Marketing Make-Up Applied is Illusory
By Robert Wheatley

Did you notice the elaborate animation commercials from United Airlines during the Olympics? Beautifully done. Engaging. Interesting. And perhaps also a waste of time and dollars. Bob Garfield, AdAge… critic and columnist does a thoughtful review of the series in his August 25 column. You can watch the commercial here.

There is no glossy veneer to successfully place over the reality of bad performance, lousy service and declining amenities associated with United’s not-so-friendly skies. United’s payoff line is: United, It’s Time to Fly. Really?

Says Garfield: “we’re pretty sure from everything else we’ve read or experienced over the last year this is pretty much the time not to fly, if at all possible. High fares and surcharges. Shrunken schedules. Surly, mistreated employees. Reduced services. No pillows. Pay-as-you-go-food. Fees for changes. Fees for bags. Fees for child escorts. Lost luggage. Long waits, and petty humiliations at security. And just as the Olympics were getting underway, United added to it. Its domestic business class, on some routes, will lose food service. Domestic coach will lose pretzels and nuts.”

Extraordinary the temptation to create brand messages that artfully attempt to serve an image that does not exist… Are we recognizing the truth around us? Or are we hopeful that the entertaining 60-second experience will somehow over-turn the sad reality of falling service and reputation? Marketing make-up is seen as exactly that. What’s underneath is obvious to us all.

It’s the product first, second and last…

No communications campaign can fix a flawed business model or a brand in need of a credibility makeover. The sad truth of airline woes is detailed daily in mainstream and social media circles. Flying is a pain. United’s standing and status within the milieu of airline brands does not stand a cut above the current trend of less, less and more less.

So the message is fix the product first. Devote all your energies to making sure you have the right business model, and focus on doing a few things well. Could be to airline execs that the challenges feel insurmountable. And old habits like expensive ad campaigns are hard to break. In some way the artful ads may soothe the ravaged spirits internally at United, a brief wistful moment when you think glowingly about the entertainment up on the screen. But it’s completely illusory.

Ultimately maybe it’s better medicine to shake loose of that invention and re-focus your energies and efforts against improved service and experience for the traveler?

Joseph Jaffe’s column in AdWeek details his harrowing service nightmare with Delta. Ironic.

Here I am off to Nantucket tomorrow morning on, you guessed it, United Airlines. Ah me… Is it time to fly? Oh brother…