Airliners.net

http://www.kusa.com/storyfull.aspx?storyid=20678
http://www.meetted.com

Wow, after this I honestly think the US aviation industry would be a better institution without UAL. I can not believe that in their bankruptcy they have money, and labor to waste on this, and I for one will refuse to get in a plane and look at an interior that has "Ted" written on it for x amount of hours.

How unbelievably stupid....

What would you have them do instead?

1) Launch a new airline, do zero promotion and advertising of it
2) Change nothing, and continue their slide towards ch7.

Good on UA for trying to take on the LCC and VBAs at their own game, and doing it in an innovative way.

To UA staff - go for gold! All your Star partners are rooting for you!

Ooooooo Ooooooooo!!! How about improving and streamlining their current product??

I'd rather they come up with a better name.

As a wise man once said....

"You can throw a new coat of paint on it, but underneath it all, it will still be United."

Ahhhh...the start of another anti-United gathering...surprise, surprise.

Soku39: Don't know anything about marketing for a new product, do you? What's United supposed to do? Let the market share erode even further without at least making an effort to stop it?

TG992: Haven't been paying much attention to United's financial results, have you? Excluding special items, the core operation POSTED AN "OPERATIONAL" PROFIT THREE MONTHS RUNNING NOW....yet you say they continue their slide towards Ch. 7.

Hey...if you don't like United, fine. DON'T FLY THEM, THEN!!!!!

I've wasted enough time on this short message....arggghhhh

I don't think anyone has announce that TED will be the name of the airline. While I'm sure this is related to the LCO, who knows how this relates to the name or operation of the LCO?

As far as advertising goes, I think it's ingenious. There has been very little (if any) official advertising so far, but the buzz and speculation around Denver has been tremendous. Talk about bang for the buck. As one spokesperson put it, they refuse to confirm or deny, but they are enjoying all the discussion. This has been covered on all the networks and newspapers, and everyone has a theory.

Way to generate the hype, UA!

After visiting that "meetted" site, I have to agree with Mattnrsa, the advertising really is ingenious if it is in fact related to the new airline United is setting up.

It's got people curious, which is exactly what it was designed to do. Go have a look at the site. You also would be scratching your head wondering what the heck was going on.

I still wish they would have come up with a better name than "Ted" though. But if the name must be Ted, then this is the way to go about advertising it, at least for now. Too much and people will get tired of it.

stevenuhl777,
You rock!! It is nice to see others support UAL, there is way to much ignorance and uneducated people in this very field, you are not one of them.

This is a great idea, like SONG is a good name?

UAL 777 CONTRAIL

Mattnrsa & Aloha717200, based on the Ted thread the other day, we're certain that the marketing campaign has everything to do with the new UA LCO.

No one seems to know for sure how or to what extent, but there's plenty of talk (not to mention free advertising in the Denver media outlets) that can only be good.

StevenUhl777, I completely agree with you - except on one point: I think you might have misread TG992 - I'd say he supports UAL and the Ch7 comment was more meant as an example of what others tend to think (just as his other point about starting an LCC without any advertising): after all, most people seem to think that that's the only way that is available to UA...

Personally, I'm certain that UAL will get out of Ch11 as a stronger competitor - it's the best airline the US has to offer, in my (and my customers) opinion, and I'll always prefer it to the others (most of which are quite good as well - but they're just not United).

I give them all the credit for breaking the mold and trying something new. How many of us in here have heard that the "old" system of running an airline isn't working anymore. So many of us bash what we see as a less than desirable product. Give them a chance to make it work at least, then throw your digs. How many of us thought SONG was going to be a stupid idea. I'd say SONG is doing exactly what DL wanted it to do, keep customers from going to the competitor on certain routes, maybe "Ted" will do the same for UA...(and before you think I work for UA or something, I don't, I'm just someone in the indutry with an open mind and a true interest in all our carriers)

I think the legacy carriers are waking up to the fact that a significant number of their passengers have the option of an LCC on their trips. There has to be a way for the legacy carriers to offer a product on par with the competition.

Another significant point that jetBlue started is the perceived value for the flight. With them, many customers feel that they are getting a great deal on jetBlue because of the fact it is a "cool" airline, and has inflight TV and other goodies. If you boarded a TED airplane next year and got Krispy Kremes, Chipole burritos and Papa John's for sale I think that would grab a lot of customers attention. Same with live TV (which I would bet that TED has).

