I imagine by now, almost everyone in the online marketing and social media world heard about the RyanAir fiasco on Jason Roe’s blog 2 weeks ago. Brief recap, Jason found some crazy glitch where it looked like he would get a free flight, blogged about it and then RyanAir employees called him an “idiot and a liar” and things spiraled out of control from there.
This is really a customer service problem that has ballooned into a serious branding nightmare. The bottom line is “what do you want the public to think about your company?”. Unfortunately for RyanAir, the world of web 2.0 is here (welcome to 2009 folks) and we talk about companies online all the time.
Alright, that part has been beat to death by every other blogger in this space already. The interesting thing we discovered this morning is a new Ryan Air twitter account that recently began following other travel twitter-ers and caught our attention. First suspicion was that maybe the company saw the error of their ways and realized they should jump on the social bandwagon. Then I read their tweets.
Just wanted all you idiot bloggers to know we can hate your idiots while on your distribution channels. Any questions or comments? Stuff it.Yes it is true…we are mulling over whether to charge for bathroom usage in the air. It is a great idea, get over yourselves.
For a company that touts how great their customer service is on their website, these tweets seem a little contradictory. Like maybe some bored internet junkie had the genious idea to steal their brand identity, start gaining a following of potential customers, and showing just how on top of their marketing message Ryan Air really is. Just don’t say you weren’t warned on how to protect your identity.
Follow “RyanAir” on Twitter
{ 6 comments }
I really hope this is RyanAir’s social media strategy. It is truly brilliant if it is (otherwise it is kind of sad).
They have managed to keep their name in the news and encourage bloggers to write about their brand all while entertaining the masses.
Keep it up. My hat is off to you, RyanAir.
I agree, if this is their strategy, it is at least generating a ton of buzz for the brand. The problem is that it is so outrageous its hard to believe that a company would really take this approach.
We’ll wait and see how it all shakes out.
I agree that this “strategy” is creating a buzz around their brand, but would argue that it won’t help them in the long run.
They have a history of poor customer service (http://davefaq.com/Opinions/RyanAir-Sucks/) already, and trying to use these reps to gain publicity/buzz by being A-holes may be funny, but will it book seats? My thought is no.
John I completely agree. They’ve created a buzz for sure, but I doubt it will help their long-term company goals or financial success. It’s one thing to gain publicity (positive or negative) about a brand or drive extra traffic to their site, but I just don’t see how RyanAir can benefit from these users. Like you mentioned, random internet searches and blog readers will see this commotion, visit the site and leave, maybe to mention it on their blog or share with friends. But will they actually purchase airfare from this company, whether on impulse or in near-or-distant future?
The main point is that if this was indeed a ‘buzz’ generating strategy, I think it was put to poor use by targeting such an expensive (untargeted) product. These types of outrageous and offensive marketing strategies produce large amounts of unqualified traffic that most likely won’t purchase a product or service because they are strictly interested in the hype of the controversy; that is unless the site offers a cheap or overly impressive product sought after by the user.
Take this example of successful marketing controversy. The company’s decision to fake closing their doors, only to come back with a “Are you kidding me? Go [bleep] yourself” response paid off huge by generating not only 3,000% more sales per week, but probably generated a plethora of inbound links and brand awareness that match its controversial business nature – selling funny and highly offensive T-Shirts. They were able to transform this unqualified traffic into conversions because they share a similar interest with the visitors (humor, outrage, etc.) and they sell a product at a low price point (it’s only a T-shirt).
So to wrap up a ridiculously long comment, unless you have the most outstanding, relevant and unique product offering, or a very small price point, I think you are $*#! out of luck with this strategy.
Nothing like a comment war.
So, as someone who has ridden RyanAir, I can tell you RyanAir has no chance to compete on the service level. They have airports in the middle of nowhere that you have to buy a bus ticket to; they have a weight limit on bags; their security sucks (traveling partner snuck in a pocket knife on accident); stewardesses sling products on the flight; and I have never experienced a more rickety landing in my life. People were simply thankful to have survived.
But their price point is impossible to beat. Being subsidized by the EU allows RA to offer flights from one euro anywhere in Europe. They are simply cheap as hell.
Since they don’t have to compete on service, their main goal is to get people to learn about their company. Being smart asses and pissing people off seems like a good strategy to get people to learn about their product.
Okay, I see where you are coming from and can meet you halfway on this. But from a conversion standpoint, I am sticking to my guns that this is “a good strategy, albeit with the wrong company.”
I can see the reasons why RA would (again, we are still speculating) attempt this marketing strategy; it’s a last-ditch effort, they can’t compete with other airlines, it opens their marketing reach, it may work?, etc. It will create a short-lived buzz that could potentially generate more conversions and certainly more page views. I get that part. But do you really think it will help them out as a company in the long run? (I know your answer Mike, but I still think it’s a bit of a double edged sword – the strategy could drive more people to the site, but it could also drive the airline further into the ground… no pun intended)
I just don’t see this Ryanair/Social Media marketing campaign (again, speculation) as a great example or case study for this type of marketing approach. I like this marketing approach! I think its hysterical and has great potential, but I was just trying to point out that you are more than likely to see better results if this same marketing approach was used with a company that had a easier product to sell or one that is directly beneficial to the viewer.
But again, I guess it makes sense to match their marketing strategy with their level of service =)
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