This is brilliant. “They lost my bags and my wife too”. If only BA could communicate this effectively.

via David Brain at Edelman

The scheme allows customers to offset carbon emissions on flights and protects rainforest in Brazil. The airline is also backing research into the effects of aircraft’s non-carbon emissions. [From News: BA launches "one click" offsetting scheme - Marketing Week]

The Travel Weekly blog introduces us to the new Ryanair charity calendar featuring, among others, a scantily-clad Nicola from Stansted. She seems to be topping up her air supply. Or something.

I didn’t know where to look. Martin Couzins does. Are those leather seats? Cough, cough.

The Daily Mail doesn’t approve. Oh there’s a surprise.

There was an email waiting for me this morning from GB Airways, one of my clients, to say they have been bought by EasyJet for £103.5 million.

I really like GB and I hope I can still work with them. They have a distinctive personality which doesn’t always shine through the British Airways livery. The question now is whether it will be totally sunk in a sea of orange.

And with that thought I’d better shut up.

I am very confused. Hotel Marketing covers a new study of the travel space by Compete, which summarises lessons to be learned from the way three travel brands respond to or integrate consumer generated content. There’s good stuff here such as:

Sheraton Hotels – Integration into eCommerce Platform: In late 2006, Sheraton transformed its website into a social platform, a “Global Neighborhood” for travelers. Compete’s analysis revealed:

* Value to Consumers: 50% of Sheraton shoppers who remember seeing the social functionality reported it as being valuable to their experience
* Increased Conversion: Integration of CGC tools is tied to eCommerce performance, with 57% reporting it having a positive influence on likelihood to book

Southwest Airlines – Mini sites, Events & Promotions: The Southwest “Wanna Get Away Sweepstakes” micro-site used consumer generated videos to create a viral buzz and engage consumers in its marketing campaign. Compete found:

* Strong Awareness: 20% of Southwest.com visitors claimed recall/awareness of the “Wanna Get Away” promotion
* Enhanced Image: Southwest shoppers give the company high marks for an innovative marketing approach and encourage these types of marketing efforts

TripAdvisor – Brand management on third party sites: As the leading destination for consumer-generated travel reviews, TripAdvisor illustrates the opportunity for brands to respond directly to consumers. The study showed:

* Importance of Peers in Research: Peer opinions are highly valued, 82% prefer consumer reviews over a hotel’s description of itself
* Acceptance of Brand Involvement: 58% say a supplier responding on TripAdvisor would put them in a favorable light

“Consumers want brands to have a role in their conversation,” said Gregory Saks, director of Compete’s Travel Practice. “If brands remain genuine and transparent in their CGC strategies, travel marketers can become a powerful voice in the conversation and engage with consumers in an entirely new way.”

All that comes from a press releases dated yesterday. We are invited to learn more by attending a free web conference. Trouble is, according to my calculations, that took place two weeks ago. Can anyone at Compete shed light on this?

Technorati Tags: travelpr

Crisis communications call for regular and accurate updates through every available channel. When British Airways relaunched its website recently I couldn’t help noticing the lack of RSS feeds. Now thousands of passengers are stranded in foggy Heathrow and many are complaining on camera about the lack of information. Sure RSS would be of limited use to many but those with mobile phones able to subscribe to feeds (and who still have battery power) would have been able to pass on updates to those around them.

It’s not enough to show the lowest airfare. To succeed in the online travel business, a supplier needs to persuade you that you really don’t need to go anywhere else to check the competition. People don’t just want bargains; they also don’t want to waste time comparison shopping.
Farecast has just introduced a new feature called FareGuard. According to VentureBeat, once you spot a low price which Farecast thinks will drop lower, it lets you lock into any subsequent price drops.

Once you buy the Fare Guard, you have seven days to buy the actual ticket. If the price does drop, you get your savings (Farecast sends you the difference). If it goes up, unexpectedly, Farecast lets you buy at the original price — so you win either way.

As the article implies, it shows a remarkable amount of confidence in the product.

I might use this at next week’s seminar. Let’s hope they have all washed their feet.
Come to think of it, it must be possible for someone in APRO to get hold of a few dozen pairs of airline socks.

So, What’s Your Thing?:

I learned about a wonderful example of small business branding practiced by Steve and Beth Gasser of Vivid Image. It seems that they read somewhere that a person is more creative with their shoes off. Being that they were in the creative business, what the heck, everyone take your shoes off at work.

Technorati Tags: airlinepr, creativity