Fast Company | MarketCulture Blog - Using a Customer Culture for Competitive Advantage

Tag Archives: Fast Company

JetBlue uses Twitter – Listens to Customers, Grabs New Business

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Dr Chris L. Brown | 6 comments

Part of the reason I haven’t been blogging as much as I should be is because I have been “micro-blogging” on this fascinating site called Twitter. If you haven’t heard of this yet, check out their FAQs or read a Newsweek article. Find out how it can be used by businesses through CIO Insight.

Today I’m drawn in by a video interview of the guys that created the site on FastCompany TV. (And for those keeping track at home, I found out about the video on Twitter.) At 12:23 into the video came a story about how JetBlue uses Twitter. It was fascinating and one of the most eye-opening examples of fantastically strong market culture in action.

JetBlue set up an account and used it to monitor comments about the company. Then they started offering real time deals. All along they were listening to the community and when folks were gearing up for South by Southwest (an annual tech/music festival in Austin, TX) but couldn’t find flights, JetBlue jumped in and offered more flights. Awesome marketing and awesome market culture!

Customer Insight – knowing where the spot demand was

Competitor Awareness – everyone else must be booked too

Collaborative Networks – real time info from the clients influenced an operational decision, “Can we give them more flights?” “You betcha!”

Decision Making with a Long-term Focus – what kind of positive buzz and customer loyalty do you think that little profitable move made?

Leadership – it was a corporate decision to engage the customer at this level, evidenced here

I am a huge fan of Twitter and stories like this are empowering. Jeremiah Owyang runs Web Strategy by Jeremiah where he outlined some additional tools you can use to improve your Twitter experience. I recommend you check that out if/when you set up an account. Then be sure and follow me!

6 Comments

Posted in Innovative Thought, Market Culture in Action

Tagged CIO Insight, Fast Company, Jeremiah Owyang, jet blue, Newsweek, SXSW, twitter

Tipping Our Way

Posted on February 1, 2008 by Dr Chris L. Brown | Leave a comment

In an article published in this month’s Fast Company magazine, Columbia professor cum Yahoo! researcher Duncan Watts debuffs Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of the Tipping Point. Using network simulations (whose alternative uses include predicting the spread of disease) Watts determined that the role of the Influencer, that highly connected firestarter of new trends, is not as important as previously believed. Trends propagated or withered, regardless of an Influencer’s presence. Networks that consisted of a few people who knew a few people were just as probably to reach critical mass as those venerated in The Tipping Point. Interesting read.

The conclusion that Watts comes to is that targeted viral marketing is really no more effective than good old fashioned mass marketing. I’m not a fan of this on many levels, one of which is highlighted by the number of offers I receive in my spam email folder. But another interesting take-away is this:
“Watts believes this is because a trend’s success depends not on the person who starts it, but on how susceptible the society is overall to the trend — not how persuasive the early adopter is, but whether everyone else is easily persuaded.”

So what is our society susceptible to?

It might be that corporate culture can affect the way you deal with your customers. The subtitle of the 2008 New York Stock Exchange CEO Report is “Putting Customers First,” and the report proceeds to highlight the importance of the relationship with the customer. From the executive summary:

“The first theme is that this may be the year in which there is a renewed vigor around the customer — 2008 may be a year where [sic] many CEOs put the customer at the top of the long list of issues on which they must focus.”
“Brand, reputation, and investments in corporate social responsibility are more important this year — all efforts that are focused on winning the hearts and minds of the customer.”

Here are two core components of a corporate culture – executive leadership and shared company values – that must focus on the customer. This is at the heart of a strong market culture, and the message we’re sharing. Folks are starting to listen, and those that adopt these principles and apply them to their business the fastest are the ones that are going to keep their customers the happiest.