Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Embarrassing Moments, Marketing, Marketing Fail
I get pester power.
I understand how that dynamic can work and works.
I also know the airline industry is very competitive and the A380 hasn’t been as super-successful as was originally expected.
But – and it’s a really big but – I’m not sure that tactic will convince an airline carrier to suddenly start buying A380’s.
Not just because those planes – or any plane for that matter – are the sort of thing you buy on a whim, but because most airline travellers tend to choose the carrier rather than purely the plane they will be travelling on.
And then there’s the bullshit of their domain name.
iflya380.com
Look, I know the actual name of the plane is A380 – as in Airbus 380 – but the inclusion of the ‘a’ makes the domain name sound like it’s the passengers who fly the bloody thing.
As in I FLY A 380.
Why couldn’t they change it to ilovea380.com or itravela380.com?
Yes, I know I’m sounding John Doddslike, but it makes something bad even worse … and don’t even get me started on how utterly boring the website actually is when you go to it.
Honestly, what do they think this campaign is going to do?
What the hell are the KPI’s for this campaign?
And seriously, how the hell are they justifying ‘the passengers favourite’.
I would absolutely kill to know the thinking behind this work because in a weird way, it has put me off Airbus and A380’s … and judging by fact they’ve only received 14 emojis – of which at least 1 is ‘shocked’ – it would seem I’m not the only one.
15 Comments
You get pester power because you have used it successful for years.
Comment by DH April 18, 2017 @ 6:26 ampoor otis. outpestered by his fucking old man.
Comment by andy@cynic April 18, 2017 @ 6:31 amTrust me, he does alright.
Comment by Rob April 18, 2017 @ 7:39 amAny insight on this Lee?
Comment by DH April 18, 2017 @ 6:26 amYes. It is not very convincing.
Comment by Lee Hill April 18, 2017 @ 9:06 amcampbells version is “i fly on freebies”.
fucker.
Comment by andy@cynic April 18, 2017 @ 6:30 amthe fuckers in the photo look like theyre at the very back of the plane. why the fuck would you anyone trust the opinion of some fuckers looking that happy sitting next to the fucking toilet for 12 hours. twats.
Comment by andy@cynic April 18, 2017 @ 6:32 amYour comment reminds me of the time I flew from Indonesia to Sweden say next to the toilet at the back of the plane. I didn’t smile once, but then I wasn’t in an A380.
Comment by George April 18, 2017 @ 6:51 amBest place for you.
Comment by Billy Whizz April 18, 2017 @ 7:23 amDidn’t think much of your urls either and was wondering why it was called an A380 – as if it makes any difference to the purchase decision. Googling revealed this from a forum back in 2001.
“Just heard this explanation on the radio on the day Airbus officially launched the project and went from A3XX to A380 :
They asked marketing experts, and they found
A350 would be the normal Name, but that is a too small step in numbers for the step in Aviation, this Plane shall represent.
360 would mean a full circle, so no progress, very bad
370 is bad because the 7 is an unlucky number for our asian carriers, who should buy the plane (don’t know why JAL owns Boeing 777, but never mind Boeing might have no marketing experts )
380 makes sense, two 340 above each other (2*4=8) and looking like the cross section.
That’s the outcome if others than engineers decide something”
Comment by John April 18, 2017 @ 6:38 amBoeing will destroy Airbus should they ever launch a Boeing 10,000.
Comment by George April 18, 2017 @ 6:53 amTo be fair, if they had explained why they recommend using the name ‘A380’ in a similar fashion – and time – that it took to read your finding, it would have been OK. The fact that they probably took months and months and charged millions and millions means the process they used is one called ‘fee justification’.
Comment by Rob April 18, 2017 @ 7:42 amMore like fee generation.
Comment by Pete April 18, 2017 @ 8:45 amAdvertising plane crash.
Comment by George April 18, 2017 @ 6:48 amYep. Their heads are in the clouds literally and metaphorically.
Comment by Rob April 18, 2017 @ 7:43 am