Filed under: Advertising, Airports, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Corporate Gaslighting, Embarrassing Moments, Empathy, Tourism, Toxic Positivity
If you don’t want to read all this shit … just skip to the ad [and the point of this post] at the bottom of this page.
However, if you want the context and backstory … read on:
So I saw this ad yesterday. Yes, yesterday – which means this may be the most topical post I’ve written in 20 years.
And while it is supposedly for Emirates Airlines, the reality is it’s a Dubai Government ad.
Look I get how important tourism is to the nation …
I also appreciate how instrumental Dubai has been in helping change the perspectives of the Middle East …
But while they have been incredibly successful in doing that, the situation in the Middle East has impacted its appeal … as have the claims the Government are clamping down on anyone who uses social media to express a perspective that doesn’t match the image the powers-that-be want to present to the World.
I have friends who have/are living there and it’s fascinating talking to the ones who left and the ones who are still there.
It’s like talking to people who reside o different planets …
And while some of that may be because things have changed in the time they have gone, I can’t help but feel that for the guys still there – who talk to me with a robotic smile – the reasons are either:
1. They fear the possible implications of being found to have said anything negative to anyone.
2. It allows them to deflect having to ask themselves, ‘why are we still here?’
Or said another way, there’s commercial reasons to be deliberately positive.
Could be wrong … may not be such a binary answer … but whatever the reality, it definitely isn’t all Unicorns and Rainbows over there, which is why this ad blows my mind.
Because not does Emirates/Dubai Government fail to acknowledge any element of the situation happening in the region, they basically are doubling-down and saying the World’s media are lying to everyone.
Look at the headline on the fake newspaper at the beginning of the ad!!
It’s straight out the Trump playbook … deny, deflect, dismiss.
OK … OK … so they do say ‘some of the stories are even true’.
And then add ‘we know Dubai is not everyone’s cup of tea’.
But not only do they gloss over it faster than Usain Bolt after 19 espresso’s, they adopt a tone that suggests anyone who is not convinced by their words is a parochial idiot.
Or said another way, even more gaslighting.
And while that approach will probably convince some, for others they will be left asking ‘how do you trust a nation that’s so willing to lie to itself?’
There were so many other ways they could have done this.
Approaches that could have built bridges and provided clarity rather than just gaslight and create greater doubt.
[For example my ‘8 mile’ strategy approach could have been one way to tackle it]
But instead they went for this condescending, patronizing, ego-satisfying rubbish …
Another example of an organization who views ‘understanding audiences’ as an inconvenience when all they want to do is tell people what they want them to think.
Which is sad as Dubai is an interesting place. Full of wonderful people and with a far richer and more interesting culture and history than this work conveys.
So enjoy … it’s a great example of crisis management, wrapped in ego and denial.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Airports, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Children, Embarrassing Moments, Experience, Marketing Fail
So I was recently in Baltimore and when I was heading back, I found myself at the airport with time to kill.
Given my new healthy regime, I thought I’d take the opportunity to get my steps in, so I started just walking all over the airport.
Eventually I came across a kids ‘play area’ which stopped me in my tracks.
Not just because it was tucked down a pretty depressing corridor.
Not because it felt a bit like a ghost town of a time gone past.
But because it had this …
Now I don’t know about you, but that looks awfully like the plane – which is not just any plane, but AIR FORCE ONE – has crashed into the ground!!!
Putting aside no one – especially kids – needs to have that sort of image in their head before they fly, I guess – depending on your political persuasion – it is either a perfect example of brand experience gone wrong or brand experience gone brilliantly.
Guess it is fun for the whole family. That is if your family are maniacs.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Airports, America, Comment, Food, Germany, Planes
I appreciate the title of this post is already off-putting.
I also accept what I am about to write is the height of first world problems.
And while I’m at it, I also accept some may interpret this as an attempt to humble brag.
But putting all that aside, have a look at the food I got at the Lufthansa Lounge at JFK in NYC.
Brown. Lots of shades of brown.
Dark brown.
Brown brown.
Orangey brawn.
The Germans really seem to love their browns!
But you know what’s even scarier?
I chose all these items.
That’s right, all of this was my own personal choice.
Admittedly, it was because the other food on offer – unsurprisingly, also brown – was even less appetizing than the tragic plate above, but also because this was the healthiest food available.
The healthiest!!!
A small piece of pretzel bread.
Some baked pumpkin.
A Coke Zero.
OK, I appreciate the Germans aren’t exactly renown for their healthy eating or healthy food but I tell you what, they know how to make tragic items taste bloody awesome.
I bloody loved it.
Every depressing mouthful of it.
Hell, I’d go to errrrm, war for Pretzel bread … well, I would if there was no more Sourdough in existence.
