Quoting uberflieger (Reply 39): That's what's so ingenious. "Going For Great" rings positive with everybody. I'm certain American will also use it internally.

Indeed, it gives a very positive outlook + new livery (which I personally like a lot) = new American. The message is there.

Quoting jetblastdubai (Reply 42): EK - Hello Tomorrow

I like that one too... positive and forward-looking. The best is yet to come.

Quoting uberflieger (Reply 39): Their 'The legend is back' campaign for AA's new 321T service is phenomenal.

Oh my. "Phenomenal"? Really? An advert?

All of it, regardless of airline, is complete and utter bollocky dross. Marketing guff that bares no relation to reality and, ultimately, doesn't actually matter. But here you go marketing executives, have another few million in consultancy costs for something that makes not an iota of difference to anyone, anywhere, ever.

Quoting aerokiwi (Reply 51):

This comment is funny to me. I can assure you that you have and will forever be impacted by those "marketing executives". Every time you go to a store, restaurant, or shopping center....whether you are buying clothes, a car, laundry detergent or wait for it.......A SEAT ON AN AIRPLANE (particularly a premium seat), you are impacted and swayed by marketing.

Look at Fed Ex and UPS....both provide a similar product....are reasonable accessible and are price competitive.....how do you differentiate yourself???? Marketing.

UPS: What can brown do for you
FED EX: The World On Time

I'll take Fed Ex.

UA, AA, DL and B6 all offer a premium product in the same market (LAX) and the marketing of that product is DIRECTLY responsible for its success or failure.......thats why companies pay for a well organized, strategic marketing plan.....no different than any other Fortune 500 company who has a formidable competitor in the same marketplace.

Well, it's less presumptuously creepy than "We know why you fly." Still doesn't wow me.

Quoting nutsaboutplanes (Reply 52): UPS: What can brown do for you FED EX: The World On Time I'll take Fed Ex.

And based on price, well-documented differences in employment policy, and actual experience with the reliability and speed of both, I'll take UPS. Marketing gets you to try a product, and if all things are equal might keep you using that product. However, when things are unequal, good marketing still can't keep people using an inferior product.

This was the best ever IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd4gAHmRJWo

Quoting nutsaboutplanes (Reply 52): This comment is funny to me. I can assure you that you have and will forever be impacted by those "marketing executives".

And your comment concerns me. I believe in the US this is what you call "drinking the kool-aid". Justifies the multibillion dollar industries I guess.

If you can point to a single airline ticket that has ever been sold because of a marketing slogan, I'll fry up the laptop I'm tapping away on and chow down for dinner. But you can't because no one can. They wrap it up in nonsense "branding" language that just confuses and annoys but also conveniently ticks the right boxes in corporateland. It's the perfect business model - unquantifiable but "necessary".

I have no idea what Easyjet's tagline is. But I fly them because they're cheap, reliable and safe. Likewise Virgin Australia, Turkish, Emirates, Jetblue, Southwest, Air Pacific, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Singapore (Singapore Girl?). I couldn't tell you their slogans to save myself, but I fly them because they go where I need to go, offer a service I consider commensurate with their price and are safe and reliable airlines.

If no one can tell the difference between a 737 and an A320, and liveries are just (sometimes) pretty niceties, slogans have got to be at bomb-shelter level of importance in the hierarchy of airline business needs.

Though I'd genuinely respect a carrier that said "ABC Airlines - we're not totally shyte".

Quoting aerokiwi (Reply 55):

Your comment specifically referred to a post on the A321T. If that product, which is only on a very small percentage of AA's departures was not marketed and marketed aggressively, how many people would actually know about it.

The investment in advertising is very small compared to the investment made in the aircraft, infrastructure and planning....why would you not invest in advertising to ensure the success of the product? Not doing so would be negligent.

There are different types of consumers....you, like a large portion of the populous shops by price, you are looking for a good deal. Thats fine but airlines make their real money by catering to their higher spending customers who are willing to pay a premium for the schedule and the product.

