13 replies to this topic

[Independence76]

Absolutely wonderful and amazing. It's like my wet dream of an airline commercial....

Edited by Independence76, 06 September 2013 - 04:29 PM.

[LA_PHX]

Impressive. Goes to show how bad Southwest's latest commercial is. Southwest went with the stereotypical, here are some amazing things you can do when you travel, but it didn't make me think, "oh, I should fly Southwest to get there." Granted, they only had thirty seconds or so to work with and this is 1.5 minutes.

[SwitchFX]

That is some epic visual airline porn.

Edited by SwitchFX, 06 September 2013 - 05:40 PM.

[Independence76]

LA_PHX, on 06 September 2013 - 05:18 PM, said:

Impressive. Goes to show how bad Southwest's latest commercial is. Southwest went with the stereotypical, here are some amazing things you can do when you travel, but it didn't make me think, "oh, I should fly Southwest to get there." Granted, they only had thirty seconds or so to work with and this is 1.5 minutes.

I still think that AA could have done a bit better...

The merger commercial was decent, 60sec. length, but most of the other commercials are about 30sec., don't really show off an experience, isn't artistic, and for a brand that apparently got a CLIO award, I'm surprised they use cheap CGI to display it....

I just feel like if AA really loved their new brand, they would go further.

[SwitchFX]

One of the main differences is that companies like AA need to garner the attention of older generations. The older generations in the US and UK are considerably different from each other. Most if not all US companies are incapable of something like this simply because they have to pander to all demographics. You also don't have the nitpicking, whining groups in the UK like you do in the US. Aside from that, BA service, quality and brand loyalty far exceed AA.

Edited by SwitchFX, 06 September 2013 - 08:58 PM.

[Independence76]

SwitchFX, on 06 September 2013 - 08:57 PM, said:

Most if not all US companies are incapable of something like this simply because they have to pander to all demographics.

This is what I like to call "textbook marketing."

Sure, I'm not exactly an expert or major in this subject, but I can see it when I turn on my TV and all the commercials recycle the same overused tactics in a 30 second piece of ######.

It's like people who just got out of college who saved their textbooks from their marketing classes and they look into them as they go along in their careers. In other words, no innovation, no imagination, and no ideas. A monkey could make a commercial more creative...

Also, the same applies to movie trailers. They're in even worst shape than TV commercials nowadays...

Edited by Independence76, 07 September 2013 - 01:56 AM.

[SwitchFX]

A few reasons are:

1) Cost
2. If it's not broke, don't fix it
3. Religious influence

The third one is a strange point to make, but religious heavily influences business decisions in the United States as well as public policy, which for the latter is strange given separation of church and state. Most American demographics would cringe at foreign commercials, where everything is more relaxed.

Another good example. Published by Audi of America, never shown in the United States.

Edited by SwitchFX, 07 September 2013 - 02:06 AM.

[Independence76]

SwitchFX, on 07 September 2013 - 02:05 AM, said:

A few reasons are:

1) Cost

I laugh at that (mainly from US vs. EU movie budgets and the outcomes).

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2. If it's not broke, don't fix it

It's not broken. It's just incredibly and excruciatingly boring.

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3. Religious influence

And that is why we must realize that a lot of our actions and views upon our identities are cultured from a number of factors - religion included.

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Another good example. Published by Audi of America, never shown in the United States.

Brilliant ad.

[SergeBMW]

Although unfortunately this is quite true, the US does get some quite profound adverts out. To me it seems that when the US does one of these commercials, they are more LIFE related than just selling a product such as this one from DOVE:

[SwitchFX]

Comparing the film industry to non-film industries is like asking a blind man to give you driving lessons. He's no dolphin; you're going to have an accident. You also seem to misunderstand my second point. If something "works" for these companies, they're not about to do something completely radical and untested. Hence the expression. To the executives and board members, the boring ads of today are "Fantastic" or "Kick-######" when really it's absolute drivel. Of course there's the airline's quality of service and other ratings, but I digress. I'd rank American airlines in general as some of the worst in terms of quality and service.

[Independence76]

SwitchFX, on 07 September 2013 - 04:23 AM, said:

I'd rank American airlines in general as some of the worst in terms of quality and service.

The list goes on and on when it comes to what's wrong with airlines in the US.

Like all things in daily life of companies, it begins with management culture. Airline management teams in the US are often called boring. Their commercials are textbook marketing crap, their cabins are designed with the philosophy of "whatever," they have a delusional sense of diversity and importance, and they have an extremely strange way of viewing their wages versus union relations.

Of course, you have different kinds of personalities, industries, and markets. But with the legacy carriers, it tends to be the same drab crap. That seems to drip down to the flight attendants. After being around hundreds of F/A's both new and old in the past few months, it's a very depressing situation. At AA, for example, the process of hiring flight attendants is very strict. I didn't even get considered after my application was put in. It's clearly an institution of high standards...on the surface.

The training process is 8 weeks long. You must stay in the DFW area during this period and the Stewardess College works as super-dorms/hotel rooms. That's 8 weeks of daily classes of safety, service, languages, and evacuation tests. These are adults being taught, so it's not hard for people to learn things. By the end of it, they tend to have a sense of accomplishment that is very high (understandable at first, I suppose). The graduations often have large amounts of wine and food, along with high-end catering. Security often even sections these off. These as very expensive and proud events.

By the time they get out into the world of air travel, they're ready to go on a professional level...or so you'd think.

On the past 10 flights (both domestic and flagship international), despite treating the flight attendants with the utmost respect and positivity and realizing the immense knowledge they have learned, I have not gotten a single smile out of them (even in First Class). I'm sad to announce I got better service on Spirit.

After all of these strict hiring practices to ensure the absolute best cabin service you can imagine, after the 8 weeks of intense training, after wondrous and expensive graduations, wouldn't you expect something above a SkyTrax 3-star rating? The people who are in charge of flight attendant programs often appear very proud and confident in their system. Something is very wrong with this picture...

That's just the beginning of the problems compared to international carriers, but....I will hold my tongue.

Edited by Independence76, 07 September 2013 - 11:26 PM.

[Independence76]

Note 1: "Sense of diversity" was implying corporate/brand/product diversity.

Note 2: I don't blame the flight attendants for their lack of service quality on a personal level, I blame elements of the system in place.

Note 3: I have the utmost respect for flight attendants and airline personnel when near them. I smile at every encounter I have with them and understanding the stresses of the job, I try to make it as easy on them as possible.

Edited by Independence76, 08 September 2013 - 12:09 AM.

[Max.]

BA marketing last few years has been fairly big budget.

[pieterjan456]

Loved the Audi commercial! I like the British Airways ones too, but I'm more a Star Alliance/Lufthansa fan, I always use them for long distance flights.