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"You're going to like where we land." UA's New Ad Campaign

"You're going to like where we land." UA's New Ad Campaign

Old May 20, 2011, 12:27 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by mduell
Following the flight 93/175 reinstatement debacle, another gaffe out of UACO at the site of the UAL175 crash
People must be so bored to be looking for stuff like this. I think some people are way too uptight.
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Old May 20, 2011, 2:50 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Mike Jacoubowsky
Originally Posted by goalie
Agreed and it's not rocket science....

Ad agency comes up with an idea
Said idea is promoted to the client
Client signs off on the idea
Ad agency runs the ad
BUT SOMEONE AT THE AD AGENCY NEEDS TO THINK ABOUT PLACEMENT OF THE ADS
Those ads might be going up in thousands of places. What mechanism do you propose to make sure they're appropriate in each? This is all about scale, and at some point unintended consequences are unavoidable, but greatly overshadowed by the benefits of the overall project.

Looking at my own marketing, what happens if I'm sending out a snail-mail piece on things you can do with your bike (increase its utility) and out of 10,000 flyers, a handful go to people now deceased and provide an especially sad reminder to a couple of wives or husbands who lost their partner in a bicycle accident? Should I have been going through the obits to look for people to remove from my list? Rather than callously just pushing a button to enable a standard campaign, damn the consequences? (Real-life example, by the way, and you feel terrible taking the phone call or visit from the spouse)

Mistakes like these happen every day, everywhere. Look for an opportunity to make a big deal out of someone's unintentional gaffe and you will find it. The question is, how does the company behind the gaffe deal with it? That's what determines, in my mind, the measure of the company.
Bolding mine: Yes, mistakes do happen every day and yes, your mailing list may include the names of folks who are deceased and also died in a bicycle accident but you (and no offense intended ) do not have the resources that an ad agency for a billion dollar corporation has. Ad placement is part of the job of an ad agency as XYZ Ad Agency wouldn't put an ad for "Whiteys Watermelons" in Harlem would they? (or would they if they didn't think about ad placement?)
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Old May 20, 2011, 3:44 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by goalie
Bolding mine: Yes, mistakes do happen every day and yes, your mailing list may include the names of folks who are deceased and also died in a bicycle accident but you (and no offense intended ) do not have the resources that an ad agency for a billion dollar corporation has. Ad placement is part of the job of an ad agency as XYZ Ad Agency wouldn't put an ad for "Whiteys Watermelons" in Harlem would they? (or would they if they didn't think about ad placement?)
At some point don't you have to trust someone else to do their job? At some point doesn't MTA become the party responsible for the ads showing up in inappropriate places? At some point doesn't it come down to the significant added expense of essentially micro-managing a project not making financial sense?

If I were United and contracted with MTA, I would be inclined to trust that the MTA would know what they're doing, because they're local and because they want future business. I wouldn't consider substantial additional expenditures to ensure that an ad which, for all intents & purposes, appears entirely innocuous and without cultural sensitivity, was appropriate for each of perhaps hundreds of locations.

One more thing. If I were MTA, I'd do the honorable thing and fall on the sword. They have the least to lose and the most to gain from taking "credit" for this debacle, not to mention being the most responsible.

Last edited by Mike Jacoubowsky; May 20, 2011 at 5:31 pm Reason: clarity
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Old May 20, 2011, 7:45 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Mike Jacoubowsky
At some point don't you have to trust someone else to do their job? At some point doesn't MTA become the party responsible for the ads showing up in inappropriate places? At some point doesn't it come down to the significant added expense of essentially micro-managing a project not making financial sense?

If I were United and contracted with MTA, I would be inclined to trust that the MTA would know what they're doing, because they're local and because they want future business. I wouldn't consider substantial additional expenditures to ensure that an ad which, for all intents & purposes, appears entirely innocuous and without cultural sensitivity, was appropriate for each of perhaps hundreds of locations.

One more thing. If I were MTA, I'd do the honorable thing and fall on the sword. They have the least to lose and the most to gain from taking "credit" for this debacle, not to mention being the most responsible.
Maybe I missed your point earlier but that's exactly what I'm saying. It's the Ad agency which is at fault and not UA. Yes, UA (or any corporation for that matter) has to trust/have faith in their ad agency and it's the ad agency that needs to "think" about where they place/promote the ads for their client (and yes, in this situation, MTA does need to fall on the sword )
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Old May 20, 2011, 10:57 pm
  #50  
 
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I was shocked. It is UNITED's responsibility to know where their ads are placed. It is their company and their brand at stake.
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Old May 20, 2011, 11:24 pm
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by Converse34
I was shocked. It is UNITED's responsibility to know where their ads are placed. It is their company and their brand at stake.
That's not how advertising works though. the chance someone knew at United, or even that someone who works for UAL had any say in the decision as to where to put them, is very slim.
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Old May 21, 2011, 1:56 am
  #52  
 
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I'm sorry, this is a silly defence of an obvious gaff on the part of someone paid to promote a product. No one would have consciously put that tag-line there.

