Low Fare, High Society

Somebody somewhere has the unenviable task of teaching Mr. Michael O'Leary how to 'smile nice and talk pretty'.

At least, I'm guessing as much with the recent news from our client Ian Cleary over at Razorcoast that Ryanair is finally flying the social media route. True to form however, the airline isn't joining in anyone else's community. No, it's planning to set up a private group for travellers to communicate with one another and with Ryanair.

Here's Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara's take on social media:

“Smaller airlines trying to gain market share may engage with it, but from our point of view, being so big, it would take a lot of resource,” he said. “We don’t have people sitting around to answer questions. With social media you get any and every query and a lot of rubbish, like people asking if they can bring a 10kg bag, which of course you can. The information is there on our site.”

Whilst some industry analysts have taken this latest online move as an indication that Ryanair is opening up to its community, I'm not so sure. Its attitude to mixing with customers is more more likely reflected in its announcement last year that "it is Ryanair's policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers."

Hmm, not much smiling nice and talking pretty there.

It seems to me, that given the influence that Ryanair has on its customers, a community of its passengers could be a fairly hostile place, with people jumping queues, ignoring each other and shouting one another down.

In a previous post some years ago, I suggested that Ryanair seems to bring out the worst in people, both cabin crew and customers, so it's hard to take seriously the notion that the airline is planning to socialise with its customers in any way.

Whilst I never underestimate Michael O'Leary and his ability to commandeer a slot for the airline, I can't see Ryanair managing to put the social into high society.

Over To You: Do you think Ryanair can successfully fly the social media route through its new Ryanair community?

Flying The Unfriendly Skies

I'm just back from holiday discourtesy of Ryanair, the low-fares airline. I usually reply to complaints of their legendary poor service with a certain impatience. After all, we can hardly accuse the brand of being misleading. Everything about it screams of where you stand as customer in the pecking order.

So normally, I pay the low fare and take my chances. But I was struck yesterday by the more sinister side of the brand and its cheapskate values. We had paid a little extra to secure priority boarding and smugly made our way to the head of the line. As we stood waiting to climb the gangway at the front of the plane, there was a hurried consultation between cabin crew and groundstaff. The steward then indicated that boarding would be by the gangway at the back of the plane instead and the fairly orderly line broke ranks in an 'every man for himself, to hell with women and children' dash down the tarmac. Once inside the plane, the pushing and shoving continued as we battled to keep families together and secure good seats.

I sat in my seat shaken and not a little ashamed by what had been unleashed in me and my fellow passengers. I looked around and saw a mix of decent people like myself who had been reduced only seconds before to a selfish rabble.

Ryanair would probably argue that they had nothing to do with what happened but I can't help feeling that there's something in the brand that brings out the grasping and the mean-spirited in us all. They lead and, I'm not proud to say, we follow.

As a family, we've resolved not to fly with them again. Whilst their low prices are tempting, and they can certainly be credited with shaking up a complacent industry and opening up a whole range of routes, there's something unhealthy in the pressurised Ryanair that leaves me sick to the stomach.

I'll pay a little extra for the basics in courtesy that I get elsewhere and fly friendlier skies instead.

Look Who's Talking

A brand called ‘you’?

Time magazine’s choice of the individuals who are “building community and collaboration on a scale never seen before” (yes, that’s you and me apparently) as its Person Of The Year for 2006 suggests that some traditional notions of branding were turned on their heads during the year just past.

This would seem to be borne out by the lightning-quick move of online brands such as YouTube, Bebo, MySpace and Second Life to the centre of the worldwide stage and the value that another whiz kid, Google, was prepared to put on YouTube when it purchased the company for $1.65 billion during the year. However, despite their impressively-quick ascent to the top of the pile in 2006, we will probably need to wait another while before acclaiming these as great brands rather than precocious players who have simply made the most of their first-mover advantage.

For more on the past twelve months as seen through brand-coloured spectacles, please visit: Brandwidth 2006 – Year In Review

The Unfriendly Skies

Here in this part of the world (Ireland), Ryanair's recent bid for our national airline Aer Lingus has been the talk of the town. Analysts have looked at the proposed takeover from almost every angle but, as far as I know, no-one has asked what this means for the Ryanair brand.

For me, this makes for a fascinating sub-plot. Despite being one of the world's larger airlines, Ryanair has long relished playing the part of underdog taking on the fat cats but, in baring its teeth and menacing the much smaller Aer Lingus, I wonder whether it's lost its grip on that position forever.

In the short term, I suspect this matters little, but over the long haul, Ryanair may regret moving in for such a public kill. Could it be that Michael O'Leary has finally bitten off more than he can chew?