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May 16, 2007
An Ad With Honesty (?) And What We Can Learn
I don't know if anyone has seen the new post-bankruptcy ad campaign for Delta. Brandweek provided some coverage, and here is a link to a sample.
As consumers, we are pretty cynical...once burned, we have less faith. And Lord knows, we have lost faith in major airlines. Jay Leno had a great joke about airlines not raising prices to compensate for rising fuel costs...instead cutting services. He quipped, "Cutting services?? What is Southwest going to take out the seats and make flights standing-room only??"
So the new Delta ads, with their mea culpa is likely to meet with skepticism in the marketplace. But, I found something very interesting in them. It is in our normal marketing culture to never "admit" to failure or "acknowledge" problems in public. We do that in our personal lives as well -- it seems almost ingrained in our genetic makeup. That is why the ads are so fascinating. In one TV ad segment, the camera pans an empty airline lobby with dirty walls and part of a faded Delta logo while the voice-over ponders about past failures. That image really connected with me, since it so vividly reminded the viewer about Delta's bankruptcy. In normal marketing, companies just don't make that type of admission. Yeah, it's just marketing and I am not here to shill for Delta. But it is also in our genetics to forgive. And at least for me, I'd rather have a company admit they screwed up than treat me like nothing happened.
I think there is something here for all marketers. I have often been in creative meetings where clients trying to overcome a "challenge" vehemently reject the "truth" in favor of warmed-over pablum. I think Delta's head-on approach works. It may not help save the airline, and lots of people will hate these ads, but in my view...it worked.
Somthing to think about in your business as well. Especially in customer service in a small dealership or VAR location. When you are growing, sometimes you make mistakes. When you do, telling the customer openly that you made a mistake and what you are doing to avoid the problem in the future is usually the right call.
Now, if Delta could only figure out the on-time arrival thing and also figure out how a vacuum works...
Posted by jcioban at May 16, 2007 6:27 AM
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