Will Ryanair lose market share through lack of brand loyalty?

The recent Panorama documentary on the Irish carrier highlighted all the reasons why the airline has grown so fast over the last few years: cheap fares, an excellent arrival record, new planes etc.

A record 3.8m people viewed the programme (an increase of 1m on average viewing figures) and in the opinion of ‘heavyweight’ PR experts such as Porter-Novelli Crisis Communications Director Neil Bayley, quoted in PR Week, the programme had failed to damage the brand.

Leaving aside the controversy generated by the documentary and the posturing by both the BBC and Ryanair, there is a more fundamental issue at stake.

The very thing that made Ryanair so popular (i.e. cheap fares) in the first place may now be the root of their downfall.

By concentrating so hard on low fares, Ryanair has never set out to engender any ‘love’ for the brand, believing that this was unnecessary.

Indeed, upon occasion it has appeared that the airline has a positive contempt for its passengers - as anyone who has ever asked a crew member to get them three seats together on a full plane will attest.

This policy was fine in the good times but now the Short Break European holiday market has virtually disappeared, those who are flying are being more choosy with whom they spend their money.

Other airlines are offering seats that are the same price (or less) when all Ryanair’s extras are included. Recently, British Airways was cheaper on a short-haul European flight and the difference in the experience incomparable. However, they are starting to charge for extras like second bags.

At the end of the Panorama documentary the presenter announced that Ryanair would be expanding into continental flights to America and adding Business Class at a premium fare.

So if Ryanair starts to operate like other carriers and the competition starts to operate like Ryanair, will a lack of brand loyalty become a key issue for the Irish airline? Time will tell!

Re-branding – not done in two days!

Image from Margate Civic Society

Is it just me or is this 2009 series of The Apprentice dragging somewhat? I do not seem to have the same interest in the outcome as I did during the previous three series.

The most recent task was to re-brand the seaside town of Margate. One team (Ignite) opted for marketing Margate to families – safe but uninspiring.

The other team (Empire) worked on the re-invention of Margate as a gay resort to rival Brighton.

In the event, the latter idea failed not through prejudice but through extremely poor execution of the marketing materials, namely posters and a leaflet, due to running out of time.

Ignite won with a predictable approach yet Empire’s route was so much more innovative.

Good branding (or re-branding) takes time – it cannot be done in two days – and involves so much more than just a single image, a few good photos and a few posters!

Sometimes clients do not understand the difference between the design of a single image (logo) and all the research behind the creation of a brand or a re-brand. This Apprentice task proves the point.

Of course, designers and marketers do not always get it right – remember Consignia?

But any good agency will include sufficient resources in the budget to do thorough research and to ensure their (great) ideas are beautifully presented.

Time maybe money but two days is not enough for a re-brand! Margate deserved better!

A creative Apprentice?

Last night Kimberley Jones (the Marketing Consultant) was fired from the current series of The Apprentice for a poorly managed and conceived launch of a cereal brand.

The candidates had to create a cereal brand, a character, design packaging, put together a marketing campaign and film a TV advert.

While Kimberley had problems with Philip Taylor and Lorraine Tighe arguing all the way through, she has admitted that she let Philip bulldoze his character "Pantsman" through, despite Lorraine's protestations, as there were no other ideas on the table.

As a marketing consultant myself I find that very strange! Usually marketing people are known for their creative ideas.

If she (or the team) had come up with another concept there would at least have been an alternative form which to choose.

Obviously managing a brainstorming session that results in creative ideas is harder than it looks!

Still, not briefing the packaging designers fully seems very strange – for a marketing consultant – although she had clearly run out of time.

The lesson appears to be that there has to be a balance between creativity and structure.

It will be intereresting to see how Phillip and Lorraine fare in future weeks.

Twitter for executives

On Monday I had the pleasure of co-presenting a short seminar on using social media tools to a forum of high-powered executive job-seekers

While some of the audience wholeheartedly grasped the opportunities presented by blogging, Twitter and Facebook, it is fair to say that a number were less convinced.

When we explained that many major companies (and CEOs) were using Twitter – to break news that could be of interest to those looking for a new role – more understood the potential power of social media.

The news that Twitter has launched a new website aimed at business users called ExecTweets which pulls together posts from corporate executives adds credence to what we were saying on Monday.

