When JetSmarter, a startup being billed as the “Uber for Private Jets”, decided to put on a press junket they did the one thing you shouldn’t do: tell journalists what to write. In exchange for the opportunity to fly on one of JetSmarter’s planes, journalists had to agree to a despot-esque rider. How crazy? Well, according to folks at The Verge, the agreement demanded that the journalist either 1) write a positive article within 5 days of the flight; or 2) have $2000 charged to a credit card they were required to put on file. Another way to put it? JetSmarter will pay journalists $2000 each to write puff pieces.
WHY ON EARTH WOULD A COMPANY TRYING TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS ATTEMPT TO BETRAY THE TRUST OF those customers?
Right now the brand center in your brain should be freaking out. Why on earth would a company trying to attract customers attempt to betray the trust of the very people they’re trying to connect with? There are a couple of simple explanations.
First, they may simply be naïve. The CEO is a 28 year old whose prior experience includes a couple of startups you’ve never heard of. One of JetSmarter’s investors is Jay-Z, the man who brought us Tidal. They may have spent a lot of time modeling their press relations approach after various leaders of large countries. They may have gotten rotten advice from their PR people. Whatever the case, it was an accident. If this is what happened, then hopefully the team at JetSmarter have learned their lesson.
The alternative is that the team at JetSmarter really are smarter than us. They know exactly how the game is played and the way they’re approaching the press, the way they are acting and posturing via their press agreement is actually spot on in terms of their brand. After all, when Uber redid its branding, it did so in a way that focused on pleasing its CEO rather than meeting the needs of riders, drivers or investors. There is a place in the world for arrogant brands, but only if that arrogance is by design, not by accident.
There is a third possibility, one that is more likely than not exactly what happened. The culture of the organization, the perspective of its leadership are such that they actually believe that they deserve good press, because what they want is what the world should give them.
THE WORLD DOESN’T OWE YOUR BRAND A THING.
Newsflash: the world doesn’t owe your brand a thing. It doesn’t matter if your Nike, NASA or the Red Cross. The public, the press, the people who work for you are not indebted to you for anything. No amount of effort, good works or charity on a brand’s part earns it the right to get anything back from anyone else. Brands need to constantly earn their keep. Full stop.
Now, doing good – Patagonia’s commitment to the environment, Toms’ delivery of shoes and eyeglasses, or even AT&T’s “It can wait” anti-distracted driving efforts – can certainly help make brands more appealing. But, even then, the balance of payments always skews in favor of the consumers, not the brand. If people aren’t getting what they want out of a brand, they have the right to shop somewhere else, get a new job or sell their stock.
WHEN WE FORGET WHO WE REALLY WORK FOR – CONSUMERS – WE TEND TO MAKE REALLY BAD MISTAKES. BUT, WHEN WE focus on THE PEOPLE OUR BRANDS SERVE, WE thrive.
As much as marketers may try, brands don’t control people. Influence? Yes. But, control? Nope. Because, when we forget who we really work for – consumers – we tend to make really bad mistakes. Sometimes, like JetSmarter, they’re just stupid mistakes. Other times, like VW’s Dieselgate scandal, Theranos’ fraudulent blood tests, or Yahoo’s failure to disclose massive hacking of user accounts, they’re catastrophic for the business. However, when we think long and hard about the people our brands serve, that's when we open the door to new opportunities.
