If you never had the experience of travelling Delta, count yourself lucky. It was austere and souless as only an old american corporation can be.
They’ve rebranded with a natty, new, all red, 3D logo. And their new site welcomes suggestions and tips from travellers in an effort to collect ‘easy-win’ ideas such as onboard multi-player gaming, buzzers to alert tell you when to go to your gate, SMS to update you about flight disruptions and a book swap at the gate. See the press release for a mix of suspicious, cheesy nonsense. Or see the delta site.
For many large organisations, even considering this kind of user involvement would be to terrifying. “What if we couldn’t implement any of the suggestions our customer gave us? What if I customers suggested something subversive? Do we really have to listen to our customers anyway?!”
So kudos to Delta for getting this far.
But at the same time, it’s still a cheesy effort. There’s an “air-punching” promotional video. And everything is very sanitised.
I don’t really know what to think. Except this. Would this new effort make me consider flying with Delta?
Answer: Yes. I’d give them one shot. If the experience really does live up to the new brand promise, then they’d have succeassfuly bought themsleves a new customer. So I suppose that means they’ve achieved something.
But it’s a big if. And I’m not holding my breath.
Thanks to Flowsters Simon Hatch and Kelsey Smith for pointing me to this.