A New Approach to Advertisement

In the past week I have shown or told at least eight people about West Jet's Christmas advertisement approach. In study hall, during gym class, walking in the halls; and I wasn't even the one who discovered it. It was someone else who showed it to me first and I'm almost positive that she too was telling other people about it. I have been one of WestJet's advertisers without even knowing it and I hadn't even heard of this airline until now! In November, West Jet airlines took a new approach to advertisement.

As passengers on flights to Calgary Canada arrived at their gates, there were huge wrapped blue boxes with none other then dear Santa Claus waiting to ask what they wanted for Christmas this year. While passengers told Santa what they wanted, employees of West Jet were taking notes and preparing for a hectic few hours. While the passengers were in the air, the employees went on a "mad dash of shopping". When the passengers arrived to the baggage claim, with their luggage were the things that they asked for all wrapped up and tied with a bow. The video that was created from the event now has over 26 million views.

I think that this ad is much more affective for many reasons. The first is that it really catches my attention; when I first heard about it on the radio I was compelled to look up the video and find out more. Another reason is that since it spreads through casual conversation, more people will take notice of it. Statistics say that 84% of people will take action on recommendations from people they know. 22% less people said they take action from a TV ad. By spreading the story of what West Jet did, it is more affective than the commercials on TV.

In addition to being more affective, Richard Bartmen (WestJet's vice president of communications) says that it cost a "mere fraction" of the costs of a TV commercial. Commercials can cost up to 4.2 billion dollars so while buying their passengers flat screen TV's, tablets, and socks may seem to add up, it doesn't come near to the amount spent on commercials. 

In a Forbes article, Andrew Bender says "If the unbridled emotion of 250 unsuspecting passengers receiving their Christmas wishes doesn’t warm your heart, you may want to consider a Scrooge-ectomy." I couldn't believe this to be more true. The video is truly heartwarming and a top notch form of advertisement. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/12/12/the-real-christmas-miracle-of-westjets-viral-video-millions-in-free-advertising/

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/data-dive-us-tv-ad-spend-and-influence-22524/

PreChecking Profiling

              With the holidays approaching, there are more people flying to see their families and friends. As the airports get busier and busier, the new TSA pre check policy is speeding up the long security lines. When I traveled to Washington DC for Thanksgiving break, I qualified for this prechecking. I did not have to remove my coat, shoes, or computer from my bag. While I waited at the other side, the majority of the other people had to go through the normal security procedures. I did not notice what other types of people were waved through aside from another white girl around my age.

              On the American Airlines website, they say that the people eligible are "a select group of known travelers." I found this to be very vague and suitable to whoever the selectors want to select. The TSA website says it is frequent flyers, members of the armed forces and members of groups such as NEXUS, SENTRI, trusted traveler program and others. To join these programs, a fee of $50 or more, time spent filling out applications and sometimes an in person interview is required. I did none of this; they simply waved me through. I think that as a 17 year old white girl from the north shore, they would assume me to pose any threat therefor, I qualify. The problem with this is that the TSA workers and airlines are profiling people.
          While I was on the TSA website, one of the photos presented with the one to the left. I found it very interesting for many reasons. First was the obvious race factor. There are two white men and the TSA worker is a black woman. I found this interesting because the african american woman is the one working in the lower paying job. I do not know this for a fact but considering one of the men is wearing a suit and the other is wearing a sweater and khakis, and they are traveling, they seem to be  business men. This was interesting to me because the african american portrayed in the picture is still the one in the lower class. Also, these two men seem to represent a big group of who qualifies for the PreCheck policy. White business men.
             I found this TSA PreChecking policy to add on to the inequality of race and a part of the new Jim Crow. It would be very interesting to see statistics of what type of people are being prechecked.

Thanksgiving Day Shopping Results

            The results from the Thanksgiving day shopping are in. It turns out that opening stores before black friday did not generate any more sales, it just spread out the shopping over the course of the week. Opening stores the day of thanksgiving did not end up helping stores; Nordstrom and Von Maur made the right decision in staying closed. Many stores are also spreading out there sales more and more. Taking into consideration that there are five days less in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, sales are going well past cyber monday.

With sales going on over the course of a week, there is no need to extend hours onto the holiday. The day is for thanks and family, work should not be taking a toll on that time. Now that stores have already begun to open on the day, will they go back to waiting until black friday to open? I don't think that they, like almost anyone else in a situation,  will admit that they were wrong and that they did not get any more sales by opening.

In addition, the most noticeable increase was from online sales. It broke the billion-dollar mark and went up %18 since last year. If the online shopping sales are increasing so drastically, why do stores feel the need to be open as well?


Chicago Tribune Business article "Black Friday sales slimmer because of Thanksgiving rush" by Tiffany Hsu and Paresh Dave

Department Store Shopping on Thanksgiving Day

With black Friday hours pushing further and further back, stores race to be the place to go to shop for sales. With the exception of a few stores staying loyal to the thanksgiving tradition and family time, the vast majority are giving in to the competitive pressures. The employees of these stores are going to work sometimes at even earlier hours than a normal work day.  I imagine that as an employee of a department store, all I would be able to think about would be getting home to spend the holiday with my family.

As some stores are opening up, the debate between the importance of family time versus sales comes into play. In the long run, staying closed on Thanksgiving day will improve the store’s community. The president of the Von Maur department store says that opening on Thanksgiving day “will hurt employee morale.” By enforcing Thanksgiving as a work day, stores are embedding that work is more important than family. It saddens me to imagine an empty chair at my Thanksgiving table because of work. I don’t think that it is fair to even present the option (if it is an option) of working on Thanksgiving. With bonus’ often available for working holiday hours, some employees may not be able to turn the opportunity down. Employees are being paid to choose work and money over family.

Department stores aren’t the only ones opening on Thanksgiving day. The local Winnetka Starbucks too is opened until 4 pm on Thanksgiving. Maybe the baristas and cashiers will have time to race home and get ready for a Thanksgiving dinner but they are truly missing out on what the day is about. Why does Starbucks need to be open on this day when it is already so successful? For the other people waking up early who need coffee to prepare their meal? Thanksgiving is a day for all classes, not just the customers of Starbucks. It’s a holiday for the baristas, the customers, the cashiers, the shoe department guy, the salesman—everyone.

With the morning and afternoon full of preparation of the thanksgiving meal, and the rest of the day spent eating and being with family, who really has the time to go out shopping? The retail world is intruding on the day where people are giving thanks. Going out to buy more from the material world in my mind, isn’t being thankful for what you already have.  While Jim Fisher, a marketing professor at St. Louis university says that it is a great opportunity for most retailers, I don’t think that it is worth it.

Would opening department stores on Thanksgiving be beneficial to the community? Is it worth it?

Chicago Tribune Article “Open Thursday? No, thanks.” By Kavita Kumar