Quoting OP3000 (Reply 47): Its not a catchy tagline and not very original -- basically the same underlying message of the Delta campaign that was rolled out 2 years ago. It is yet to be seen how good this campaign will actually be when it comes to the ads themselves. That said, AA now has a has a more modernized product and increased route connectivity, and because of competition & size New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are the markets where they can grow most because of it.

As a UA employee, when I heard them bring back the friendly skies slogan, I was like "really? Can't be creative?"

Going for Great, I think is an honest and curious slogan. Tells me they're investing in their product and taking no prisoners along the way. If you look at the job postings @ aacareers.com, they are hiring LIKE CRAZY to fill new positions and clean up shop and get the merger done- RIGHT. Im excited to see what its future holds.

Quoting LAXintl (Thread starter): I don't know about you, but "going for great" does not seem very capturing for me. I guess we'll have to see the actual materials that go along with the monkier.

Still better than UA's slogan, after Leo Burnett (which devised "Fly the Friendly Skies" in the 1960s) was dumped as UA's ad agency after more than 30 years. The slogan, "United Rising" was panned by advertising and marketing pundits everywhere. What really caused problems was the memos to pilots, F/As, and CSAs, reminding them not to thank people for flying the friendly skies. That became monologue material for Jay Leno and David Letterman.

Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 6): sounds like you haven't had the pleasure of dining with Dougie for the past month? Granted they're retracting some of the enhancements, but the "new american" isn't anywhere close to what it used to be.

Nor is DL or UA.

I will still give Doug Parker some time, for two reasons. First, he got his start in the airline sector, working for AA, when Bob Crandall was running the best airline in America. Second, when he was courting the unions to gain support for the merger, he said that the reason why US had an inferior product was that the US route network didn't generate the kind of premium traffic that AA's network generated. US didn't have routes like LGA-ORD, JFK-LAX, or JFK-LHR. So, US couldn't afford to offer an on-board product like AA's.

Now, the management team that Parker took to DFW from PHX should have known that the changes in food service were going to be an issue. AA fliers are known for complaining, espeically the elite AAdvantage members. Hopefully, the former US/HP people have learned their lessons and know that PMAA passengers expect more than PMUS passengers.

Quoting aerokiwi (Reply 55): And your comment concerns me. I believe in the US this is what you call "drinking the kool-aid". Justifies the multibillion dollar industries I guess. If you can point to a single airline ticket that has ever been sold because of a marketing slogan, I'll fry up the laptop I'm tapping away on and chow down for dinner. But you can't because no one can. They wrap it up in nonsense "branding" language that just confuses and annoys but also conveniently ticks the right boxes in corporateland. It's the perfect business model - unquantifiable but "necessary". I have no idea what Easyjet's tagline is. But I fly them because they're cheap, reliable and safe. Likewise Virgin Australia, Turkish, Emirates, Jetblue, Southwest, Air Pacific, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Singapore (Singapore Girl?). I couldn't tell you their slogans to save myself, but I fly them because they go where I need to go, offer a service I consider commensurate with their price and are safe and reliable airlines. If no one can tell the difference between a 737 and an A320, and liveries are just (sometimes) pretty niceties, slogans have got to be at bomb-shelter level of importance in the hierarchy of airline business needs. Though I'd genuinely respect a carrier that said "ABC Airlines - we're not totally shyte".

Advertising is only a small part of marketing. But, most people think marketing and advertising are one in the same. Yet, if a company doesn't advertise, then the rest of its marketing plan can be all for naught.

You're right that an ad slogan doesn't get people to buy plane tickets (or for that matter buy burgers, smartphones, cars, coffeemakers, etc.). The slogan is something that supposed to remind people of the product. The fact that people know that United has friendly skies shows how well the advertising campaign has resonated over the years.

