New Survey - How "Seattle" is Delta?
Jun 10, 2015, 2:52 pm
#1
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New Survey - How "Seattle" is Delta?
Received an interesting survey from Delta today, targeted specifically at Seattle residents. It looked to be focused on deciding how to spend sponsorship dollars: it asked me to rank my interest in four local sports teams (Sounders FC, Mariners, Seahawks, and University of Washington) in a variety of categories.
The five categories I was asked to use to describe my favorite teams were "Reliable", "Thoughtful", "Innovative", "A Leader", and "Trustworthy". (I love the Mariners and attend games often, but it's been more than a decade since any of those five adjectives came close to describing the team
)
I was also asked to apply the same criteria to Delta, ranking them on those five categories. The final question of the survey was perhaps most interesting - "How well would you say Delta represents the Seattle community? Put another way, how 'Seattle' is Delta?"
Not surprising in any way - clearly, Delta's been spending substantial money in this market, and sponsorships are part of that.
But it does provide some insight into their thinking. In particular, they appear to be realizing the importance in this market of appearing to be 'local' - especially since that's been the cornerstone of Alaska's marketing strategy. There's been some speculation on FT in the past about whether that actually matters to customers in practice - based on this survey, it would appear Delta believes it's important, at least.
The five categories I was asked to use to describe my favorite teams were "Reliable", "Thoughtful", "Innovative", "A Leader", and "Trustworthy". (I love the Mariners and attend games often, but it's been more than a decade since any of those five adjectives came close to describing the team
)I was also asked to apply the same criteria to Delta, ranking them on those five categories. The final question of the survey was perhaps most interesting - "How well would you say Delta represents the Seattle community? Put another way, how 'Seattle' is Delta?"
Not surprising in any way - clearly, Delta's been spending substantial money in this market, and sponsorships are part of that.
But it does provide some insight into their thinking. In particular, they appear to be realizing the importance in this market of appearing to be 'local' - especially since that's been the cornerstone of Alaska's marketing strategy. There's been some speculation on FT in the past about whether that actually matters to customers in practice - based on this survey, it would appear Delta believes it's important, at least.
Jun 10, 2015, 3:04 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2008
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Yeah I got it too. Since Delta already sponsors the Sounders, Mariners and Seahawks... I think this is a good indicator that Delta is looking into sponsoring the Huskies. Though, Alaska already has the Alaska Airlines Arena. I think Delta should be looking at more community involvement (rather than sponsorship) if they are trying to make in roads into the local market.
Jun 10, 2015, 3:30 pm
#4
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Was none of the above an allowed response for all of the questions about sports teams and their sponsorship?
Jun 10, 2015, 4:06 pm
#6
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If they really wanted Seattlites to view DL as local they should have gone with something like Cafe Vita. But maybe only Starbucks has the production capacity for a major airline.
Jun 10, 2015, 4:12 pm
#7
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Now, if they really wanted to have a nice premium coffee on board, they could serve Peet's or find a good premium Seattle roaster to really suck up to Seattle.
Jun 10, 2015, 5:23 pm
#8
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Yes please: Peet's Coffee. I sometimes "import" it from California.
Jun 10, 2015, 6:54 pm
#9
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But it does provide some insight into their thinking. In particular, they appear to be realizing the importance in this market of appearing to be 'local' - especially since that's been the cornerstone of Alaska's marketing strategy. There's been some speculation on FT in the past about whether that actually matters to customers in practice - based on this survey, it would appear Delta believes it's important, at least.
Jun 10, 2015, 7:05 pm
#10
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Jun 10, 2015, 7:08 pm
#11
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When I first started drinking Peet's Coffee, I think there was only the store on the north side of Berkeley.
Jun 10, 2015, 7:54 pm
#12
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Same survey...except NY
I got the same survey today except mine was centered on NY and it's sports teams. And finally, how much I think "NY" is Delta?
So, it looks like they are targeting a few areas? SEA and NY so far. Anyone get a survey for another city?
So, it looks like they are targeting a few areas? SEA and NY so far. Anyone get a survey for another city?
Jun 10, 2015, 8:00 pm
#13
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I think your average New Yorker buys airfare based on service and price, without as much emotion about whether an airline is a "New York" based airline. I do think some people in Seattle buy airfare based on whether an airline is a "Seattle" airline. There was an article recently where Pemco's CEO stated explicitly he rearranged their internal purchasing system to prioritize AS over DL to support them...
Speaking more concretely, I'd anecdotally say that Alaska Airlines benefits more from 'buy local' sentiment than JetBlue (the closest analogy on the other coast) does.
That said, NYCflip got the same survey except targeted at New York, so this isn't unique to Seattle after all...
Jun 10, 2015, 8:06 pm
#14
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Jun 10, 2015, 8:09 pm
#15
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