Marketing Through Eugene's Eyes

Having come back from San Francisco and flown with Alaska Airlines, I can now blog on my postpurchase experience of the airline’s service.

I was thoroughly impressed by Alaska Airlines – they really did satisfy my needs and wants. Check-in was very efficient. They have streamlined the process by installing self-serve electronic check-in booths, thus saving time for travellers. There was also good ground customer service. Alaska Airlines customer service agents were at hand to help me with the check-in service.

Boarding was also efficient. As soon as I stepped onto the aircraft, I felt welcomed by the flight crew. Not only was there pleasant music in the background, but the flight crew made several announcements, during boarding, detailing the estimated time of departure, the route and the journey time. Both the outbound and inbound flights departed punctually and arrived earlier than scheduled. The seats were actually quite comfortable and there was sufficient legroom. The upholstery was leather. To my surprise, there were complimentary drinks and snacks. For me, this complimentary service certainly added value to the service.

During the inflight service, I noticed that my napkin promoted Alaska Airline’s direct services to Hawaii from a range of mainland American cities, and was asking passengers to subscribe to their newsletter. It was informative and I thought that this advertising strategy was good because it reached a wide group of travellers (i.e. all passengers on the flight), and communicated its message effectively through catchy phrases, diagrams and logos. I also learnt from the napkin that Alaska Airlines is interested environmental sustainability as the napkin was made of 100% recycled material in a bleach free process. By being green, Alaska Airlines has increased its value of its services by appealing to consumers who are becoming more environmentally-conscious.

Finally, there were posters throughout the aerobridges and around the baggage claim area stating that if luggage was not at the baggage claim belts within 20 minutes of the plane parking at the gate, Alaska Airlines would offer a $20 discount for future Alaska Airlines flights or 2000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan bonus miles. This baggage service guarantee was also advertised on their website. In this way, Alaska Airlines has very cleverly tried to reduce the perceived risk of flying with them and hence, reduced the chances of postpurchase dissonance. (I wanted to take photos of this advertisement but I couldn’t because it would look too weird).

In the future, I would be more than happy to fly with Alaska Airlines. However, whether I will be reluctant to patronise other airlines in favour of Alaska Airlines is doubtful because, at the end of the day, there is so much competition out there in the airline industry. So for every airfare I buy, I would still conduct a long search of alternative airlines and evaluate them according to my evaluative criteria:  airfare prices, departure times, meals, safety, service, reputation/brand image, aircraft type and punctuality.

Nonetheless, Alaska Airlines have earned themselves a spot in my “evoked set” of North American airlines!

  

Japan’s love for technology has taken several leaps forward – this time, in the world of vending machines. 

I just wanted to share with you an interesting marketing blog on Japan’s vending machines.

Vending machines that help a customer choose a drink are becoming increasingly popular in the technology-obsessed nation of Japan. Equipped with a touch screen and a camera, the vending machine can help decide your drink based on whether you’re male/female and whether you’re young/old, whilst taking the weather into consideration. Talk about a whole new innovative level of satisfying a customer’s needs and wants…this is just insane! 

Japan has a “fetish” with vending machines. It has the “highest concentration of vending machines in the world”, mainly because of the convenience it offers. Having been to Japan three times, I have first-hand experience of how difficult it may be sometimes to wait in line to purchase a drink, tea/coffee or other items from a grocery store or local convenience store, especially in busy districts such as Shinjuku, when I can just walk to the front of the store or a few metres down the road to a vending machine.

This is especially so given Japan’s mammoth population of more than 127m – there are just so many people going in so many different directions!! Whilst in Japan, I could not help but be intrigued by the merchandise sold in the many, many vending machines located on almost every street, in every shop and in every nook, cranny and corner – they were basically everywhere. I clearly remember my experience of buying a hot chocolate, cappuccino and meal tickets for a restaurant from a vending machine, and I also remember seeing vending machines selling cigarettes, magazines, electronic goods, underwear and even food!   

In fact, fresh bananas are now being dispensed by vending machines. Re-filled three times a week, these vending machine-dispensed fresh fruits may be a direct competitor for vending machine beverages and may have contributed to the 9.2% fall in vending machine beverage sales between 2008 and 2009. These fresh bananas have found a little niche in the extremely-competitive Japanese vending machine industry. It seems like a wise investment given that the Japanese people are more than willing to catch onto any fun, new technology-oriented quirk.

Also, very recently, Hitachi has invented a Biometric Vending Machine that recognises finger vein patterns, which are linked with the person’s credit card stored on file. This basically eliminates the need of using a bank card, cash or even a mobile (yes, you can scan your mobile for some purchases and use it as a train ticket) when buying items from the vending machine. This has literally re-defined convenience. However, Hitachi has not indicated whether it will mass produce these biometric vending machines. For now, they sit in the Hitachi offices…reading and dispensing. 

