Today I flew from Guadalajara to Los Angeles back from my trip to Mexico. Due to a minor problem with the immigration forms, the flight was late and we were waiting in the plane in order for the flight attendants to solve the issue.
After a few minutes, an announcement was made, reminding the passengers that for a delay superior to 30 minutes we would all fly for free (a Volaris policy). I have to say that after experiencing a very bad flight with Delta a few weeks ago while going to NYC, this was a very good start for Volaris!
After taking off, the pilot (Jesus Armenta) went in the cabin and started an unusual speech:
First, Mr Armenta started the usual bla-bla stating the "atmospheric pressure" and the "altitude"...etc. I sincerely thought that he was going to leave the cabin after the usual 4 sentences but, and I was very surprised by the fact that he started to develop these notions with a great deal of details giving another perspective to this usual process. For example he described in a very understandable way how turbulence work (I learned that their appearances and durations are completly random and unpredictable and were due to hot and cold air streams).
After 20 minutes of this very interesting class (airplane 101) the pilot described the several green policies of Volaris.
You can see a part of it here:
He ended up by giving several details about Guadalajara and L.A. (he explained for example that L.A.'s most spoken language was Spanish and that it was the second largest Spanish speaking city in the world after Mexico city.
He concluded by declaring his love of being Mexican and living in this great country ( he also said (and it would a made Harvard's Samuel Huntington laugh) that Mexican living in L.A could be proud as well for living on the Land of their ancestors) and finally said that his job was a passion and that he was very happy.
I am amazed by this speech and I definitely think that this is the marketing of tomorrow.
This marketing includes 2 critical aspects:
1) showing the people behind the product.
By showing his passion, Jesus Armenta transmits to his passenger in a very empathic way an idea about his job and therefore the product that people are currently consuming. Instead of promoting a cheap flight that will create a simple impression he is provoking a deep connection with the consumer that will lead to a better brand image for Volaris.
2) Demonstrating expertise to get closer to the core benefits of your product or service.
By instructing me about several hard data about fuel consumption, geography and culture Mr. Armenta increased significantly my "user experience" like we say in the Internet business. Today I know more about traveling from 1 point to the other than yesterday (which is the core benefit of a flight ticket). I also discovered that I was doing a better job at saving the planet by flying with Volaris than another airline company.
I don't know if this whole process is organized (I didn't see it in my previous flight with this airline) but...
...Good job Volaris!
