Update: Marty has since contacted me via DM on Twitter (although he's not following me back). Nice one, mate! See you in the friendly skies (or in Queens)
Proving #sneaky is as #sneaky does, Ad Age's Kunur Patel "outs" JetBlue's senior VP of marketing and commercial, Marty St. George who earlier, had posted this tweet.
It was an innocent tweet and to Marty's credit, he responded quickly and with the same cheek, personality and tone that is very much "on brand". In other words, he did a great job with a Mea Culpa that was a little irreverent and self deprecating (my personal recipe)
So in the same spirit, I thought I'd share some thoughts and feedback with Marty on his approach and more importantly his hypothesis or experiment. I would've tried 140 characters or less, but there's already a pun for that.
For starters, you don't need to learn anything from agencies (at least the traditional ones); they could learn a lot from you...after all you (Jet Blue) were the first brand (or one of the first) to amass 1,000,000 followers. That's a pretty sublime critical mass to tap into during both good and bad times.
Here's where the experiment goes a little pear-shaped though....
Current TV tried the Twitter experiment before and it blew up pretty badly in their face. I should know as crayon was one of the companies that jumped on the bandwagon and although we ended up in the final shortlist...that shortlist ended up being sucked into the black hole of inaction.
Here's my biggest concern...having an agency exec or two on Twitter means nothing. What you really want to be testing (in the NARROW context of Twitter alone as a proxy of digital savvy) is the following:
- How long have they been on twitter? Not measured in days, weeks or months...but years
- How many followers do they have? Sure, it's easy (REALLY easy) to game the system, but newbies wouldn't know that
- How active are they? Are they ascertaining the full breadth and depth of Twitter's potential and possibilities first-hand (like customer service) or reading about it on an analyst report or in Ad Age?
- How many people in their agency follow suit? Does the agency employ a smoke and mirrors misdirection of having one or two very public personas that "get it", but behind them...they are as sparse as an AT&T 3G map
- How do they stack up in the other digital, social and emerging platforms, spaces, hubs and communities?
- And what's their staying power and track record like with the stalwarts of the conversational space like the lowly "blog" for example?
Unless of course the goal was more of an elementary due diligence process which any teenage daughter about to go on a date can teach her inept father (present company not included) as she Google's her would-be suitor (remember, the curfew is 10pm or else!)...in which case: mission accomplished.
My biggest concern is that you're bypassing your digital agency (which you crowed about), which perhaps should be awarded an elevated status or higher strategic position. Or perhaps you should consider the conversational marketing (or ugggh, social media) solution that is as horizontal as it is vertical.
What you don't want is an AOR that mentions the word, "twitter" in the body copy because that's where the puck is right now, insists on augmented reality as the Killer App and whilst we're on the subject, lives and dies by FourSquare (although a travel related brand does have obvious synergies). Trust me, it'll come..
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure there are many newcomers (digital, social or otherwise) that have enough experience building world class brands, but then again....I'm not sure that building brands today looks (or works) anything remotely like it did in the very near past. One thing I do know is that it's pretty tough to find the optimal balance between digital and social natives AND the experience, tenure and maturity capable of finding its role and place in the integrated mix - possibly even to lead the entire process.
If you're asking my opinion (and you kind of are as you put it out there in the public domain), focus (or continue to focus) on customer service, customer experience and proving out how "retention is the new acquisition". That's the subject of my new book, Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones".
Also continue to innovate from the front like your Entertainment-for-all offering and stay true to your democratization of the flying experience (equal rights for all).
You're even included in it with your proactive "Customer Bill of Rights" which followed your infamous Valentine's Day incident (itself included in my second book, "Join the Conversation")
And don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you the book. In fact, I'll send you (and any colleagues you'd volunteer) a signed copy. Just DM me your physical address and I'll ship a copy off to you.
As for your search for your AOR, best of luck. I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't personally interested in the brand's journey and evolution...my recently acquired company worked on American, I fly over 100,000 miles a year and am what you call, an obsessed frequent flyer and "road warrior", and as you'll read in the book, I've been studying the airline business for a while now (the book includes anecdotes, case studies and insights associated with Southwest, American, United, Delta, Virgin America and of course yourselves)
So just stay in touch...especially now that you're one of my 18,000 friends.
P.S. I'm also flying Jet Blue again....as AUS and IAD are on my more frequent destinations of late. Bring back the Blue Terra Chips
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