They say any publicity is good publicity. Whether you decide to agree or not is a different matter. I want to look at how one US budget airliner is handling what it terms its haters and creating a media buzz around its brand.
Welcome to the cheap seats
Spirit Airlines has a single channeled proposition… ‘we’re cheap, we’re very cheap’. They’re home to the ‘bare fare‘ where they display to travellers just how cheap they are by stripping out all of the unnecessary overheads of flying. They state that ‘a ticket with us gets you and a personal item from A to B’. This is no frills central. Seats are referred to as ‘cozy’ to allow more people on board each flight. You get the picture.
Put simply, you’re fully aware of what you’re going to get with Spirit before you embark on your journey. Alongside their young fleet of planes their cost proposition is what they proclaim ‘makes them different’.
When 40% cheaper flights still aren’t good enough
When your primary focus is price there’s a fine line between aligning expectations with value. Naturally, people still want a little bit more. What happens when you don’t match expectations? People moan. How do they moan? That’s right, they take to the social channels.
The airline industry is one industry, in particular, where we like to air our grievances online. Some airlines are ready and waiting to respond. Others, as Roger Dooley points out in this excellent Forbes article, are offering a stoney silence.
Spirit describe themselves as an unconventional airline, so here’s how they deal with their brand ‘haters’
First question: why would I hate Spirit?
This is a brand that screams to you price. They are an ultra-low cost carrier. They’re stripped everything back to ensure you save more. Your expectations should be a safe trip from A to B. Nothing more. As Spirit tell us, they want you to have more money to spend when you get to your destination. Nice touch.
Here’s why Spirit may be hated by some. Think about how you book your travel. 3rd party sites. Expedia. Opodo. Ebookers. You scan the prices for your itinerary and, within reason, choose the cheapest option. You’ll trust Expedia to ensure their flight partners are safe and sound.
The problem? You haven’t bought into the story of Spirit. You haven’t gotten into the Spirit. When you skip to the gate you’ll be in for a rude awakening when you’re charged for the extra purse you’re carrying and may be caught off guard by the ‘cozy’ amount of leg space at your disposal. Waiting for the drinks to be served? You’ll be waiting for a long long time.
The experience will not match your preconceived expectation of the service you ‘should’ be receiving. If you’ve flown with the legacy brands, United, BA, Virgin, American etc, in the past… you’ll be in for a rude awakening. You’ll hate the experience. You’ll complain to all that will listen.
How do you counter adaptive expectations?
You use them to your advantage. You create this:
Ode to Hate from Spirit Airlines on Vimeo.
You ask your customers to tell you their story, to let off some steam. You ask them to share the reason for their hatred. In return, you entice them back with an offer of free air miles. You launch HateThousandMiles.com
You research what it is that’s causing frustration and you add a bit of fun into the mix. You have to be a bold brand, an unconventional brand, to pull this off. Spirit are just that. They want to ‘Hug the haters’.
This is no gimmicky campaign
I’ll refer back to my opening sentence today. ‘Any publicity is good publicity’. The problem Spirit faced was a lack of awareness of their story. For every hater there will be hundreds of brand lovers. Nobody likes paying ridiculous sums to fly. I know from my years at Priceline.com, when we asked our customers to Name Their Own Price, people love a travel bargain.
This is a brand that doesn’t hide behind the fact you’re getting no frills. They pride themselves on it. The savings made by their brand advocates provides immense satisfaction. The problem being some of us haven’t, as yet, heard the story of Spirit. This campaign will change that.
The website received 24,000 customer stories in the first few days since its launch. That’s 24,000 people who were providing Spirit with a reason why they hated travelling with Spirit (or any other airline grievance for that matter). It’s PR genius.
60% of the respondents commented on other airlines. People were telling Spirit what really mattered to them. In return, a heavy incentive to travel with Spirit. More importantly, a better understanding of what Spirit actually represents.
I doubt Spirit learned anything knew about themselves through this campaign. They just learned what matters most.
Maybe the next time the ‘haters’ decide to book travel online, when they see the Spirit logo alongside the costs 40% cheaper than their competitors, they’ll be persuaded to book once more fully aware of the experience. Expectations would now be met.
Media response to the story of Spirit
The story ran in 195 of the 200 markets where Spirit operate. On, at least, 3 occasions. Coverage was nationwide through TV morning and news shows, web coverage and the press.
The heatmap to your right shows the exact areas where the Spirit story received coverage. The areas where Spirit received the most coverage correlated to the areas they were preparing to launch new services from.
What can we learn from Spirit?
There’s a clear purpose behind the Spirit brand. There’s a clear differential between Spirit and the main carriers in the US market. Spirit aren’t trying to kid their audience. They’re explicit in ensuring that their customers are well aware of the experience they’re about to receive. A safe no-frills journey from A-B.
Spirit had to close the gap between experience and an industry legacy-held expectation. As trivial as it may sound to some, people like their creature comforts. Especially frequent travellers.
Spirit’s aim, through this campaign was simple, to help travellers understand how Spirit fly. To explain what makes them different. There will be no apologies for any misunderstanding. This is all about educating your new and existing customers as to why the Spirit brand is different.
It’s cheesy, but it’s bang on brand. Spirit had to expand the reach of their story. Didn’t they do just that?
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