I think Southwest's current campaign -- "Grab Your Bag. It's On," is great. The line captures the spirit of business travelers getting after it in a recession, and more importantly, sets Southwest apart as the airline that doesn't nickel and dime you to death.
Except the airline is starting to nickel and dime you to death.
Southwest recently introduced a new service called "EarlyBird Check-In," which allows fliers to pay $10 for priority boarding, right behind the Business Select crowd.
Couple the EarlyBird fees with Southwest's move in 2007 to its new, more complicated seating procedures, and it looks like Southwest is, well, starting to look like everyone else. Why grab for a few extra bucks at the expense of the brand experience?
Starbucks seems struck with a similar affliction. In a contest to support VIA, Starbucks' new instant coffee, the company's web site says that "...it tastes just as bold and flavorful as any cup we brew fresh." Is that a good thing? Isn't the Starbucks core brand built all around the grand experience of ordering that steaming cup of coffee, just how you like it, and enjoying it in their stores? If VIA really is as good as as fresh-brewed, then why bother with anything but the instant? Again, it seems like another grab at extra revenue at the expense of the company's core value.
Innovation to create new, blue-ocean markets is great. Short-term cash grabs that fly in the face of the brand promise are not. The iPhone and Wii created competitive space for their companies while holding to the core positioning that made them unique: simple, friendly and inexpensive flying. Pay one low price, no food, no first class, no attitude, no hassles. It's a unique, blue-ocean position Southwest created long ago. Now it seems the company is slowly wandering off-course.
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