Which of the legacy carriers is responding to the LCC threat to their customers? Only UA at this point. And when you talk of costs, jetBlue and WN pilots begin making MORE money than UA Airbus and 737 drivers after about 80 hours per month. That's how much those pilots gave up.

Just remember...Ted spelled backwards is Det.  

Which of the legacy carriers is responding to the LCC threat to their customers? Only UA at this point.

Delta Song????  

What am I missing here, Air1727 - what does "Det" mean???

Well add the letter b and you have debt.

Okay I like UAL, dont get me wrong but what the F is this shit?

Is that really the best they could come up with? TED? They should have called it "walter" or "mavis" if they are gonna go down this line.... nope this one totally sux... its not trendy at all! I think some 65 year old accountant who is very very boring would think this was very creative.... but, im sorry it doesn't wash!

They'd be better off sticking to the strength of the united name than this.
Come on... how about something trendy or cheeky?
Virgin altantic should be able to provide some inspiration?
But TED? An add for a toilet cleaner is more catchy.
God.... surely there are some PPL in California that can come up with some kind of trendy image?

Lufthansa: UAL kept hearing that Shuttle failed because there was no distinction in the name and service. Now, they've appeared to learn that lesson by coming up with something completely different, and they're getting raked over the coals even before a TED plane has started it's first takeoff roll...

Thanks, Leskova: I'll give TG992 the benefit of the doubt, then!  

this kind of buzz would be good if you were selling a new car, but while you all say it's chic and hip, only two words matter when advertising a new airline.

LOW FARES


Sorry guys, ain't no one flying JetBlue for the hip leather seats and popular television set.

George

Major airlines that start up low-cost carriers within themselves have not been successful. Take for example Continental-Lite, Delta Express and MetroJet. This could be another nail in United's coffin.

OK so they're reaching the "hip" crowd in Denver, but how many flights are these poeple actualy going to take compared to the average business traveler? I'm sorry but this just doesn't make any sense. Also please don't give me this I'm anti UAL bullcrap, because there is nothing more that I'd like to see other than this once great airline come out of bankruptcy succesfuly. I just doubt THIS is the way to do it.

Sorry guys, ain't no one flying JetBlue for the hip leather seats and popular television set.

I'll bet you ten bucks that they are.

There's a choice of LCCs now, you know. Which means that the lowest fare isn't necessarily the biggest factor in what airline a customer flies.

If I flew on Jetblue on a route over another carrier that offered the same price, it'd likely be because of the leather seat, the TV, and the reputation.

This TED venture, along with all other LCCs created by majors with cutesy names and marketing i.e Song, is like admitting the core brand no longer has equity. It's like saying in the airline business, decades of leadership and innovation don't count anymore, what you need is a trendy name and a funky website. It's essentially an admission that no one cares or should care about United's history, and a slap in the face to the thousands of people who contributed to the company's decades of success and who have made sacrifices to keep it going during its recent troubles. If TED and Song are so great, what does that say about United and Delta? BA tried this in the UK with Go and KLM with Buzz, and both ultimately were sold off to real LCCs i.e. Easyjet and Ryanair respectively. The key to a successful LCC is starting with a clean sheet of paper, and this is anything but.

It says they are aiming their marketing towards teenagers and people in their 20's. How many teenagers and 20 somethings (ok early 20 somethings) do you know that have the money to go flying around all the time????
Excluding, of course, the super rich, billion mile, triple platinum member, "average" A.Net teenager on here.  

Does'nt sound like a good idea to market to such a young group to me.

I hope UA does some good PR to boost their image of the mainline carrier and create as much expectation as is creating with Ted.

Lets just say that TED doesn't work or whatever they are going to call it. Ted fails and now what? Well UAL will do what they did whit SHUTTLE and weed the a320's back into the system, big deal.

SHUTTLE didn't kill UAL, it was other reasons we wont discuss now, so in all if TED doesn't work then we will see the 1 class a320's weeded back into the system. If it does work? UAL Will have successfully proven all of you doubters wrong.
but who cares, I know UAL doesn't. If they had all the people on this forum say it wont work. If your opinions mattered then you would be wearing a suit to work everyday and your address would be ELKGROVE, IL.

So in short, don't lose sleep over this, UAL has a plan, they didn't just wake up one morning and say lets start a new carrier. Lets let the brains handle the work load, so we can all just sit back, wait and enjoy the new product.

ual 777 contrail

I have never seen a better grassroots advertising campaign.