I know people who still think that Delta's best line was, "Delta is ready when you are." In Chicago, in the days of regulation, Northwest had a decent amount of non-stops out of ORD to Floriday. So, the advertising line for Chicago TV and print ads was, "Going south? Fly Northwest,." with an upside down map of the U.S., showing routes to Florida as going northwest from Chicago. Considering that Eastern and Delta were the dominant trunk carriers in the south, that was a very good slogan.

My father-in-law used to teach college business, and he still thinks that one of the best commercials for an airline was the cockatoo sitting at the keyboard, while "Rhapsody in Blue" was being played in a solo piano arrangement. Why? Because the viewer remembers that it was for UA.

LH has one about : nonstop you

Definitely a lot less creepy than many ones out there

But I agree the KE one is quite decent, especially when paired with their TV ad blasts

Going for Great - means we are not great yet. Very tame, sadly, IMHO ...

How about ... "Come join the mile-high club!" 

Quoting nutsaboutplanes (Reply 56): Your comment specifically referred to a post on the A321T. If that product, which is only on a very small percentage of AA's departures was not marketed and marketed aggressively, how many people would actually know about it.

Advertise away - but why is a slogan necessary? Airline employees might go gooey about it but given most high-end flyers rely on corporate accounts, I'm fairly sure the corporates don't give two hoots. And if price sensitive travelers aren't affected... what's the point again?

Quoting nutsaboutplanes (Reply 56): There are different types of consumers....you, like a large portion of the populous shops by price, you are looking for a good deal. Thats fine but airlines make their real money by catering to their higher spending customers who are willing to pay a premium for the schedule and the product.

So you're saying different customers are prone to slogans, specifically, wealthier ones who are, presumably, fairly savvy. Or are we just saying they're kinda thick and easily exploited? I'm not sure, because as you say, the product is really the deciding factor (and yes product includes the price you pay for it - note: price is not always my deciding factor).

Given the bulk of premium traffic is generated through corporate accounts, why does extended marketing guff even matter?

Quoting ckfred (Reply 58): You're right that an ad slogan doesn't get people to buy plane tickets (or for that matter buy burgers, smartphones, cars, coffeemakers, etc.).

Ah yes, business practices that have either no or a very tenuous link to a profit outcome. Excellent. Branding "experts" have to justify their fees and market research guff somehow, I suppose. And wait, let me guess, the direction from the airline was "make it forward-looking and include 'greatness'". Tick.

Quoting WA707atMSP (Reply 17): "Doing what we do best" and "We try harder" were two of the memorable ad campaigns created by Doyle Dane Bernbach.

DDB did a great job for AA with the "Doing What We Do Best" campaign back in the 1960s, but I always have felt that Young & Rubicam really nailed it with Eastern's "The Wings of Man"...I always thought that was such an intriguing tagline for an airline - when used with the "Flying Man" advertisement, it really clicked.

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 46): Appearing already

'Going for great in Los Angeles' puts the new tagline in context and really shows how effective it is, IMHO. Thanks for the copy & paste   

Quoting ckfred (Reply 58): Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 6): sounds like you haven't had the pleasure of dining with Dougie for the past month? Granted they're retracting some of the enhancements, but the "new american" isn't anywhere close to what it used to be. Nor is DL or UA.

But he's comparing AA to only 45 days ago. It served a decent meal domestic.

US/AA are literally now serving trans-Atlantic coach meals on glass plates and calling it a first class domestic meal. It's disgusting. I expect nothing more from US Airways, so it's not surprising that US is doing this, but it's pathetic.

The complaints have been overwhelming and it is claimed that "higher quality meals" will return on November 1st, so we'll see, but I don't trust they'll be higher quality, just different.

Meanwhile American Eagle's plan to discontinue meal service on September 30th was cancelled. So Eagle still serves the same PMAA meals, that taste far better than the garbage mainline serves, and that are actually served with appropriate linens and sized plates. Who'd have though that day would come?

Employee Q & A with Fern Fernandez, VP Global Marketing.


Q: Where did the idea for “Going for Great” come from?

