Operations Marketing and American Airlines [3 of 6]

All airlines have had to cut back. You may not receive the kind of meal you may have had once upon a time, but what you receive will not only be a choice (kosher fare, the departure location cuisine, vegetarianism and the cuisine of the arrival location tend to be standard), but also, one designed by a master artist chef.


Your flight attendant today is no longer window-dressing, indeed, by contrast, they are invisible more than before, but if you need him or her, they arrive quicker. Professional small talk replaces chitchat, they no longer pretend to be your friend, and they are there to serve you.

In the earlier decades, the business model more closely resembled that of other, more rudimentary mass transportation models, and now we have a half century of evolution on this score, elevating and reflecting that which is particular to flight.



Current Marketing Communications (echoes of Segmentations)

As one of arguably two (and possibly three) legacy airlines from a recently emergent empire, (a new status for the US), positioning itself not only to embrace all its consumers domestically, but everywhere, becomes a clarion opportunity for American’s marketing. However conscious of this, they at least intuit the need to embrace more than just business class, and have proactively moved on that front.

Americans main conduit, perhaps predictably, are the mainstays of outdoor, print, TV and online; with budget monies recently shifting from TV to online.

It was not so very long ago when marketing communicated as a broad-brush stroke, all at once. While American and the rest of the industry were juggling the balls in the air of global recession, (response to) war on terror and escalating fuel costs, social media inserted itself as one more ball in the air, so utterly transforming how corporations were to interact with consumers. Deftness applied, American moved in this direction with a degree of accomplishment. This now unpacked audience has found magazine articles appealing to an African-American audience celebrating a black female principle among AAs upper management, as well as “dude trips” in a man’s health publication. Other publications, as well as sub pages on its company website, catering to the Latino community. There are sub pages for a variety of demographic, including the LB GT community. American has allied with conventions for seniors, charities against cancer and everywhere else it seems it can speak to a group.

Along with external segmentation, internal industry based segmentation has moved apace simultaneously. To better meet consumer needs, the company evolved to include both a regional as well as commuter line (as previously referred to). Consistent with the larger movement in the industry, code-sharing arrangements and the strategic alliance of OneWorld were committed to, leveraging well over a dozen other carriers. As recently as 2010, perhaps by way of the intimacy lessons of social media, to serve better its New York market, American announced a new alliance for that market with Jet Blue. With similar motivation, a new partnership with British Air and Iberia found recent approval.

Meanwhile, American continues to attend to standard segmentation established long ago, its AA Flagship Lounges and Admirals Clubs as well as members of Aadvantage.