[I have been told by Germans there’s no such thing as Pretzel ‘bread’ … but just like there’s no such thing as Chicken Tikka Masala in India, the outside world decided to take it, bastardise it and enjoyed it in various forms over the years – and for that I am both very, very sorry and very, very grateful]
And while I’m sure there would be many airport lounge visitors who would be outraged at the rubbishness of the JFK Airport, Lufthansa Lounge food offering [which was still less depressing that the interior design of the lounge] I can tell you, for a bloke from Nottingham trying to stay healthy in a way where his taste buds still have some hope … it was epic.
So here’s to Lufthansa …
Your ads may be rubbish.
Your lounge – at least at JFK – may be depressing.
But your food is perfect … at least if you come from Nottingham and have very low standards of discernment.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Airports, America, Emotion, Empathy, Human Goodness, Humanity, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance
Despite being a sentimental bastard, I’ve always looked forwards.
I love the possibilities of what is ahead of us.
The new. The unknown. The what-if-we-could-do-this sort of stuff.
But when I was in NYC, I came face-to-face with a few things from the past that reminded me how their impact on me remains in the present.
I’ll be writing about a few of these over the next few weeks but the first was this …
Yep, a bank of payphone at JFK.
In a smartphone driven world, I have no idea why they’ve left so many of them there – but even accepting some people must choose to use a payphone over a mobile device, there was something lovely about seeing them all sat there.
A reminder of a time where the darkest corridors in the oldest airports were possibly where the most pure expressions of humanness could be experienced
People queuing up to talk to loved ones … friends … colleagues … or companies.
A rollercoaster of conversational emotions …
Happiness, Sadness. Curiosity. Despair. Hope. Calmness. Longing. Love.
Every payphone, a different story …
Each one interpreted by the voice, words and mannerisms of the person in front of you.
So even though airports send and bring millions of people to every corner of the globe each and every year, that row of payphones reminded me how rarely we now glimpse others lives in their raw and unfiltered state.
Social media certainly isn’t that.
In fact, I can’t think of many current situations where we witness masses of people all crammed into the same space, trying to live and deal with their individual lives in public.
Maybe that’s a good thing, but for all the convenience and freedom that tech gives us, this bank of payphones made me think that maybe the cost of this convenience is our ability to empathize and relate to the realities each of us lives in the shadows.
Filed under: 2026, Advertising, Airports, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Brand, Brand Suicide, Creativity, Culture, Customer Service, Effectiveness, Experience, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Privilege, Professionalism, Reputation, Travel, Trust, Uncommon, World Cup
The next few weeks are big for me.
My birthday.
Jill’s birthday.
Paul’s birthday.
The World Cup starting.
Trips to LA, Milan, Berlin, London and Amsterdam.
Meetings and dinners with legends of film, fashion and music.
And a bunch of lovely planners in Germany, hahaha.
I’d love to pretend I’m nonchalant about it all, but that would be a massive fucking lie as I’m exited to fuck about it all – bar my birthday.
But this post isn’t about my impending weeks of mega-madness, it’s about the madness of dealing with British Airways.
I am in the incredibly lucky situation of having someone pay for all my flights.
Better yet, they are paying for them to all be Business Class.
I booked on Air New Zealand, who – because of the flight itinerary – also scheduled some of the flights on BA.
So far. So good.
Having chosen my seats on Air NZ, I went to BA to do the same with them … except my booking reference didn’t work.
I then tried logging into my British Airways Frequent Flyer account, but got the same response.
No problems, maybe they use a different booking reference, so I contacted Air NZ to ask – and they told me, they use the same number and so it should work.
So I tried again. Nothing.
So I tried calling. No answer.
So I tried their chatbot. No reply.
It was getting frustrating so I went on the website to see if there was another way to contact them and there was.
A customer service contact button. So I clicked on it and what did I find when I did that …
A postal address.
A fucking postal address!
They want me to write – from New Zealand – to work out why my booking reference number doesn’t work. Mind blowing.
But it gets worse …
You see, I went back to Air NZ and told them the situation and they said they would talk to BA on my behalf. And they did.
So after 3 attempts for the website to accept my login details, I go on there to choose my business class seats and what do I find?
Yep, they want to CHARGE ME for choosing a seat.
This on top of the fact it has already cost a fuck-ton of cash.
Now I appreciate this is a first world problem.
I totally get I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to experience this.
But it blows-my-fucking mind that BA wants to charge me even more money to choose which seat I fly in – especially when airlines like Air NZ, let you do it when you fly economy.
Now I should point out BA have said once check-in is open – ie: 24 hours before the flight leaves – I can choose my seat for free, but apart from that still being bollocks, I am pretty sure when I try to do it, they’ll tell me I have to mail in my request by post.
Uncommon have done some amazing work for British Airways.
They have elevated their standing and prestige with some beautiful work.
And the line they created – A British Original – sounds great, until you remember that the British Leyland Mini Metro and also one of those and was a fucking shit experience as well.
