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Delta’s New Campaign Misses The Point

I’m a Delta Airlines frequent flyer. Not quite George-Clooney-“Up In The Air”-frequent, but I average two round-trips a month on the airline, have managed to hit Gold Medallion status, and have an outside shot at Platinum.

A week ago, I was one of 180 passengers who had to hike from one terminal to another at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport because Delta had parked its plane at the wrong gate. This was the third time in 2010 this has happened to me on a Delta flight.

So I was amused and astonished to see see this ad in today’s morning paper:

The substance of the message is terrific: Delta is bringing back their “Red Coat” agents to assist passengers who need help rebooking or otherwise solving problems. This is a good thing.

The problem with the ad is its self-congratulatory tone, which directly contradicts the experience of anyone who’s ever flown Delta.

You should be able to depend on an airline to make your trip easier, no matter what’s going on in the industry — those are our concerns, not yours.

Well, yes.

But this is not some secret information that only Delta knows. In fact, there is considerable evidence that in terms of dumping the industry’s problems on their customers, Delta has been one of the worst offenders for years.

Delta has consistently ranked near the bottom in national customer-satisfaction surveys. Their Skymiles frequent-flyer program is considered one of the very-worst in its availability of free tickets. Google “Delta Sucks”, and you’ll find page after page of horror stories.

Passengers really don’t like Delta Airlines.

There is significant evidence that Delta’s senior management recognizes the problem, and is taking steps to address it. The return of the Red Coats is certainly a signal of that. If the campaign told its customers, “We heard you, we know we have a problem, and we’re fixing it”, Delta would deserve applause.

Instead, this ad attempts to position Delta as if they’ve always led the charge for good service. Which reminds one of Judge Judy Sheindlin’s timeless advice:

Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”

Until Delta proves to its passengers that it is committed to improvement, this is one message that will be met with derision.

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An Unusual Auto Dealer Offer

Tom Gill Chevrolet, a dealership in Florence, Kentucky (near Cincinnati), is offering an interesting gift-with-purchase: dinner with Pete Rose.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS1DuM88Prs&feature=player_embedded]

Be offended, or saddened, if you wish. Pete has to make a living, and he’s not allowed to do it in baseball. The only thing I want to know is whether it works.If this promotion sells cars, I’m in favor of it.

Hat tip to Sports Illustrated for directing me to Ted Williams Head.

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Another Unsung Hero of Marketing is Gone

In the past decade, we’ve lost some important behind-the-scenes giants in the world of brands.

Adolph Levis, who developed the Slim Jim meat snack, died in 2001.
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Arthur Schiff, the advertising copywriter who coined the phrases “But wait, there’s more!”, “Isn’t that amazing?” and “Now How Much Would You Pay?” passed away in 2006. His most famous and enduring work was the Ginsu Knife campaign.
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Fredric Bauer, who invented the Pringles Potato Chip can, reached his sell-by date in 2008. According to the several media reports, his family honored his final wish:

Baur’s children said they honoured his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township.

Now comes word that Morie Yohai has died. You might not recognize his name, but you’ll recognize the product he invented: Cheez Doodles.

“Is this Mr. Cheez Doodles?” a cashier once asked Mr. Yohai’s wife, Phyllis, when he accompanied her to a local supermarket. Mrs. Yohai liked to let everyone know of her husband’s contribution to between-meal crunchies, according to a 2005 Newsday profile. Their sumptuous home overlooking Long Island Sound was “the house that Cheez Doodles bought,” she liked to say…

In 2004, he, his wife and children visited a museum in Napa Valley, Calif., where an artist, Sandy Skoglund, had mounted a life-size installation showing several people at a cocktail party — all covered in Cheez Doodles.

Rest in peace, Mr. Doodles.

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Swipe-and-Deploy Marketing: Shelter Borrows From the Car Dealers

I’m one of those who’s come to the conclusion that there are no new ideas. Sometimes when you’re looking for a hook, the most “creative” thing you can do is move a technique from one industry to another.

Multnomah County Animal Services in Oregon, recognizing the fact that there is more demand for kittens than for full-grown cats, has come up with a nice little bit of swipe-and deploy: the “Certified Pre-Owned Cats” campaign.

With hundreds of cats crowding the Troutdale shelter, the county plans, effective immediately, to temporarily eliminate adoption fees for mature cats (over one year old). The “Certified Pre-Owned Cats” campaign aims to place as many cats in homes as possible in the upcoming summer months.

Multnomah County took the concept a step further with this inspired touch:

All Certified Pre-Owned Cats adopted from the shelter come with a free “multi-point inspection”: the cats have received a complete health exam, all their current vaccinations and a microchip, and have also been spayed or neutered.

There’s nothing particularly newsworthy about an overcrowded shelter; and because the older a cat gets, the less likely it is to be adopted, reduced-fee adoptions for older animals are fairly common. Meanwhile, certified pre-owned programs are a-dime-a-dozen in the car business.

But when an animal shelter borrows the certified pre-owned concept from the car business, it becomes a “man bites cat” story.

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