Wed, April 4, 2007
Comments are the worst (except this one!)—9:02 PM
Do you detest these "further afield" postings? You do, don't you? It's homework for you: "Look how brilliant my eloquent opinions are – but first do this reading so you know what I'm referring to."
The alternative is for me to compose my own fascinating rant about commercial air travel (again!), which means shaping my ideas with more coherence than I have energy for – or to post my comments on other blogs in a timely manner, so I can rely on those readers to enjoy my brilliance. (Who has time to read blogs that fast? I'm lucky if I get there in under a week.)
Plus, nobody reads the comments on actual blogs. And why should they? You have to traipse through a few dozen losers barking the same opinions back and forth at each other before you unearth anything remotely intriguing. And it's worse on sites where people vote the best comments to the top, because now the mass of people whose opinions you don't respect are pushing their idiot ideas to the forefront! You can't win. That's why I like onebee: enough comments to get a good dialogue going, but not so many that they lose all meaning. (And occasionally they're freaking hilarious!)
Anyhoo – don't read any of the dumb comments on this interesting post about market research, except mine!
What fascinates me (from the "Frontline" clip) is Rapaille's client, talking about his experience with the "code" theory. "I strongly believe in what he is doing. Strongly." Does this guy ever wonder if Rapaille is getting this response by pressing his "reptilian hot buttons" for "market research genius"? Maybe he's discovered that expensive champagne and lots of fancy cars will convince people that whatever he says is gold. As a businessman, he'd be crazy not to make use of that knowledge. No discredit to Rapaille; I'm sure his techniques are valid and they're certainly fascinating. I just wonder, if you're behind closed doors hearing how easy it is to persuade people to pay you for something – do you wonder about the guy you're paying to hear this from? Your intellect tells you he gets great results, but he's telling you your intellect has nothing to do with your purchasing decisions.
On the airline thing, I think the reason the pricing is our main focus is that there's nothing else to focus on. Commercial air travel is a universally miserable experience - across all (domestic) carriers - so every ticket seems too expensive. $65 round trip from NYC to LAX is more than I want to pay. The security hassles, cramped cabins, delays, delays, delays – they should pay us! It's hard to justify spending any money on something that is, at best, a necessary evil. If I were to form a positive brand image for a particular airline (comfort, convenience, efficiency, or just a modicum of customer service), I would probably be willing to pay $20-$40 more for their ticket vs. their competitors'. Or, at least I would coordinate my trips to align with their cheapest fares rather than scouring the web for the cheapest ticket on my travel date. The problem is, no airline is building that brand relationship. They can't afford to, because they're so dismally mismanaged that all their attention must focus on keeping flights in the air and keeping their workers from striking. They're taking schizophrenic, shotgun approaches to branding (cf. Song, an experiment that's already been abandoned in the time since the PBS piece aired). It smacks of desperation, and with good reason: they're desperate.
They should look at those who like to fly. People with private jets. They love it! It's on their schedule; there are no long lines; flights are never canceled. Now obviously Delta can't bring all of these things to commercial air travel, but maybe they should look at where their model diverges and why. For me, it's all about time. "Arrive 2 hours early." "Allow time for security." "Be at the gate when you're called." We have to rush, rush, rush; and if we're late? We're screwed. What happens if they're late? Right: we're screwed. We have to deal with delays and cancellations and missed connections. I'll pay $100 extra for the next airline that offers me a $10 refund for every 10 minutes of delay. And I'll still end up flying for free.
