I often wonder about companies and the ideas they have.
more technically incorrect
Are they always thinking clearly? Do they feel pressured by internal or external forces, of a social or political type?
And how do customers actually react when a company pitches an idea to them, especially one that the company deems controversial or merely humorous?
To be honest, I witnessed some of the companies’ discussions up close and, oh my gosh, you should see the anger of the company.
But an idea that bothered me for a long time in the dark days of winter was recently brought to the world by unified airline.
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For reasons, I guess, arrogance wrapped in competitive spirit, United created a website call NoGroupC.
Here, the airline asked customers to sign up for what it calls a Courte-C Call.
Oh, maybe I should mention this, but the customers United are targeting are Southwest Airlines customers.
The whole idea is to ask them to check-in 24 hours before their flight, so they don’t get placed in the malicious Group C, which can lead to a bad middle seat.
In fact, it’s a bit like booking United’s Basic Economy Class offer.
When NotGroupC launched in November, I assumed it was just a breeze. A PR-led exercise designed to provoke a bit of PR.
However, this is United insist on the Wall Street Journal that 8,000 Southwest customers have signed up.
This leaves me with too many thoughts running through my mind.
For example, who are these 8,000 supposedly abandoned people?
they do not have Good iPhone or Google Pixel based on that they can manually set a check-in reminder for their Southwest flight?
Is it really easier to sign up for alerts from a rival airline that imagines wanting to collect a little bit of their data to remind them of some good United Airlines deals from the same airport? fly in the future?
Or is it possible that these 8,000 alleged dropouts actually found United’s campaign so amusing that they immediately booked a Southwest flight to test out the new Courte-C Call service?
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Of course, dark thoughts also appeared in my head.
What if these 8,000 alleged deserters were in fact all United employees, their families and friends? No, that cannot be the case. No company can be so skeptical.
This leads me to consider that Southwest — which describes United’s wheezes as “a great courtesy they’re extending” — might have 8,000 customers who need a little more, um, love from the firm. air.
Why not record them a special song — maybe a version of “Love is all around us” sung by flight attendants — and texting these 8,000 customers 24 hours before their flight?
Surely that will put all thoughts of United out of their minds.
