket of chips to choose from (a la Southwest Airlines – which is cool because um, you’re paying like $5 for a plane ticket so you expect nothing) they just scoot to the back of the plane never to be heard from until preparation for landing.  The men had to ask to have their jackets taken for them, and most of the baggage space was taken by both attendants luggage and coach passengers (which is usually stopped by attendants on other airlines.)  The overall experience was just remarkably different and a bit frustrating.

 

And yes, I can hear everyone thinking “what a snob” – but the point is that when purchasing a ticket in first class which is usually 80% more than coach, there are going to be certain things that you as the buyer expect…and it’s not just a bigger seat and free cheap wine.  It lead me to think deeper about business and cutting costs and while I somewhat see that airlines need to do some cutbacks to help offset an increase in fuel costs and taxes (don’t get me started on how really that is just an easy excuse to move our attention away from just a poorly run business and the like – but hey, most consumers are buying the story and not digging deeper) I don’t think that the same cutbacks should apply to the passengers that feed the potential profit for the whole plane.  (It is assumed that first class tickets are 3 times profit of coach tickets – see more here) and that the first class seats before flight schedules were cut and there were too many free upgrades allowed, used to finance most of any flight.    

 

So, how would that lessening of service to your first class clients look or play out?  What would happen if you or me as a business owner decided that we had to cut costs/services in order to save money and relegated those changes across the board?  Would we really ever as an agency stop delivering first class perks to our biggest clients who have retainers that are 80% higher than our start up clients?  Now, don’t get me wrong – we have never believed that a client should get less service, a substandard product, or go to a newbie account executive (which we have none) because they have smaller retainers. But certainly, the clients paying say $2,000/month versus $30,000 month probably don’t get as many extra perks such as really expensive dinners and show tickets in Manhattan (our $2K clients get a great dinner and an off broadway show, let’s say) and that’s only because you’d end up perking more than you are getting paid.  But if you equate this to the airline – my first class ticket has remained the same cost (as have the coach tickets) yet the service, it seems, on some airlines, has basically gone away completely for everyone.  If we or any of our competitors in the social media or public relations space completely cut out the perks or the benefits of having us work with them, then why come to us in the first place?  Interesting thought, I think…

 

My assumption is that first class travelers will eventually find a way to drive down costs through increasing need of private jet leases and sharing of such.  I took a ride with someone who had a Flexjet contract and it cost me $500 more than the first class ticket would have – however; I also gained 2+ hours of my time back.  To me, that wasn’t much of an increase – and really, some would say it evened out in cost/benefit analysis.

 

And, if I owned the airlines – my answer would be simple: raise the prices. Period.  When I was a kid, flying was a luxury – and ALL tickets, even in coach, cost well over $1,000.  (And, BTW, for my young readers, you NEVER traveled in your PJs carrying a pillow – you dressed proper for your flight..)  So, if the airlines have to find a way to be profitable I’d say one, address your business model and do a complete analysis of everything from the top down – because quite frankly fuel can’t be the ONLY reason you are having problems. And second, raise the prices overall.  It doesn’t have to be much – say 20% across the board. People, especially in first class HATE to be “nickel and dimed.”  Don’t charge the coach passengers $5 for water and a $3 for a cookie – raise the price of the ticket by $10 and call it a day!

 

And let the competition begin. Fly Continental whenever you can. They seem to be doing a LOT right – especially in first class.  It’s NOT all the same. Be discriminative…especially with luxury items.

 

What do you guys think? Aside from my snotty rant – would your business be OK if you cut out all services to your best clients? Would they go elsewhere, or would they just understand?  Most companies are having to look at cutbacks and ways to save money -but is everyone also killing the service? I doubt it. We push for more web meetings and conference calls, but still take calls 24/7 and give incredible service.  Where have you cut costs without cutting service? And have costs been the same for the small fries as the big guys in your customer list?

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Presidential Campaigns Using Social Media….kinda

I wish I had the time to uncover all of the links to all of the attempts of the presidential candidates to forge into social media, but I quite frankly don’t have the desire. I write this post after hearing in the background once again on “The O’Reilly Factor” a review of the various forays that both parties have made into the social media sphere in hopes of appearing hip and reaching out using this “new technology.”  I have to stop and laugh at the concept and try to discern as to whether I should be happy that for the first time the candidates are making SOME real attempt at using the Internet, or cringing at the fact that again, they just don’t get it.

Those that follow me and my posts here and elsewhere on the web and in articles know how I feel about this, and I will say it again. You canNOT take your TV commercials, made as advertising campaigns, and pop them up on YouTube and call it “social media.” It’s the consistent mistake that marketers, agencies, companies big and small, and even the so called “experts” in this space make over and over. They miss the biggest part of the definiton: a TWO WAY conversation.  And no, allowing comments that have been pre-screened to insure that they only speak to your expressed opinion do NOT count.