This was brilliantly put together by United. Someone must have sent them a cluepon.

Denver is a unique place to launch such an event... the culture of Denver is very outgoing and its easier to do this sort of thing. If they did in New York, for example, less people would care.

N

Hello,

Today I was at the CU-Mizzou game being held at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO, which is about 25 miles from Denver...as many of you know, its a tradition to have beach balls being hit around the stands, and today was no exception...except today the beach balls were TED beach balls....they were orange and white with blue text saying "TED" on them...furthermore there were orange balloons all around the stands with blue text saying "Have a TED day." Very creative if you ask me..

Greg

Who comes up with these stupid low cost airline names??

UAL's Ted campaign is just another example of shallow thinking trying to entertain a shallow public, like Continental's "bling bling" thing thing. I hope UAL can pull it off because I like United Airlines, I grew up on United Airlines, but this Ted business is really incomprehensible. And as far as Song is concerned I think it is too early to classify it as an unmitigated success. I agree with my fellows on line here who would rather see UAL iron out their service problems and attract customer loyalty through a superior product, not some gimmicky advertising brainstorm of a muddled management and a team of not-very-inspired ad consultants. Clearly -Ted is a cutesy by-product of Uni-Ted, not very clever at all really. Beachballs in Boulder notwithstanding.

Take for example Continental-Lite, Delta Express and MetroJet. This could be another nail in United's coffin.

Don't forget UAL's own Shuttle by United.

I think that Ted is pretty cool (as long as that isn't going to be the offical name). It seems its the talk of the DEN area, and as long as they make sure people realize that Ted the LCC of UAL.

Just my two cents.

It's probably the most innovatative thing to come out of UAL as of recent, not exactly saying its a good idea. I thought it would be better for UA to focus on their core product. I would hold off and see what this "Ted" and or "Starfish" really come up to be. Maybe there will be a new name next week? Maybe these are only clues? UA might be doing these radom things to get people talking and get attention to the new product to be, quite innovative though I am not a fan of tacky names, if these are even the names!

Ted, Starfish, Shuttle!? Would they just make up there freakin' mind!?

united has been doing a great job at getting everyone's attention lately!! There's some excellent marketing going on here!

From Friday's Denver Post:

"United is linked to 'Ted' campaign on Net message boards
By Greg Griffin
Denver Post Business Writer

United Airlines won't 'fess up, but its fingerprints are all over the quirky "Ted" advertising campaign saturating Denver this week.

Chatters on airline message boards first made the connection Thursday after local news reports focused on the "teaser" campaign in Denver.

The marketing scheme includes men riding human transporters wearing signs that say "I'm not Ted," orange-and-blue stickers, and even sod spelling the word "Ted" in a field in Eaton, but few clues as to who Ted is.

But United (or Uni-Ted?), which unveils details of a new low-cost carrier later this month, left digital fingerprints. The airline can be traced to a site called www.flyted.com , claimed in September by an intellectual property law firm that works for United.

The server that hosts the site, which hasn't yet been launched, is registered with United Loyalty Services, a division of United parent UAL Corp.

A sales executive of the firm hired to run the campaign in Denver said United isn't behind it. "It has nothing to do with United Airlines," said Bouker Pool of Sales Fuel Group in Denver.

A United spokesman was evasive but didn't deny the carrier's involvement.

Bankrupt United, Denver International Airport's dominant airline, plans to launch its new carrier early next year with 40 planes and flights to half a dozen leisure markets from Denver.

The Ted campaign met with mostly positive response on the message boards Thursday, though some made fun of it, calling it (United chief executive Glenn) "Tilton's Eventual Demise."

Welcome to the forums Greg Griffin.  

This is one of the most genius advertising campaigns I have seen in a long time. While I'm not sure if "Ted" will be a hit, they hit a home run with this marketing campaign in my book.

Ted for president!!!!

that would be better than bush anyways

TWA902

I've said it before in a thread about SONG....For all of you out there who think that the name is stupid or does not make sense, look at what you are doing....YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IT!!!!!....That is what the United and Delta want...Are people really not going to fly an airline because of its name (well I know that reputation can hurt a carrier i.e. value jet). These names turn heads and make people, like all of us here, talk about the airline...It is basically free advertising, they are getting there name out there with out spending money on expensive TV commercials

So TED may not make the best airline name, but the same was said about SONG and I'm sure a lot of people said WTF when jetBLUE came out.

I don't think talking about it in the most negative way possible will help.