JetBlue's New "Jetting" Marketing Campaign

(MoneyWatch)  I'm not sure how many of you saw this, but JetBlue has decided to put out its new marketing campaign in full force. (At least, I've seen it around plenty of bus stops here in Long Beach.) The airline has now stopped flying. It is only "jetting" from now on. I know, it sounds ridiculous, right? It's one of those word tug-of-war games like Disney calling its employees "cast members" and its customers "guests." The thing about Disney, however, is that they actually live it, and yes, those words actually mean something in the vernacular. If you work for Disney, especially at one of the parks, you truly are a cast member. You're part of the show. And Disney does treat its customers like guests, so that's a fitting name.

When United tried to go down that route by hiring Disney's Barbara Higgins to head up its customer experience group, I knew that a train wreck was coming. Disney actually believes that people are guests whereas United, well, they believe people are passengers (and walking bags of money). So you can use words all you want, but can JetBlue walk the talk? Will the airline truly "jet"?

I'm not really sure, mostly because I have no idea what that means. That's the other thing that's important in using alternative terms for something. People have to know what it is. Is it like being part of the "jetset"? Is it young and cool? I don't know. So JetBlue has an uphill battle in not only living up to this higher calling, but actually defining what it means in the first place.

The airline says that this has "been created to rename and refocus on the airline's strategy of delivering a 'true value' experience for every customer, one that includes competitive fares, award-winning service and complimentary onboard amenities, such as free DIRECTV(r) and XM Satellite Radio(r), unlimited snacks and spacious leather seats."

Ok, that sounds good. It's an admirable attempt at calling out the fact that they do actually provide more in the way of snacks and amenities than most other airlines. They need to be promoting that, but how many people are going to tie "jetting" to receiving more frills than just "flying"? I don't know that this is going to work.