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Underestimating the brand
A few weeks ago I wrote The JetBlue experience, sliding, making the point that this once-beloved airline appears to be intentionally dismantling its customer-centered culture.
Twenty of you wrote in with comments, mostly agreeing with the column, and even offering a counterexample of Southwest Airlines, which has maintained its customer focus.
Now the New York Times has run a profile of JetBlue, pointing to evidence that JetBlue's management is actively moving away from its original vision:
Though its approach is still jaunty, as seen in its "Happy Jetting" slogan, JetBlue is reshaping itself. Notably, it has shifted from its roots as a low-fare carrier and adopted a sober and more nebulous identity as "a value airline."
Some analysts have voiced concerns that this might not be the best strategic move; here's the reply, an instant classic:
Edward Barnes, JetBlue's chief financial officer, says the airline isn't worried. "You can't underestimate the brand," he said.
You can't underestimate the brand. It raises an obvious question: What brand?
Let's compare: the old JetBlue had...
• low fares
• on-time, friendly service
• pillows and blankets upon request
• and an overall experience that customers recommended to their friends
...and the new JetBlue has...
• ads and signs everywhere saying "Happy Jetting"
• higher fares
• some of the poorest on-time arrival measurements in the industry
• pillows and blankets for $7
• and an overall experience that I've personally seen customers recommend their friends against, multiple times, over several months.
If one is to measure the brand by the traditional approach ("let's spend thirty million dollars shoving a logo and a tag line down their throats"), then the new JetBlue is, I suppose, consistent and well-known. Lots of money buys lots of ad impressions. Congratulations.
However, if one is to measure the brand through the lens of "good experience," which I believe is the most accurate way of evaluating companies today, then JetBlue is doing poorly.
Branding is simple. It doesn't take two years in an MBA program, or a PhD in quantitative analysis, to understand one simple fact. As I wrote about in Defining "Branding",...
The brand is what you tell your friends about afterwards.
If your JetBlue flight leaves you feeling annoyed enough to tell your friends about the experience, no amount of "Happy Jetting" happytalk is going to convince your friends otherwise.
Similarly, if your experience with Google - or Apple - or Whole Foods - or Southwest Airlines - or any other beloved product or service - leaves you raving about how great it was, then the company by definition has a strong brand.
The winning companies today are those that listen to their customers, and create products and services that serve customers' needs with speed, service, and low cost... in other words, the winners are those with the best customer experience.
As the financial markets continue to tighten competition for customers, this equation will become even more important. Dropping thirty million to shout a tag line at customers, rather than building a customer-centric culture, is now even more dangerous than it was in the past.
And so I actually agree with JetBlue's CFO: you really can't underestimate the brand. I just wonder whether he understands what the brand actually is.
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Update: Sebastian Kaupert writes in with the thought below (also echoed in the comments by Kate Jones):
When Ed Barnes says "you can't underestimate the brand," I think he means what he says: that no matter how low you estimate the brand, it's never an underestimation.One could say: you must not underestimate the brand. That makes good sense (in the spirit in which you and I would invoke that phrase).
Or one could say: you can't overestimate the brand, meaning that no matter how high you estimate the brand, it's never too much - that's how important it is. Again, this aligns with our point of view.
If my analysis here holds water, then Barnes is indeed telling us what he truly thinks, and it explains perfectly well what's going on. We just keep hearing something else, because it seems so hard to believe. Then again, maybe he's telling us the truth without even noticing it himself.
I'd reword the brand statement this way.
** The brand is how you associate the company to the experience **
Then the brand becomes the identifier of the company and is how you link your experience to the company when you talk to your friends.
Just had a discussion about this same thing with friends over the weekend. They'd flown in on Southwest for the first time, and were telling *everyone* they met that they'd never fly Jet Blue or USAir again. They're confirmed Southwest converts. Wonder how many more Jet Blue's been losing?
The saddest part about this comment is that it comes from its CFO... I've been wondering for years when are these MBAs going to get out of the way and let the real visionaries do their job. Good-bye JetBlue.
As a newcomer to branding I realize that actions speak volumes about a brand. We are now researching what consumers (in CA) say are the benefits they receive from their local parks and recreation services. This is quite challenging as there is no single entity (CEO if you will) directing how individual local governments choose to provide these needed servces. As one can imagine the range of benefits associated with a service is wide and deep. Branding is like talking about "love;" its hard to define but when I have it, I know it.
