#Orchids&Onions: When Ryanair schools Elon Musk
It has been a bit like that with the hype about social media and how, if your company didn’t have a presence and a “social media team”, then you’d sink in the same primordial swamps as the dinosaurs…
One of the biggest failings has been to try to use social media as a customer service platform – and this hasn’t worked in many cases and, in some, has actively damaged a brand because of the reach of a platform and/or the inept way the team handled a comment.
Ryanair turns a spat into a spectacle
Yet, this week, a man called Michael O’Leary gave the entire marketing sector a lesson in how to use social media as a proper “force multiplier”, turning very little expenditure into huge, valuable media coverage.
O’Leary is the boss of Ryanair, the Irish-based airline which is not only the biggest in Europe but one of the most profitable… and all built on the premise of: We don’t really care about you, but we’ll get you there – cheap. Or, as their slogan says: Catch flights, not feelings.
Ryanair’s social team is probably the best in the business – but this week they were given a huge helping hand as O’Leary took on the egotistical Elon Musk.
O’Leary said Ryanair wasn’t interested in adopting Musk’s Starlink WiFi on its planes. The reason: the antennae would add significantly to the drag of the aircraft in the massive Ryanair fleet, costing an extra $200m and more in fuel costs.
Ryanair charges for just about everything else – but not yet taking a breath on its planes – but O’Leary reckoned its passengers wouldn’t be happy to pay for the WiFi access, especially for the airline’s short-haul flights.
In the exchange which followed, both Musk and O’Leary accused each other of knowing nothing about aerodynamics, with the X and Tesla owner calling the Irishman “a chimp” and in return being labelled an “idiot”.
Musk asked his millions of followers on X whether he should just buy Ryanair – a bit like his mate, Donny, wants to do with Greenland – until many reminded him he couldn’t under European Union law, own more than 50% because he was not a citizen.
O’Leary then upped the ante by taking the war of words into an amazing business opportunity – apart from the fact that traffic to Ryanair’s site was up hugely, and so were bookings.
He launched a special “idiot” offer of a ticket for 17 Pounds, “only available to Elon Musk and other idiots on X”.
The offer applies to 100,000 seats and, the plug advised, “Book today before Musk gets one!”
It's brilliant, spot on the Ryanair brand and bound to appeal to Europeans who want to show the finger to bullying Americans. It’s generated huge coverage in mainstream and social media, for virtually no expense at all.
Orchids to O’Leary, Ryanair and especially the social media team.
Savanna proves less really is more
That doesn’t mean of course that there hasn’t been interesting local work of late and Savanna has done a cute little ad which is minimalist in the extreme, but the timing is newsworthy and there is a call-to-action punchline.
We see a screen in plain Savanna yellow, accompanied by a soundtrack and sound level indicator bars.
It’s Busi’s laptop telling her it misses her.
Just because she’s back at work, the idea goes, doesn’t mean she can’t still go outside and chill.
“After hours, let your laptop miss you a little. Step out and tune into sundowners with a Savanna Dry 500ml Can.”
It’s simple and a reminder that a little stress-relief will go a long way at this time of the year when the reality of life and back-to-work is hitting home hard.
There could be worse things than an ice-cold Savanna at sunset.
It’s evocative and because the ad is so lean, there is nothing to get in the way of the “get yourself a Savanna” message.
Another Orchid for Savanna.
Telkom shows how to lose a customer fast
One of the cheapest forms of marketing is, as I’ve said repeatedly, good customer service. But Telkom managed to destroy a 20 year-plus relationship with me recently.
I felt like I had been teleported back into the dial-up era, when the phone company’s customer service line keeps you on hold for hours, then cuts you off just as you are halfway through explaining your problem.
Mine should have been simple. We were moving house and all I needed was for Telkom to transfer my fibre service to our new home… simple because the people there also had Telkom.
Hold on for hours. Talk to someone. Assured that it will be no problem. Chat to Telkom office in our new home town. Nothing on the system. Phone customer service again. Advised to restart the process, which I do.
And then – you guessed it. Cut off in the middle of the call. No call-back despite the fact the agent has my phone number.
Never mind AI – this kind of service is going to put your people on the streets, Telkom, as your customers go elsewhere.
Dreadful customer service gets an Onion every time.
