The easy way to customer relationship management, not.

When you fly on a cheap airline you can expect to be travelling cattle class but that doesn't mean that brands like EasyJet and Ryanair (especially given their profit warnings) can afford to treat customers like cattle. In today's consumer dominated marketplace and credit crunching times, the customer may want cheap prices but still expects to be treated well.

Our railway system may be one of the worse in Europe but it could still teach brands like EasyJet a few things about customer service. I don't usually use blogging as a way to publicly moan but then this piece is all about customer experience and my recent joyless trip on EasyJet wasn't a good one. If I were Andy Harrison (Chief Executive of EasyJet) I'd get a team of customer relationship consultants in very quick.

This is one area they are failing at, given my experience and almost 200 passengers who travelled from Madrid recently. I've always wondered in this modern age why check in desks are so slow? Why have technology if you can't use it? If McDonalds ran check-ins we'd all be through them in seconds not hours. If there's two thing that many pieces of research have told brands it's queuing and lack of information really upsets customers. Especially when they are waiting in stressful situations.

It was this customer insight that motivated the Underground to install the dot matrix system to inform passengers of train arrivals and got Tesco's to put more check outs in. It often pays just to have someone walking about reassuring customers and keeping them informed. Yet with this wisdom freely available, why do so many airlines go one step worse - even their own staff haven't a clue what's going on. Instead you get rumour and passengers soon start to voice their frustrations to each other, just adding fuel to the fire.

I'd planned to use the waiting area to do a survey into attitudes towards flying and the environment but instead all I got was a lot of moaning about customer service. After several hours of having my ear bent all I'd established was that most people agreed that we needed to fly less but somehow they didn't feel part of the problem. Finally, almost 4 hours later, we were on the plane. It's that point when you think, "oh well at least we're on our way home." But there was another problem.

We had one too many passengers. How can that happen with modern computers you may well ask? Well the staff didn't know either. I suspect human error. Now there's a saying that ‘it's not how hard you fall buy how high you bounce'. When a Virgin customer complained that a bag had fallen on his head (through no fault of the airline) Branson rang him up personally and offered him a pair of free flights anywhere in the world. You can imagine the situation in the office, "John, there's a call for you and it's some guy called Richard."

Even if that was a PR stunt it worked, many punters know the story and it's one that gives Virgin a good image. We probably all suspect BA's response would have been less than friendly, whereas Rynair would probably have found a way to charge the customer for the pleasure of getting bashed. Having worked on several airline marketing accounts, including BA, the one thing that makes or breaks a brand is not the advertising or the lure of cheap prices but the customer experience.

A brand isn't a nice colour scheme, typeface and slogan, a brand is what people feel and say about it - reputation is all. And in these times of social networking and blogging, word travels fast (the fact I'm writing to a potential audience of 300,000 proves it). It was Branson who said (referring to BA's big ad spend) "instead of spending millions trying to tell people I have a better airline, I spend my money on making it a better airline. My satisfied customers do the rest."

Branson has always put his customers first - value the customer and they'll value you. It's a good warning to all brands that in these credit crunching times you need to keep focused on the customer. Now with the extra passenger problem solved (no one knew what happened to him) we finally take off. Surprisingly we aren't offered free drinks or food, unlike GNER or National Express who give it free after any major delay (and a refund on your fair).

After much wrangling I finally got a free coffee but having missed my evening meal the only way I was going to get a bite was by paying for it. That option didn't last long. A short while later we're told all the sandwiches have run out so no food. Thank goodness I'd packed an Eat Natural bar, always a life saver. I can't say that there was a lot of enthusiasm from many passengers I spoke to after we landed for flying EasyJet again.

"Easy? it was anything but," commented one irate passenger. The few parents on board were especially frustrated. Yet it would have been so easy to have made them happy customers. In my free copy of the EasyJet in-flight magazine Andy Harrison invites his passengers to write in with suggestions. So I did. That was over a week ago (you can't say I didn't give them a chance to reply). I waited. Two days passed. Four. Six. Eight days...no reply. So much for customer relationship marketing.

Will the credit crunch kill off organics? How will other ethical brands fair in a recession?

Recession or no recession, greening up your marketing is still hot on the agenda of most businesses. Marketing magazine (front cover last week) may be predicting organics will be suffering as a consequence of overpricing in a price sensitive market but everything else ethical could actually thrive in a recession.

This may sound like an idea that swims against the tide but when things get tighter community values increase, caring for others becomes more important. Hard times brings us together, Government based research has shown that community is high on our agenda of wants. Charity giving is far more common within poorer communities than rich ones. And many ethical brands are people based – fair trade being the prime one.

I don’t disagree that organics, having taken the position of being overpriced, could be a victim of the recession but even when times are tight people still care. I believe that environmental brands will continue to thrive, though slower, because recession or no recession there’s too much media force forcing social change. A majority thought politicians and corporations should be responsible for sorting out environmental issues.

Leaving people to help people. The Ethical Price Index, a national survey into how much extra people will pay for ethical goods, is soon to be released. It makes for fascinating reading, and even given the credit crunch, shows that people are prepared to pay more for most ethical value based products and brands. Prior to a recent debate I was chairing, ‘People vs Planet, a survey of almost 400 people was conducted to see if people had a preference.

When confronted with a choice, the vast majority – 2/3rds - picked people first. Also revealing, 2/3rds don’t trust green ads but only 1/3 distrust green claims on packaging. However, overall there’s a strong drift towards ethical consumerism and people like to embrace new eco ideas. The latest to catch my attention (even before Treehugger got it) are Green Rewards. A great yet simple loyalty programme and a brilliant idea - reward your customers for buying the right things and then with the points they can trade them in for eco products, services and experiences. Or even donate them to a charity.

