Remember what we were saying a few weeks ago about RyanAir risking becoming a toxic brand? It looks as if Michael O'Leary must have read it. Out of the blue , or perhaps the threat of red ink, he has launched a charm offensive ( words hitherto often the other way round) and is promising a more human, more cuddly RyanAir. Some will churlishly say that 's anything that's cuddly at all but give the man a chance,- he's got to start somewhere. The essential thing is that he must have recognised that the drag effect of actually being disliked reduces any company's potential market by whatever percentage of potential customers are turned off and won't even consider dealing with it.
Some airlines may have been smug about O'Leary and felt a warm glow of satisfaction that they of course were not like Ryan,- or at least their advertising wasn't. In fact there are a good number who need to pay attention and run their own toxicity checks. They may be reassured by the demonstrated support from some very loyal customers. They should ask themselves though whether this loyalty is the product of virtual handcuffs locked on by the power of their frequent flyer programmes or corporate incentive deals between the airline and businesses or whether the customer standing in front of two aircraft about the leave for the same destination would choose theirs or the other one. Having come to either a favourable or unfavourable answer they should then ask themselves why the decision did or didn't go their way.
Time then for those airline people driving home this Friday afternoon basking in a feeling of warm superiority over Mr O'Leary and enjoying their hitherto unchallenged belief that " Of course our customers love us" to have a sudden " Oh ----" moment of " But what about those who don't , and are there people out there who don't bother to talk to us who given a free shot wouldn't or don't touch us with a barge pole?" The horror scene might switch to a view of one of their maybe quite recent competitors' departure lounges. They might just then have a very nasty turn. Enough to spoil the weekend.
Another jolt to the industry from the man from Ireland. Next he'll be saying " We'll take good care of you". Never underestimate him.
Some airlines may have been smug about O'Leary and felt a warm glow of satisfaction that they of course were not like Ryan,- or at least their advertising wasn't. In fact there are a good number who need to pay attention and run their own toxicity checks. They may be reassured by the demonstrated support from some very loyal customers. They should ask themselves though whether this loyalty is the product of virtual handcuffs locked on by the power of their frequent flyer programmes or corporate incentive deals between the airline and businesses or whether the customer standing in front of two aircraft about the leave for the same destination would choose theirs or the other one. Having come to either a favourable or unfavourable answer they should then ask themselves why the decision did or didn't go their way.
Time then for those airline people driving home this Friday afternoon basking in a feeling of warm superiority over Mr O'Leary and enjoying their hitherto unchallenged belief that " Of course our customers love us" to have a sudden " Oh ----" moment of " But what about those who don't , and are there people out there who don't bother to talk to us who given a free shot wouldn't or don't touch us with a barge pole?" The horror scene might switch to a view of one of their maybe quite recent competitors' departure lounges. They might just then have a very nasty turn. Enough to spoil the weekend.
Another jolt to the industry from the man from Ireland. Next he'll be saying " We'll take good care of you". Never underestimate him.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.