my name is Porter Gail and I’ve been in
marketing for about 20 years right now
I’m a consultant I advise a bunch of
startups and I just wrote my first book
at Virgin America we launched what I
think was one of the most revolutionary
products in the sky rate when social
media was becoming big so it was back in
2007-2008 what we tried to do was to
empower the consumer in the development
process so we would ask consumers what
kind of drinks did they want on the
plane we would watch the Twitter streams
we knew what people were saying in the
planes we definitely engaged and
respected our brand ambassadors and the
people that were passionate about us we
even turned to them when we were
launching the airline we were having
some issues with the Department of
Transportation and we said hey can you
help us and rally around us so it was a
very very integrated relationship
between the fans and the airline and it
still is that way today what’s important
for brands to understand is that because
people are more influenced by pictures
by words by social media they’re also
going to change the way they interact
with brands the power is actually
shifting from the boardroom to the
living room and what I mean by that is
that consumers now have access to their
friends opinions they can research
online they can use apps to scan
barcodes and figure out prices so
consumers can be much more involved in
their purchase decision so in the past
brands and marketers were able to push
products out now it’s really more of a
Pullman tality and the living room or
the person sitting at home has more
power the most important thing for
companies to recognize is that the
honest transparent authentic brands are
the ones that are going to succeed I
believe that brands that put a lot of
focus on product and service and
recognize that product and service is
actually marketing are the ones that are
going to succeed so for us for Virgin
America when I was with them you might
have thought of Wi-Fi in the planes as a
product enhancement
but that was actually one of our
greatest marketing strategies ever
because putting Wi-Fi in the planes not
only had buzz value but it created a
situation where people that were flying
could be tweeting and posting for up to
six hours in a captive audience in a
plane I think the main currency of this
era is authenticity and that brands and
people that are authentic and honest and
transparent are the ones that are going to thrive
marketing for about 20 years right now
I’m a consultant I advise a bunch of
startups and I just wrote my first book
at Virgin America we launched what I
think was one of the most revolutionary
products in the sky rate when social
media was becoming big so it was back in
2007-2008 what we tried to do was to
empower the consumer in the development
process so we would ask consumers what
kind of drinks did they want on the
plane we would watch the Twitter streams
we knew what people were saying in the
planes we definitely engaged and
respected our brand ambassadors and the
people that were passionate about us we
even turned to them when we were
launching the airline we were having
some issues with the Department of
Transportation and we said hey can you
help us and rally around us so it was a
very very integrated relationship
between the fans and the airline and it
still is that way today what’s important
for brands to understand is that because
people are more influenced by pictures
by words by social media they’re also
going to change the way they interact
with brands the power is actually
shifting from the boardroom to the
living room and what I mean by that is
that consumers now have access to their
friends opinions they can research
online they can use apps to scan
barcodes and figure out prices so
consumers can be much more involved in
their purchase decision so in the past
brands and marketers were able to push
products out now it’s really more of a
Pullman tality and the living room or
the person sitting at home has more
power the most important thing for
companies to recognize is that the
honest transparent authentic brands are
the ones that are going to succeed I
believe that brands that put a lot of
focus on product and service and
recognize that product and service is
actually marketing are the ones that are
going to succeed so for us for Virgin
America when I was with them you might
have thought of Wi-Fi in the planes as a
product enhancement
but that was actually one of our
greatest marketing strategies ever
because putting Wi-Fi in the planes not
only had buzz value but it created a
situation where people that were flying
could be tweeting and posting for up to
six hours in a captive audience in a
plane I think the main currency of this
era is authenticity and that brands and
people that are authentic and honest and
transparent are the ones that are going to thrive
Please follow and like us: