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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Hearing from road warriors like you

I wasn’t familiar with Steve Cody or his blog before today, but he’s now on my list of feeds. In a post on May 10, the co-founder of Peppercom, an independent PR agency, talks about a word-of-mouth campaign he came across involving jetBlue Airways.

This caught my attention because I’m a jetBlue fan. Sometime this year, I’ll hit 1 million true miles on United Airlines, which is a big deal. When you accrue 1 million true lifetime miles, United makes you a Premier Executive for life, even if you fly another mile on their airline. Yet given the opportunity to accumulate those final 48,000 miles, I pass if I can take jetBlue instead, even though there’s no first class to which you can upgrade. I’m a jetBlue fan because of the way they treat passengers.

My wife and I were at Dulles International a year or so ago, scheduled to fly jetBlue back to the Bay Area. Weather delayed the flight 5-1/2 hours; a scheduled 7 p.m. flight left after midnight. The gate agents were constantly on the PA with updates, even if it was just to tell us they had no new information. They brought pillows and blankets from the jetway that were supposed to be boarded on the plane and handed them out to passengers waiting in the terminal. Then they went back down the jetway and brought up drinks and snacks. When we finally boarded, they gave each of us a free one-way ticket. “For a weather delay?” I asked. “You’re under no obligation to compensate us. It wasn’t your fault.” The reply I got: “Our fault or not, you were inconvenienced. We want to do something to make up for that.”

So I was delighted to read Cody’s account of jetBlue’s word-of-mouth campaign that involves the installation of “story booths” in major airports jetBlue serves. According to Cody:

At the futuristic-looking booths, a virtual jetBlue crew member will guide passengers as they enter their stories. There will also be simple postcards handed out and mailed to JetBlue customers asking them to share their experience stories.

I’d do that. I’d sit in that booth and tell my story. Since the campaign includes using the war stories of real travelers, my tale could end up as part of a TV commercial or some other formal communication.

Cody stacks this concept against the popular and typical celebrity endorsement approach. In an era where (as the Edelman Trust Barometer has shown) people trust others like them more than they trust institutions, it makes sense to have road warriors like you tell stories that will make you want to use the same service.

A Brandweek story has more detail on the campaign. Hat tip to Steve Wilson.

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05/17/06 | 8 Comments | Hearing from road warriors like you

Comments

  • 1.Shel - They also placed a booth in Rockefeller Plaza. It sounds like just the booth itself is creating a lot of buzz.

    Kevin Dugan | May 2006 | Cincinnati, OH

  • 2.Your post shows that WOMM works most effectively when it's the truth. There is no substitute for a happy customer.

    Josh Morgan | May 2006

  • 3.Shel, first of all, that's a flooring story of incredible customer service. I'm reminded of airline delays with OK customer service in which the flight attendants would get on the PA and say in that monotone voice, "We're sorry for the delay, but unfortunately, we have no control over the weather." While that's true, it always sounded to me like a child making excuses.

    Second, contrast the celebrity endorsement (which I, too, would put very little trust in) to the voluntarily-given stories of real travelers. I love this idea of closing the gap between the sleekly-produced vision of air travel that we see in commercials and ads and what we all know the reality of it is. This is why I enjoyed watching the reality show Airline (the ONLY reality show I've ever watched, mind you)--it showed real gate agents dealing with real passengers who sometimes were really upset. Fascinating!

    Heidi Miller | May 2006 | Chicago, IL

  • 4.What the... is the technorati tag 'puppy' about? No matter... Shel Holtz's post today -- "Hearing from road warriors like you" -- on U.S. airline jetBlue and their clever piece of evangelist marketing (as in, get the product evangelists to market for you, for free) ties in, of course, with the idea of open source marketing. Says Shel: So I was delighted to read Cody's account of jetBlue's word-of-mouth camp...

    http://leehopkins.net/2006/05/18/hearing-from& | May 2006

  • 5.And I wasn't familiar with your blog before today, but now you're on MY list of feeds. Excellent post. JetBlue seems to be on a roll, and the positive word-of-mouth continues to filter through the blogosphere. If anyone questions the power of story, you simply have to listen to OnStar's radio commercials. In a world where anything and everything can be fabricated on a computer, the simplicity of sincere personal testimony goes a long way.

    Tom Vander Well | May 2006

  • 6.Actually, I've always been a bit suspicious of those OnStar commercials. But the value and power of customer testimonials and word-of-mouth advertising is undeniable. My company, GEICO, has always counted on the latter for a goodly chunk of its annual growth.

    Greg Marsh | May 2006 | USA

  • 7.Your post shows that WOMM works most effectively when it?s the truth. There is no substitute for a happy customer.

    As Josh correctly points out is effective when it reflects the true - and unbiased - recommendations of others. Contrast this to Procter & Gamble's new WOM initiative where it has "recruited" 600,000 customers to make product recommendations to their friends, in exchange for free products, coupons, discounts and other incentives.

    How can that approach compare in sincerity with the likes of what Jet Blue is doing. More to the point, doesn't it discredit P&G that their advocates are getting compensated? Do the advocates disclose that they are receiving something in return for their endorsement? Does it really advance P&G or simply paint the picture that it will do anything to gain some additional market share - including seting up customers to shill for the company.

    Craig Jolley | May 2006

  • 8.Actually, I?ve always been a bit suspicious of those OnStar commercials. But the value and power of customer testimonials and word-of-mouth advertising is undeniable

    Gamer | June 2006 | America

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