But who really would have thought that the humble vending machine dispensing an afternoon snack or drink could turn into an artificial person – essentially – with its own mind and that could read (biometrics)?    

I now know what I want to do next when I return back to Japan, hehe.

Well continuing on with the theme of travel…I recently purchased airline tickets to San Francisco. I was thinking about the factors that influenced my purchase decision, and the decision process I went through before and during my purchase.

A few days ago, I had a sudden unsatisfied need to travel to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. In order to attain that desired state, I needed to find a means of transportation there. For me, this was a predominately functional need but there was also some psychological need behind it as I wanted to gain some personal gratification through enjoying the service both at the airport and in the plane; I wanted to feel like a valued customer.

So the search for information began. I knew from the outset that I was interested in only one form of transportation – flying – as it is the fastest way to travel. Bus, car and rail were too slow for me. I spent several hours researching because:

• I needed information outside my knowledge and experience on the other airlines that operated the route (external search for information).
• The perceived benefits of purchasing cheaper tickets, and choosing an airline that provided better customer service and that would depart and arrive on time at the times which I desired outweighed the energy and time I put into the search.
• I am a person who generally believes that I have control over the outcomes (internal locus of control). By actively comparing different airlines, I would be able to choose the one that provided the best value for me.
• Flying also entails some risk, specifically performance risk – e.g. poor safety and maintenance records; poor on-time departures and lousy customer service. There was also some financial risk as it is not uncommon for airlines to cancel flights and so I wanted to consider the flexibility of their cancellation policies – would I be offered compensation for my financial loss, alternative transportation to San Francisco or accommodation?
• Flying is a ‘shopping service’. I compared the different airlines through looking at surveys, customer blogs and comments, reading reviews and the airlines’ respective webpages in search for one that provided me with the best value in terms of price, service, safety and punctuality.

The alternatives which I found were Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, WestJet and United Airlines. My evaluative criteria consisted of several salient attributes – price, departure times, loyalty programs, inflight service, food and entertainment.

I was immediately attracted by WestJet’s cheap direct flights (US527). Its website was relatively easy to use but it was not very attractive, which was a situational factor that led me to question the quality of WestJet’s service. Personally, I am influenced by the aesthetics, colour schemes and ease-of-use of company websites. I form a link between the quality of the company’s websites and their products/services. I discovered that WestJet is a budget airline, only operated relatively small aircrafts (B737) and did not seem to provide food services on its aircraft. I was turned off by WestJet at that point.

So, I looked for other airlines. United Airlines also provided direct flights but it cost US859. Coupled with the negative experiences my friends and family have had with American Airlines ranging from poor cabin service to cramped seating and additional charges for checking-in luggage, I decided against choosing United Airlines.

Other airlines such as American Airlines were offering return flights for US452. Although this was considerably cheaper and allowed me to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points/miles (as American Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance), the inconvenience of the 2 hour stopover in Seattle deterred me from flying American Airlines. But I was impressed that American Airlines allowed consumers to hold their tickets for 24 hours at no charge, a feature which I have not seen with other airlines. However, I am not sure whether this will confer a sustainble competitive advantage for American Airlines because it is pretty simple for other competitors to duplicate.

Air Canada came was a company in my evoked set (i.e. acceptable airline). Its price (US633) seemed to reflect the value of its service; it was a good compromise between the cheapest and most expensive airfares. I was enticed by Air Canada’s complimentary checked-in luggage allowance (23kg), inflight food/beverage services, albeit at a charge, and by the fact that I could earn miles with Star Alliance member, Singapore Airlines. My past experience with Air Canada (for international flights) also influenced my decision – the aircraft had mood lighting, the inflight entertainment featured fairly recent movies and was quite extensive, the food and snack bar were acceptable, the flight departed and arrived punctually, and the cabin crew were responsive, attentive and friendly. Also, I generally believe that national airlines offer higher levels of service and safety (cognitive attitude) and so I usually patronise national airlines (behavioural attitude). I have also seen commercials advertising Air Canada as the Best North American Airline for 2010 (Skytrax World Airline Awards).

In the end, however, I chose to fly Alaska Airlines. It offered complimentary beverages and snacks, had an attractive website and was an airline recommended to me by several friends. It cost US550 for a direct flight at the same time as Air Canada’s flight, albeit it charged US20 for one piece of check-in luggage. However, my overall saving on the plane ticket was greater if I chose Alaska Airlines as opposed to Air Canada. I could also earn Qantas Frequent Flyer Points with Alaska Airlines.

Now I have yet to experience the flight and so I will blog on my check-in, inflight and postpurchase experiences later!