If candidates REALLY want to use social media and reach constituents they would open up a real dialaogue or offer up a frank Q&A discussion on their sites, or inside of their cute little Facebook/myspace accounts and allow ALL commentary to come through – and…now wait for it…ANSWER them in real format (not just some crafty answer contrived by writers that really aren’t as clever as those were on “The West Wing” such as even dare I say our staff to really not answer a question at all.

Personally, I think that debates and all content on a site for anyone running for office should operate like this.  In a debate, you are asked to take a position – YES or NO – on things that pop up in those overpriced polls that change by the minute. If you don’t answer, or if you give some round about “answer” that doesn’t REALLY answer the question, then you are out. Game over.  ”Are you pro-choice or pro-life?” There are two answers, period. Even if you scale your answer to have a “in this instance,” or “at some times…” then it’s still falls to one side of the fence. Your navigation toward the middle one way or the other we can all figure out on our own.

And in social media – answer the questions. Read the commentary.  Respond to those taking the time to allow for TWO-WAY conversation. Don’t stick your dang overpriced, overproduced, contrived messages in my face on YouTube and call it social media. Call it what it is: more advertising placed in a different medium!

Oh, and lucky you that the medium is FREE…wouldn’t it be nice if YouTube could command the same rates to blatant advertising posts for people with ad budgets in the same viewer ratio?  Wow…that would really mess with everyone. But that’s another post…for another day.

No one/ Pleo left behind

No one/ Pleo left behind

Originally uploaded by e-storm.com

Just thought I’d add this amazing product to my blog this was in addition to my previous post today. So dang cute!

The coolest toy and best marketing I’ve seen in a long time

It’s rare that as an adult you find a toy that makes you just smile and want to write a letter to Santa begging for one.  While at ad:tech in NYC a few weeks ago, we encountered the coolest toy ever called the Pleo.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/e-storm/2039101458/ This little dinosaur responds to touch, makes cool noises, and is just fabulous. Moreover, a company (really a competitor of ours to be honest) is doing the marketing of the genius toy directly to the hands of buyers in a non-invasive and interactive form that is amazing.  Heck, they got me to play with the thing and blog about it, right?  So, kudos to e-Storm http://www.e-storm.com/ for bringing some fun back into the space!  

Writers versus PR Professionals – where’s the disconnect?

Today’s prize for my “puzzled look of the day award” goes to writers that flame PR professionals for sending them releases and inquiries. Now, first, let me clarify that we are talking about information that DOES relate to their publication or blog, at least insofar as THEY have offered the researchers at the various database companies that all public relations firms utilize. (Whether or not Cision or Vocus properly does their due diligence isn’t something I can tout about as I don’t work for them.)

And, let me also offer up a pre-response rebuttal to anyone that uses the “do you know how much spam I get in a day” arguement because (a) we get over 200 pieces every 4 hours – which is not uncommon for those of us that are heavily invovled in social media and interactive advertising for our clients as we are forced to subscribe and leave our email for thousands of sites and advertisers and the like to do our appropriate job of finding AS MANY outlets to reach their clients/customers as possible, and (b) it really takes like less than a second to scan and see what is spam and what isn’t so how much time are you REALLY losing. Let me also add to those that love to banter back the whole “cost” issue (usually people that really don’t know anything about bandwidth or email server space, and 9 times out of 10 are freemail users who miss the point completely – yes, you AOL, HOTMAIL, and GMAILERS, this means you…) because a media outlet should be already invested in a surplus of backup and space due to heavy inquiry from PR as well as customers. But more importantly…

Here’s the crux. There is a symbiotic relationship between writers/producers and the public relations professionals that is often misunderstood and unappreciated from both sides of the fence. For media professionals that fall outside the “news” category, a large amout of your story ideas and delivery depend on the PR companies feeding you information in form of release, inquiry, or even direct access to the top dogs that you need quoted in your story to make it more impressive. That being said, I would think that part of your very job description and daily task would be to sift through thousands of emails and (for those old schoolers) faxes. So, why then if you get something that isn’t a good fit, do you feel the need to flame the sender? Even more to my point, if you are SO limited in your time, then how did you find time to send a mean email?

The bottom line is that you need us as much as we need you. And, many of you probably don’t know this, but we are also at the mercy of the companies that provide the tools to us. While our agency specifically does the best we can to funnel through every contact and look at their beat and also READ their publication, there are ti

Social Networking Sites Getting Love

Today, I was quoted in a great article written by Tim Gray of TechNewsWorld.

I had a wonderful interview with Tim and we talked about a bazilion things that center around social media and where it’s going. Some of my other points I shared were that (a) companies are now trying to embark on a social media plan, but most do not have a clear strategy that ties into their overall business plan, and (b) many companies want the cool “blogs” and “podcasts” but don’t want to do the work involved to maintain them (nor do they want to pay companies like ours to do it for them, and (c) companies come to agencies like mine and others that offer social media as a service, but immediately want to know how they are going to generate revenue off of it…and really don’t like the answer in most cases…there isn’t any to be had, but social media participation is an insurance policy you can’t afford not to carry.

