Markets

Continental and Wired: How Not to Do a Promotional Partnership

By Brett Snyder

Updated on: July 23, 2010 / 6:00 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

Continental Airlines (CAL) and Wired have teamed up for an effort to promote business travel technology. It may sound like a good idea, but the implementation is just garbage. This is a textbook example of how an airline should not do a partnership.

The premise is good enough for sure. As the site puts it:

Join our blogger as he travels the country to various technology conferences -- from CITA WIRELESS to MOBILWARE -- in search of the innovations poised to impact the the business travel experience.

Ok, I'm buying it. Let Continental be the chariot of choice to go check all these things out. It gives the airline good visibility in an area that it should want to be a leader in. But this is where it falls apart.

There are haphazard displays of Continental's Twitter feed and Facebook page along with little ad bits throughout the site. But when it comes right down to it, Continental looks to pitch itself as something it's not. Click on the "Why Fly Continental?" link and you'll understand. On that page, blogger Robert McGarvey supposedly sings the praises of Continental and everything he loves about the airline. There's only one problem. Continental isn't even a leader in most of these areas.

At the top, he exclaims, "One US-based carrier makes an increasingly persuasive case for delivering the best experience for business travelers: Continental Airlines. And high-flying technocrats are taking notice."

Really? Well the six reasons he gives are hardly persuasive. Instead, it seems like Continental's PR department slapped his name on top of their PR materials. It hurts his credibility and it makes Continental look bad in the process. What's worse is that it really overpromises for the customer.

BusinessFirst on Continental -- The author appears to love the Business Class offering on Continental, but he fails to really mention that it's only available on long haul flights. He sings the praises of the flat beds being installed, but it's only on a small portion of the fleet -- less than half by far. It may be a nice seat, but most people won't ever see it.
Mobile Boarding Pass -- Yeah, Continental offers a mobile boarding pass. And you know what? It's a great feature, but it's hardly unique. I've personally used the United mobile boarding pass and American does it as well. It isn't, however, available in every city and very few outside of the US have it. It's getting there, but it doesn't make Continental stand out . . . except when people try to use it and find out they aren't in a city where it works.
The Newest Jet Fleet -- McGarvey wants you to believe that age matters when it comes to airplanes. That's convenient since Continental has a young jet fleet, but it's also a load of crap. You tell me if you'd rather fly a brand new Ryanair 737 where you'll be shoe-horned into a seat with no recline, no window shades, and not even a seatback pocket or a Delta DC-9 that's been around for more than 40 years? That's an extreme example, but it makes the right point. It's what's on the inside that matters and not how old the plane is.
Customer Service via Web & Mobile -- The big pitch here is Alex, the virtual customer service rep on the airline's website. This is a carbon copy of Jenn, Alaska Airlines' older virtual assistant and it's just about as useless. (Though it's a lot of fun to play with.) Neither Jenn nor Alex can do anything other than act as moving help buttons for the website. You still need to talk to someone if you have issues. And Continental is far behind other airlines at customer service via social media. Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America run laps around it.
Eco-Skies -- What the heck does this have to do with making business travel easier? It doesn't, but since it's green, it's cool. What a waste of space.
Wifi and More -- They saved the best for last. Having Continental brag about wifi is like having the Amish brag about electricity. They're both way behind the rest of the world. Continental has only recently decided to put wifi on fewer than two dozen airplanes. Delta's done it to most of its fleet while even US Airways has 50 airplanes with it. The same thing goes for LiveTV. Others airlines have had it for years, yet Continental is just getting passing the 50 percent mark on its domestic fleet.

In the end, anyone who reads this site will do one of two things. Either he will believe this pitch and be sorely disappointed when he travels or he will realize it's garbage and walk away with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Neither of those two situations are good outcomes for Continental. A more sincere and relevant pitch that looks like it was actually written by a third party would have gone a long way. This effort, however, doesn't even get off the runway.

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Photo via Flickr user brettsnyder