A: We took a look at our vision to restore American as the greatest airline in the world. While initially focused on our employees, we wanted to extend our vision to everything we do for our customers. It works well for this campaign because we have already made so much progress with the merger, but we’re also just getting started. It’s really a commitment to each other – employees and customers alike – that we’re going to do something great with the airline.

Q: Why does our campaign only focus on these three cities?

A: These cities are highly fragmented, hypercompetitive markets, and we have a fantastic product to share with our customers and potential customers. We’re delivering a product for our customers with new airplanes, more wi-fi and entertainment options. Looking at New York and L.A., earlier in the year we launched the Airbus A321T transcon flights. We also have the Boeing 777-300 on our L.A and New York-London routes. Together with British Airways, we offer the most lie-flat seats on these routes. In Chicago, we really want to offer customers a choice. It’s rare to have a city where two airlines are near equally hubbed, so we need to make sure we’re out there talking about the commitments we’re making to Chicago, not only from a network perspective, but also from a product perspective. Our competitors are active advertisers in these cities. By not having a voice, our competitors are, in essence, telling our story for us. But we’re ready to tell it ourselves and show them all the great things happening at American. Look out for us in billboards and signage in high traffic areas like airports, Times Square and Citigroup Center. This campaign will extend into online and print.

Q: Will these be the only cities we ever see advertising?

A: We’ll continue to assess all the ways we’re going for great, and when we’ve got a story to tell with customers in our key markets, we’ll be sure to bring that into the mix. In the majority of our hubs we have a variety of sponsorship activity, whether it’s through events or sports teams, so we view that as a great extension of what we do. In Dallas-Fort Worth, for example, we’re leveraging the sports sponsorships to be able to expand our brand presence in places where Southwest has a large presence. Those messages will highlight our strengths that set us apart – our international service, the business class product and airport lounges.

Quoting Mah4546 (Reply 64): US/AA are literally now serving trans-Atlantic coach meals on glass plates and calling it a first class domestic meal. It's disgusting. I expect nothing more from US Airways, so it's not surprising that US is doing this, but it's pathetic.

Several years ago, the first class lunch between ORD and SEA was a burger. Granted, the burger was good, but to me, that isn't that much better than what I can buy at the airport. In fact, before boarding at SEA, I got a cup of clam chowder at Ivar's that was more memorable than the first class meal.

It's been more than 10 years since I've had a sundae in first, or had a salad served, then the entree brought out.

And how long was it that AA was using plastic utensils in first, long after TSA said it was ok to have metal knives and forks? I remember in 2006, flying LAS-ORD and trying to cut under-ripe fruit with a plastic knife and breaking it, because the fruit was so tough.

Quoting aerokiwi (Reply 61): Ah yes, business practices that have either no or a very tenuous link to a profit outcome. Excellent. Branding "experts" have to justify their fees and market research guff somehow, I suppose. And wait, let me guess, the direction from the airline was "make it forward-looking and include 'greatness'". Tick.

I'm guessing that you haven't taken an undergraduate or master's level marketing class. You need branding, to ensure that a product can be identified. If you didn't have the apple with the missing bite, and Apple product would look very similar to products from Samsung, H-P, Dell, etc. Yet, most people I know who buy Apple electronics swear by them, and they feel that the apple has the same cache as the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament on a car.

By the same token, all branding isn't the brainchild of some branding expert. When Hughes Air West had its bright yellow airplanes, that planes stuck out like a sore thumb. But that was a response to a mid air collision that one of its planes had with a military fighter. Back then, Hughes Air West planes were beige and brown, and the sky that day was hazy. The yellow was meant to make their planes more visible.

Buick's tri-shield started out as a single shield that was part of founder David Buik's family crest. McDonald's golden arches go back to when the McDonald brothers had several restaurants in southern California, and the buildings had giant, yellow arches on either side, as a means of making their burger joints stand out from all the other drive-in restaurants.

Quoting flyinghippo (Reply 48): Comparing to other taglines... BR - I see you

My god, that's incredibly creepy.