Virgin Atlantic’s Missed Marketing Opportunity

May 17, 2010 | Uncategorized

There are a lot of good smart phone applications, or apps, available for smart phones to help you travel easier.

One really good one is FlightTrack. It lets you track any flight, gives you the exact landing time and gate number and even allows you to see the geographical position of the flight on a map at any time. It’s good for traveling but I find it even more useful when I’m picking someone up at the airport — no more guessing arrival times and which terminal and gate to go to. It’s all right there in my palm.

Many airlines such as Southwest, JetBlue and others have launched apps which let you book your tickets, look up schedules and check-in, all on your phone.

A few days ago, however, Virgin Atlantic came out with app called “Jet Lag Fighter” which seems to have a lot of potential for people like me who usually have to go into a meeting not long after flying into an airport. There’s just nothing better in London or Frankfurt than feeling hungover in a 2:00pm business conference.

Reading the product’s description, it seemed to me that Jet Lag will help combat all the negative effects of flying except for the cost of buying your ticket and getting your luggage lost. But when I saw its claim it was developed using “a clinically proven technique,” that nailed the deal for me. I mean who could ask for more than a product made with a clinically proven technique? I dove into iTunes and added another $1.99 to Richard Branson’s coffers.

When I launched the app the first thing it did was ask me for my birth date, gender, health status and bedtime, which I guess Virgin Atlantic thinks is good info to have in case they ever start a dating service. It then asked for my travel information.

As a test I told it I wanted to fly from New York to London, taking off at 10:30pm and arriving at 10:30am the following day. This took me to another page which gave the pros and cons of either using light exposure or adjusting my sleeping times on the days before departure. It then provided an interesting day-by-day schedule for each.

But when I touched the “What is the difference” tab — which explains to non-clinicians the difference between sleep adjustment and light therapy — it launched an audio lecture by the doctor involved in the development of the app.

It was then I realized a real marketing opportunity has been missed here.

Virgin Atlantic — if you want to generate a lot of good will and publicity don’t charge for the app but instead provide it free on all your flights.

Then just tell passengers to tap the “What is the difference” tab and they’ll all be asleep within seconds. And, of course, awake fully refreshed for those meetings.

Jim Ferri