Anyone who can really intimate that, of all the tag-lines available, that one was the appropriate one for anything south of 25th was just playing devil's advocate.

Put up a United Ad. Make sure it doesn't have any possible double-entendre relation to the most consistently difficult event the last two generations of 90% of your client-base has ever witnessed. this isn't rocket-science.

This wasn't intentional, that was clear via its removal. But the idea that the add itslef was a "good" idea is silly. Whether it was dramatically offensive? That depends on perspective. Whether it was the most effective use of the space paid for: I look forward to someone explaining how that is true? Don't give me the "buzz" explanation either. No company wants to be on Drudge. Fact.

Cheers,

ORD-LIH
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Old May 21, 2011, 8:25 am
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by UALsandiego
That's not how advertising works though. the chance someone knew at United, or even that someone who works for UAL had any say in the decision as to where to put them, is very slim.
That's how advertising SHOULD work. How hard would it have been for the agency to have a google map with pins in the areas where ads are placed and sent over for review? The new marketing analyst would have made the connection. AND especially this is UNITED's now home market, you can't even blame it on OOH.

I work for a travel company and I am not in marketing. But even I know what campaigns are going on and placements in which cities (bus shelters in this city, side of a building here, etc).
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Old May 21, 2011, 9:18 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by Brasila
UA made the press in NYC with using retired UA Flt #'s and I hope this makes the press here too. What a ridiculous ad and the phrase on it is so ironic.
Originally Posted by Brasila
Well the ads are backfiring because COUA has gotten a lot of national and international press/media out of it's lack of sensitivity for using 9/11 flight numbers and now that wonderful ad across from ground zero.
Originally Posted by Brasila
Well the news outlets in NYC are having fun with it and most people they are interviewing are basically saying it was in bad taste and bad judgment. It does not make any difference who is responsible it is the impression that it leaves in people's minds regarding COUA. Reporter also mentioned what a rough weak COUA has had by using retired UA FLT numbers.

Perhaps we missed something. Please advise what flights were OPERATED (i.e. USED) with the flight numbers in quesiton? It was admitted that the numbers were loaded in error, and removed prior to being used. The company made an apology publicly, and specifically in this forum, yet it is necessary to prattle on in three separate posts with baiting and incorrect rhetoric? Pity.

The ad is being used throughout the city. Yes, the placement here was probably lacking. That too has been rectified. Attempting to link these two items, and then suggesting, as some have, that there is mal intent, either from a corporation, or individual shows a lack of reasoned thinking. Were they mistakes? Yes. Will there be more? Most likely, and reported here in great detail.
Slow news week I guess.

Last edited by xzh445; May 21, 2011 at 9:24 pm
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Old May 22, 2011, 9:29 am
  #55  
 
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These guys are in charge of the world's largest airline*. They ought to start acting like it.

*or second-largest; the point stands.
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Old May 22, 2011, 11:20 am
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by Converse34
That's how advertising SHOULD work.
But it DOESN'T...
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Old May 22, 2011, 2:44 pm
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by SFOtoORD
But it DOESN'T...
Laziness is NOT an excuse. It does not work like this at all companies.
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Old May 22, 2011, 3:37 pm
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by Converse34
Laziness is NOT an excuse. It does not work like this at all companies.
I'm talking about the industry of advertising.
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Old May 22, 2011, 3:37 pm
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by defiance96
I walk through ground zero every day on my commute, and never even made the connection some are making here. It isn't like the ads are on the site, they are on the subway entrances, and the photo in this thread is not typically how the ad is going to be viewed. A bit of an overreaction here. The guy in the story who didn't really notice it is probably typical. Right now in NYC we are being bombarded with in-car subway campaigns for Delta and JetBlue, and now these are flooding the subway entrances. They all blend together.
Amen -- much ado about nothing.
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Old May 22, 2011, 6:03 pm
  #60  
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i agree with last post - while I do not always give UA a pass - on this issue I agree lets just let it go.
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