Airline Marketing Hits Rock Bottom

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Didn't yo momma tell you that the instant you trade on price your brand equity's so low you'd have to climb up a ladder to get to the bottom? Has average gotten so bad that an airline thinks it can get to the head of the class by charging for your baggage? I don't know about you, but given the choice of no baggage charge versus a baggage charge, I'll choose free. Still sitting smug thinking their positioning strategies and messaging reaches captive business travelers, how long will it be before some airline wakes up to the magic of abstract creativity? Of positioning their stew as a soup you eat with a fork (Chunky Soup); of finding abstract selling solutions the way Pampers took 'fit & dryness' for granted (business travelers) and found that more diapers (and airline seats) can be sold on a 'developmental' brand platform? Hmmmm? United, "the developmental airline." What could they develop as a campaignable idea that would make all the charges worth it? Business relationships, personal relationships? There are so may Special User Effects still to fulfill - an airline (like American Airlines) could go a lot longer on one tank of creativity.

Differentiate Or Become A Heavily Price Driven Commodity Brand

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I was going to call this post "Differentiate Or Die" then remembered that that's not true. If you are a major brand in the real world, and you are unable to differentiate yourself, you become a heavily price driven commodity brand, such as Folgers, in a heavily price driven commodity category such as 'ground roast coffee (GRC). Other examples of heavily price driven commodity brands and categories include United, American or any airline, Duncan Hines in baking mixes, Crisco in edible oils. And now I leave room for a few of you readers to add a few of your own. It takes a lot of time to become a heavily price driven brand in a heavily price driven category - so what is it these advertising agencies have been doing with your advertising budgets all these years if it hasn't been differentiating "YOU" in the marketplace?

I tried to post the following on the Marketing M.O. Blog that got me started thinking about this via Seth Godin's the "the" factor, but was unable to. So here's the comment I tried to post there.

How would you express the "the" factor if you were a fried chicken chain attempting your first US expansion? How would you find the "the" factor in a recent Harvard Business case study of a new VP Marketing positioning "HUNSK MOTORCYCLES" as "authentic". Is this brand not converging on the same position owned by Harley Davidson, Indian and resurgent Victory motorcycles (also claiming authenticity) - just saying the same thing their own way. I would say you need to differentiate or die - but that's not what happens in the real world. When you are unable to differentiate yourself - which is what has happened to brands such as United, Oldsmobile, Dodge, Folgers, Crisco, Duncan Hines and so many others - you just become a heavily price driven commodity brand in a heavily price driven commodity category.