Plug Me In

Like many of you, I was traveling last week and spent some of my airport time searching for outlets to charge up my laptop, iPod and Treo. The New York Times picked up on this almost comic travel ritual in an article called the Socket Seekers that ran this morning.  If you have ever been a socket searcher, you are probably familiar with the strange looks you get (“no lady, I’m not looking under your dress…”) as your hunt gets increasingly desperate.  Clearly there is an opportunity for Marketing for Good here.  True to form, at least one airline seems to get this notion and that’s JetBlue.  Being the first to provide free WiFi at many of their terminals, another example of Marketing for Good, JetBlue realized they’d also need to provide extra outlets.  So whether you are in their JFK or Long Beach terminals, the two I visited last week, your socket seeking mission is quickly rewarded. Providing this little convenience simply reinforces all the other little things JetBlue does well like their easy online rsvp system, their fast answering help line, extra leg room after row 13 and providing my favorite Terra Blue chips for the princely sum of free.  If you don’t think these little pleasantries add up to big loyalty, consider the fact that I am “lifetime Gold” on American and will choose JetBlue over American everytime if they both fly to where I’m headed. Marketing for Good in this case means making the whole travel experience a little less painful.  I suspect other airlines might not being singing the blues if they paid a little more attention to the whole experience instead of trying to figure out how much to charge for a miserable Ceasar Salad (yeah, I’m talking about you Delta!).

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