The site was created in conjunction with ad agency Federated Media and has been sponsored by Microsoft – so it is likely to become well-used very quickly. We will watch with interest.

ExecTweets: http://www.exectweets.com

Trouble with Twitter? Marketers use with care!

As a marketer, I love the opportunities that social media platforms have brought to businesses of all sizes.

I enthusiastically embrace all the new social media tools and we encourage our clients to use them too – where appropriate.

Just because a tool exists does not mean that a business has to use it!

Twitter is a case in point. Used correctly, it is a very powerful CRM tool. Used badly, it will make a company appear ridiculous.

For an amusing video that makes this point very well see http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8puil_twouble-with-twitter-soustitre_creation

For an easy guide to Twitter (by the excellent Commoncraft) see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Retail marketing winners – value and premium

A trip along Oxford Street yesterday at lunchtime showed in ‘real time’ the shift in retail spending.

The street was very crowded with shoppers, many of them tourists from France and Italy or from Eastern Europe, enjoying the reduction in sterling’s value.

Yet many of the lunchtime shoppers were clely locals who had ‘escaped’ from nearby offices to enjoy the early spring sunshine and to browse the rails.

What was interesting from a marketer’s perspective was what the shoppers were buying.

A quick review of the carrier bags that shoppers were carrying yesterday showed that the clear winners were Primark and Selfridges. Certainly both stores were very busy with queues at tills, particularly at the former.

The carriers that were glaringly absent were from the ‘middle market’ – Next, M&S, Bhs etc.

This was a physical demonstration of market positioning with consumers shopping at the top of the market and the bottom.

While these observations spring from two hours one lunchtime, it does show that is being reflected in market share and share prices – the middle market is finding the going tough.

Retailers in the middle ground need to create a reason why we should shop there. Differentiation is the key! Give us a reason to spend money with you!

Oxford St image courtesy of The Guardian

High staff 'churn' as a business model? The Wickes approach

Listening to a recent Radio 4 Today programme interview with Geoff Cooper CEO of Wickes (and the Travis Perkins Group) it appeared that company was well-placed to ride out the current recession.

He was later quoted as saying " We took early action in 2008 to deal with the increasingly tough trading environment and have set our business ready to manage continuing difficult market conditions in 2009. We have already taken decisive action, and stand ready to take further steps if necessary." (Source www.diyweek.net)

However, on the radio he added that high staff turnover was a feature of their business and appeared to view it favourably as a way of managing staff costs.

It made me think. Usually businesses want to keep their staff since recuiting and training new employees is costly in both temporal and financial resources.

Making working conditions as appealing as possible in order to retain staff has always been a 'given' in management terms.

So could the current market conditions be leading to a new model in which companies welcome staff departures as a way of controlling costs?

This may look appealing to the accountants but has big ramifications for Customer Relationship Management!

It is no co-incidence that John Lewis is performing well in difficult market conditions. Their staff actually know something about the products they are selling - unlike the average salesperson in Wickes or B&Q.

Staff knowledge as a Key Performance or Profit Indicator? Why not!

I know in which store I prefer to buy my everyday DIY products!

Travis Perkins underperforms but Tile Giant sales up

Happy Birthday Facebook

Social media site Facebook is 5 years old today. Facebook has taken the world by storm and offers far more than just a personal networking tool.

Politicans are quickly learning the value of Facebook. Barack Obama understood the importance of social media and his use of the medium had a huge impact on the race to the White House.

The world of politics is finding Facebook offers a fast way of quickly gathering support for a particular campaign or issue.

Facebook allows the individual to find their political voice again.

For business it can provide a wonderful insight into what your customers think about you and your brand.

Get marketing celebrity memoirs!

This morning Simon Fox, CEO of HMV Group, was featured on the Radio 4 Today programme explaining his group's Christmas figures.

Amongst the information discussed, he mentioned that sales of travel books were down yet sales of celebrity memoirs 'held up well'. He sounded quite surprised by the fact.

This leads one to consider why one would buy the (ghost-written) memoir of a minor sports celebrity as a present rather than that lovely Lonely Planet book on the Galapagos Islands!

Is there a message here for marketers and PR experts? Has the travel book lost its allure in the face of the wealth of Z list autobiographies or have people stopped buying travel books in the winter as an instant 'escape' for themselves or their loved ones? Food for thought!