Great stuff, Tim! I can’t wait for the article on the YouTube lawsuit!

The Revolution in Marketing: Social Media

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to speak at a conference created by Francine Hardaway and graciously hosted by Joan Koerber Walker of ASBA. The Revolution in Marketing Conference brought together some amazing speakers and attendees both locally and from afar, and most importantly proved that social media is indeed a part of outreach that needs to be given some attention and discussion.

There are so many things to discuss over the coming week with regard to this conference, but a specific highlight of course was finally meeting Chris Heuer, the founder of the Social Media Clubwho truly has grasped not only a vision of social media and it’s impact on business, but more exciting to me personally, the once again realization that this “new media” or “internet world” has completely changed the rules of business, entreprenuership, and the economy.

I was joined by many esteemed panelists including Allan Sabo, Pamela Slim, Max Fose, Celia Blackwood, Kevin Donnellan, and
Ben Gordon.

Last, but not least, Robert Scoble closed out the day with many quips from a blogging fanatic – most importantly, a point that I think many missed but really need to remember is to simply pay attention to your customers. Acknowledge them. Period.

I’ll have more in the coming days to chat about, such as a warning not to dislike ice cream or you may be sued, how companies should see blogs as insurance rather than cost centers, and of course why old schoolers tick me off.

Social Media: Blogging, Podcasting, Vlogging and the Like…

One of the most interesting parts about living in Arizona is this sometimes well underpromoted group of technology and marketing minds that have come from all over the country and are now trying to apply their years of experience and mindshare into a market that is sometimes well behind the times. When I say “come together” I mean it in the truest sense of the word. I’ve never lived in a marketg (and I’ve lived in many) where your competitors are actually sometimes your customers, and usually, your friends. People here in the “Valley” seem to have this true understanding of entreprenuership, and take it to heart. We actually care about each others success and honestly try to help. It’s fascinating, really.

Last week was a great example of this. The meeting of the first “Social Media Club” here in Phoenix took place. The room was filled up after a simple posting on the AZIPA list, which is another example of what I’m speaking of here today. Present were my competitors, my clients, colleagues, and friends from years of working here, ready to share their ideas on this “new” (I love that it’s NEW when I’ve been seemingly “blogging” since 1995) concept. It was interesting to see those that already utilize social media, and those that are seeking to utilize it, come together in a casual and open setting, with no rules, or much structure, or a high price tag.

So, the question that arose, and that will be addressed next week is “what is social media?” A great definition came that encompassed the concept that social media is simply taking different applications of technology that are more widely available, but sometimes utlized in different formats than originally intended, to communicate with a larger audience. Some thought it was specific to consumer communication, while others thought more along the lines of the technology itself.

So, what is it? In my agency, we blanket certain tasks/engagements as “Social Media” within our accounting system. That would include blogging, podcasting, vlogging, video emails, viral campaigns, and anything surrounding advertising or infiltration of social sites such as myspace or flickr. But, what do you think?

Let’s take the most obvious: blogging. We utilize blogs for many things. We use them for corporate communcations, consumer outreach, political fielding, media relations, public relations, and to help with our search engine rankings. So, where does it really fall?

My first “blog” was really an online diary that I used to have to write three times a week when I worked as the spokesperson for love@aol. Technically, these days, that would considered a blog. It had the ability for users to post comments, leave messages, and the readership was consistent and amazing. Who knew that OVER ten years later, people would be doing the same thing for “fun.”

So, shoot me a note. Chime in. Is social media only myspace communication? Do you thinnk it’s only for bloggers? Podcasters?

And, if you’re in Phoneix, We are now planning our second meeting to be held on December 14, 2006 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Foundation for Blind Children’s Facility located at 1235 E. Harmont Drive in Phoenix. I hope to see you there!

Want your marekting to work? ANSWER YOUR PHONE!

Okay, so how many of you have worked with clients that swear marketing and advertising doesn’t work? How many have been told that PR didn’t increase their bottom line? And how many of you clearly know that it’s not YOUR part in the puzzle, but indeed THEIRS that unraveld the campaign and netted a loss?

We work with many small businesess in the retail and small service sector. And I know of two examples of times that clients recieved a great deal of foot and phone and email traffic to their establishments, and were completely lost because of one simple step: the client didn’t respond in a timely manner. Clue in, people – you have to respond to the customers. Duh.

You think it’s a rare example? It’s really not. This whole week, for example, I have been trying to reach maid and carpet cleaning services. Out of five companies contacted both by phone and email (cleaning servcies) on Monday with a follow-up call on Tuesday, I have recieved exactly ZERO responses. Sadly, I got the information for the services from online Pay Per Click ads, a direct mail insert, and a billboard. So, some poor agency somewhere is being brow beaten for sure about how they aren’t earning their keep, when really, the business is hurting themselves.

So, if there’s one piece of magic in advertising, marketing, and public relations today, it’s simply this: ANSWER YOUR PHONE!