Why hasn’t anyone thought of it before? It’s already been signed up by a number of retailers, including Abel & Cole, and seems a simple way for them to show just how committed they are to ethical issues. Further more, by using a simple incentive scheme people are encouraged to change buying behaviour, as psychologists will tell you, you need to change cognitive behaviour before you get mind change. www.greenrewards.co.uk As a regular speaker at marketing events on creativity and more recently ethical marketing I have to say “told you so” to Richmond Events (who run the Oriana marketing seminars).

Most of us have probably been on the Oriana – though now it’s the Aurora (bigger, better boat) and every year they survey clients to establish top issues. No surprise this year that one is green & ethical marketing. What marketers want is to navigate this complicated area and avoid the greenwash. Their research panel revealed that over half support buying local and the majority thought climate change was one of the most important environmental issues of today. Mark Price of Waitrose is the keynote speaker at this year’s Marketing Forum and talking on educating children about the values of quality food.

Waitrose have been busy behind the scenes working with schools and have sent education packs to almost half of all secondary schools in the UK in the battle against poor diet. It’s shocking that that many children think eggs come from cows and 90% have no idea what animal ham comes from. Last year I had a great time mixing with agencies and clients, then I was doing a series of creative workshops.

This year I’m going back in September to talk on ethical marketing and the new consumer and with an impressive list of top brands present, let’s hope we see less greenwash and more honesty ethical marketing as a result. 

The DMA will also have a presence on board, no doubt the number one question will be about the government’s targets on reducing landfill - 55% of direct mail has to be recycled by the end of 2009. Seems a bit unbalanced to me that while the newspaper industry’s target is based on recycled paper content, the marketing industry is just about percentage of paper that ends up in landfill. While DM is an easy target, it really only accounts for less than 2% of household rubbish, packaging and even clothes are a more serious problem.

By contrast the newspaper industry accounts for 11% of landfill. But then I guess politicians don’t want to upset Fleet Street too much. And finally, discovered on the Green Rewards site, is a great animation from Free Range Studios running on Green TV called the Meatrix. It’s fun anti-factory farming piece of propaganda, best not watched while you’re eating a burger. Also check out Story of Stuff, a fascinating and alarming look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns with a flavour of The Corporation (but a lot shorter).

Is bullfighting bad for Spain’s brand image?

Bullfighting is facing the same dilemma that fox hunting has faced in the UK. Growing public opinion is questioning animal cruelty and barbaric behaviour over tradition. Once a tourist attraction, is it now a potential turn off? Having just come back from Spain I was interested in an ethical dilemma that is splitting the nation. Should bullfighting be banned? Surprisingly, back in 2004 Barcelona declared itself an anti-bullfighting city, though it didn’t have the power to actually stop the fights. Since then there has been mild debate but recently it’s reached a tipping point, fuelled by celebrities like the cult actress Rossy de Palma. Who’d thought that bullfighting could be the very reason not to go to Spain? As I teenager I was dragged to a bull fight and took home a poster with my name on and a plastic bull with lances in, I have to say, even then I felt sickened to see a bull slaughtered for sport and have never taken my own kids to a bullfight. Many of the top matadors, like Jesulín de Ubrique, command the same status as top sportsmen and are certainly very skilful at what they do. Taking on a ton of aggressive bull with two sharp horns (Jesulín has taken on 6 at one time) while having to move, almost dance like, around the ring takes both guts and training. Few could argue that up until the bull is stabbed it is an impressive dance of wits between man and bull. I occasionally tune into American rodeo riding on late night TV and the two compare well. And although you can argue that these events stress the animals, even vets would probably argue that nature is more stressful. But rodeo riders don’t delight in killing the horse. That’s the difference and the one that could kill off bullfighting for good. Whilst in Spain I watched a series of fights on Spanish TV. The crowds applaud as the matador teases the bull, carefully playing him with his cape. Suddenly the bull gets the upper hand and one matador is thrown to the ground and stamped on. The bull won that one but his victory is only temporary. When the animal is finally lanced and stabbed with a sword, blood flowing from its mouth, the animal falls to its knees and rolls over, the crowd rises up in celebration. A sickening site that echoes the barbaric Roman animal games practiced 2000 years ago in the amphitheatres, like the one I’d visited only a few hours earlier in Meridas. The writer Ernest Hemingway described bullfighting as "not a sport but a tragedy". I have to agree. So why kill the bull? This is the debate that has even extended to Spain’s top public debate show, 360 and is dividing the nation between traditionalists (Spain loves its cultural traditions) and those that think animal cruelty is unacceptable in the modern age. Logically, not killing the bull makes more financial sense. A bull that wins against the matadors becomes a better contest, commands greater income and a big earning for breeding – just like race horses. Would you kill a race horse after it won the Derby? I know from the Co-op’s own research (and one I conducted recently) that people are passionate about animal cruelty. It’s a top ethical issue and people like Hugh Fernley Whittinstall have helped raise it even further up the agenda. In fact, in charity you can raise funds easier for animals than people. I recall one American ad many years ago that read, ‘It says a lot about America that last year we donated more dollars to save animals than people’. On the way back I did a survey at the airport. Of the small sample of people I asked, all thought bullfighting was barbaric and unacceptable. Two had been to a bullfight and said they left early. All thought it wasn’t good for Spain’s image. ‘Andalusia loves you’ screams out the headline on the cheesy posters at Gatwick, but not if you’re a bull. (Sorry about no para breaks - a technical problem with the site)