I am one of the people who agreed with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s decision to ground the flights a few weeks ago. I have always been against trade unions and striking (may be being a child of the 70s born under Margaret Thatcher influenced me). It is possibly also because I’ve always worked in advertising, so if there was a strike every time we worked overtime, there would be no industry. Anyway, back to the point – I have a few friends that work at Qantas who can’t speak more highly of Mr Joyce and his decisions. Their stories of how he treats his staff certainly have created some positive word of mouth for the brand in my peer group.
But, what was Qantas thinking when it created a Twitter campaign inviting people to tweet in about their Luxury flying experiences? “What is your dream luxury inflight experience (Be creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury.” The prize – a luxury amenity kit and a pair of pyjamas.
Obviously the hashtag began trending across the Twittersphere. But it doesn’t take a genius to anticipate that the tone of the tweets was not exactly in line with what management hoped for.
Just one example of the gags that followed
@the-aaron-smith said: “#qantasluxury is chartering a Greyhound bus and arriving at your destination days before your grounded Qantas flight”
You would think after the drama of the last few weeks, the PR pros at Qantas would be all over such a promotion. Wasn’t it obvious that consumers would love an opportunity to take a dig at the brand? Perhaps Qantas should have asked Ashton Kutcher to be involved in their PR, instead of John Travolta. He can’t fly a plane but he has certainly learnt his lesson on Twitter recently too. And, as for @Mrs Kutcher. I bet she had wished she’d chosen a different moniker when she joined up. The 4.29 million people that follow her will know immediately when those divorce papers are signed.