Here's someone else who agrees: Google CEO Eric Schmidt told magazine executives, "Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool."
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=131569
Southwest is my first choice for additional reasons beyond their consistent professional service. Their aircraft have approximately 2 1/2 inches greater legroom. In an American RJ series, my knees are jammed into the forward sean to the point they can't recline theirs. I don't have to pay extra for an exit row. To get more leg room on a recent Columbus to LA flight on United would have cost $80 plus a checked bag fee. Add in the value of Southwest's frequent flier program and no penalty for changing itinerary and Southwest is clearly America's best airline brand.
It's very simple. A brand is a promise you make to your consumer. You must meet this charter and/or exceed it everytime. Edward Barnes may be CFO but doesn't know a darn thing about branding...
Then 'branding' must be the process of persuasion.
Perhaps I'm too strict a grammarian, but "you can't underestimate" actually means, no matter how low an opinion you form of the brand's merits, in actuality it will be worse still. A pretty dumb edict by a CFO, unless he's being unusually honest.
Brand is to a company what reputation is to an individual. Brand comes from branding cattle, the mark of individuation. Every good experience by customers accrues to the brand's positive image and continuing success through customer loyalty. Every bad experience diminishes its glow. We judge everything in life by the quality of our experience. Enlightened businesses bank on that.
Perhaps JetBlue has been taking their customers too much for granted. Hurray for competition.
After several years of wonderful experiences with JetBlue I regularly had expressed my positive experiences with friends (what the brand means in action) as well as holding them up as a great example of an airline with an authentic customer focus in my marketing class discussions. I recognize the difficulties of delivering a consistently good experience with services, given all the variables, and am, in general a very reasonable customer.
However, in reference to Kate Jones'post, even the most reasonable, brand loving customer can have one extremely problematic experience that can ruin a brand if the company is nonresponsive. Now I will use JetBlue in my marketing classes, but now as an example of what not to do - don't disappoint your customers in ways that are clearly within your control and in contrast to your desired brand positioning. After receiving an email from JetBlue encouraging me to check in online, I did so. In checking in online I signed up for an automated alert by phone and email if my flight was delayed (which it was) and 1) received an alert via email 3 days after my flight ...oh yes, and it contained the incorrect information - my flight was delayed, but the 3 day late email told me it was on time and to enjoy my flight 2) completing a satisfaction survey including text from the 3 day too late email and asked to be contacted....no one did so. Oh yes, did I mention that the online check in experience also gave me incorrect information? Indicating I could simply go to an automated check in kiosk at the airport, when in fact there was no such kiosk at the airport (yes I asked a JetBlue employee once I arrived).
Having just come off of what might be the last JetBlue trip I ever take, I have personally witnessed this slide in customer focus.
In particular, the flight attendants are becoming more like the ones on other airlines -- cranky, not good people skills, very into quoting rules and avoiding being helpful.
Oh well, opportunity created for someone else...
Maybe someone should send this post to JetBlue??
Perhaps the business is moving to a more cost-focussed one. Here in Europe Ryanair are making a lot of money with the approach that JetBlue seem to be taking. I try my best not to fly with them because the experience is truly awful. But sometimes they are the only carrier who is flying to the place you want to go.
A great example of this is one of the latest Apple/Microsoft commericals. Where "PC" is separating his money into two piles for advertising and fixing vista. There is a huge pile for advertising and a small pile for fixing vista. Mac points out that he can't fix vista with such a small amount and money, so PC sweeps it all into the advertising pile. Haha.
This latest shift is the result of the departure of its founder, who had a distinct vision for how to run an airline. Under him, they expanded too fast, adopted policies of other airlines as to delays (ie ten-hour-waits on tarmacs) and he deservedly lost his grip on the Board of Directors. Unfortunately, the safest way for airline careerists to survive (sort of like IT guys buying Microsoft) is to do what the other airlines are doing-- which is treating customers like s***-- and that is what the current regime is adopting.
That said, JetBlue began its descent for me when it abridged its customers' privacy by supplying personal info on thousands of customers to the Dept of Homeland Security.