The Marketing Doctor Says:

Airlines’ Recent Moves Say Brands (And Industry) Are In Deep Trouble

Sometimes reviewing the way a brand is handled (or mishandled) can be a tool to tell you a lot about the health of a company or even an entire industry.  You can use brand behavior like a canary in a coal mine to detect serious company, product or industry-threatening changes long before they become permanent.

This concept has never been clearer than in the airline industry right now.  Airlines have historically been pretty good managers of their brands.  In other words, when times have been normal, you could count on them to follow certain branding standards that left the consumer with a pretty clear picture of each individual brand.   

That’s why what many of the big airlines are doing –disregarding these branding standards!— is a clear sign of serious current and long-term trouble.  Believe me I know what can happen when airline brand standards are ignored, my entire family was employed by Pan Am –a great brand gutted by terrible management.

What looked at first to be a response to the high cost of fuel is turning into an almost wholescale abandonment of brand.  The airline industry has never been a consistent money maker and over the years dozens of big airlines have slipped into bankruptcy only to re-emerge later –but I would argue that judging by brand behavior, this time is different.  My guess is that this is going to end with the disappearance of some of the old venerable airlines and even the emergence of a different way of flying commercially. 

Almost all the airline brands look to be in a state of confusion: Continental announced that its making an alliance with United, Northwest is only the latest airline to announce that it’s cutting back the number of places it flies (again!), Northwest passengers are suing the airline for reducing capacity, first the major airlines were going to charge for the second checked bag now they’re going to charge for all checked bags, JetBlue once known for its single class cabin is going counter-brand to introduce other classes to generate revenue…

In other words, brand identity is being blurred or totally forgotten.  A terrible sign.  The brand message that is being sent when a major airline says that its cutting destinations is negative.  It’s saying the airline can’t be counted on to get you where you might need to go.  Similarly, baggage fees say desperation and make the consumer feel as if they are being squeezed (and as if they’re not the customer but somehow part of the problem). 

(By the way, the Marketing Doctor’s way of dealing with the baggage nonsense is to ship my luggage via Fed Ex.  I can track it.  I don’t have to carry it.  And it arrives before I even get there.  And if you’re about to say “that’s too expensive”… it’s not.  The cost is comparable if you ship ground, especially given these new airline baggage charges.)

The fact that the airlines are acting in unison (i.e., most are adding charges and cutting capacity) makes individual airline brands seem even less important.  Of course, people have been thinking airline brands less and less over the years anyway and more about what schedule works best for them.  This might just be the final straw.  Just watch what happens when (not if!)  the airlines start playing around with frequent flyer benefits –probably the last brand loyalty component left! 

Stay tuned…the abandoment of brand standards is telling us something big here!

And, remember, it’s always easier when you keep branding in mind!