I am an exchange student from Sydney, Australia and so I was thinking of writing a marketing blog relating to a uniquely Australian thing. What came across my mind was the 2009 Qantas Airways “I Still Call Australia Home” advertisement campaign.

Now in its fourth instalment, all Australians immediately recognise and associate the tune of this commercial with Qantas. The catchy melody, the picturesque scenery and the large-scale production of this advertisement has been and continues to be a worthy investment in the brand.

Since 1998, the “I Still Call Australia Home” campaign has generated, amongst all Australians, a strong emotional attachment to Qantas that has matured over the last 12 years. This emotional reaction has been targeted by Qantas in this latest campaign to not only build a sense of pride in Qantas and increase customer loyalty, but also to generate a sense of patriotism and satisfaction whenever one boards a Qantas aircraft. Furthermore, according to Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, this advertisement was intended to highlight Qantas’ presence in the marketplace and improve internal morale during the global financial crisis (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/marketing-a-key-focus-for-qantas/story-e6frg90f-1225765386404).

What made this campaign even more effective, I think, was the unique twist this advertisement had. Unlike the previous three renditions, this advertisement incorporates elements of Indigenous Australia by commencing in the remote Australian outback with an Indigenous Australian boy who sings the characteristic tune in a dialect from the Torres Strait Islands. His singing is reciprocated by other singers who follow his voice back home – Australia – from famous international locations such as Paris, London and the Great Wall of China.

The inclusion of Indigenous Australians is a clever marketing strategy by Qantas that targets many segments of the Australian marketplace as most Australians are interested in Aboriginal rights, culture, equality and recognition. Therefore, by appealing to much of the Australian market, Qantas has not only engaged most Australians but also reinforced Qantas’ commitment to reconciliation (Reconciliation Action Plan). This has placed Qantas in a sustainable competitive advantageous position because it is difficult for other competitors (as viewed by the consumer), such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates and United Airlines to duplicate the connection Qantas has with the Indigenous population and thus, with the Australian marketplace. It seems that Qantas’ competitors have not been able to duplicate Qantas’ relationship with the Indigenous community, that has helped increase the perceived value and branding of Qantas, since the inception of the “I Still Call Australia Home” campaign in 1997.

However, I think that this campaign is not without its drawbacks. I have asked several of my local Canadian friends whether, upon seeing the first few seconds of the advertisement, they knew it was an advertisement for Qantas, yet alone an airline commercial. The answer from all of them was “no”. It was only in the concluding two seconds when a Qantas aircraft and its logo appeared that they realised that this was an airline advertisement; the majority of the advertisement are scenes of international cities and Australia. Thus, to the international audience, this may seem like a tourism Australian commercial and not an airline commercial. Rather, it relies on the knowledge embedded in the Australian culture that the audience can immediately link the melody to Qantas; a piece of knowledge which most of the international community lacks. Therefore, I am not sure whether this advertisement would generate the same strong emotional response shared by Australians in the international community.

Moreover, nowhere in this advertisement are Qantas’ products and services advertised, which is problematic as potential consumers/customers may not be aware of what Qantas has to offer. Ultimately, these consumers may patronise Qantas’ direct competitors and indirect competitors.

Finally, to base an advertisement campaign purely on emotional attachment is risky given the recent turbulence in Qantas’ safety standards and on-time performances. The runway overrun in 1999 in Bangkok, the mid-air explosion in 2008, the malfunctioned navigational instrument that caused a sudden dive in 2008 and the very recent 747 mid-air explosion of an engine less than a month ago near San Francisco have tarnished Qantas’ safety standards, reputation and image. Such a sentiment could seriously jeopardise Qantas’ advertisement which heavily relies upon the emotional bond that Australians have with the Qantas brand.

Overall, notwithstanding the recent problems with Qantas’ performance, I believe that Qantas has effectively utilised the “I Still Call Australia Home” song, which almost all Australians are aware of, to remind, persuade and strengthen Qantas’ reputation and branding at least in the Australian marketplace. This emotional attachment and consumer knowledge are two of Qantas’ strengths, which have given Qantas a sustainable competitive advantage within the Australian market. However, I am unsure whether this campaign would be as effective internationally. In order to successfully promote itself, Qantas has to bridge the culture gap (macroeconomic factor) by developing advertising that connects with the international market – i.e. shifting the focus from Indigenous Australia and from the “I Still Call Australia Home” tune to the products/services provided by Qantas and to one that targets the foreign country’s culture, behaviour, symbols and language differences to name a few.

P.S. These are links to the previous versions of this commercial.

1998 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbGuqmaDgLA&feature=related

2000 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMw0kzHaUUE

2004 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX5UR2leYHA

2009 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFhf5av5Cdc