VR in Airlines

Airlines and virtual reality

Virtual reality is a cutting-edge technology that allows people to experience products on a virtual level. It is the new way to watch movies and experience another world without having to step out of your comfort zone. Airlines now use virtual reality to create an experience for the customer and to show what a real in-flight service would be like.

Lufthansa used virtual reality to create a virtual holiday experience in 2015’s ITB (International Travel Trade Show in Berlin).  The virtual travel and flight experience started from inside a Boeing 747 Aircraft. Passengers would sit inside a rounded ball chair, wearing a custom painted Oculus Rift DK2 headset, whilst holding a Sony PlayStation motion controller to interact with the virtual experience. The virtual experience finished with the participant sitting on a beautiful beach with a virtual post card in hand, when the experience finished they were given a physical post card. Lufthansa’s virtual holiday demo showed off their on board services in a virtual environment and it is a great way to stand out in terms of branding purposes. Qantas also paired up with Samsung to start offering the VR Gear to first class passengers on long haul flights the airline became the first to offer virtual reality entertainment in-flight. The virtual reality headset became available inside Qantas’ first class lounges in mid- February and on select A380 flights between Australia and Los Angeles in the first-class cabin in March.  Qantas sees VR as a new way to showcase the airline’s destinations and services to passengers.  British Airways also had a campaign which covered the city centres in Milan, Paris and Frankfurt, it allowed European customers to test out the technology by riding a bucking bronco in Texas , ice skating in New York’s Bryant park and a walk down in Californian board walk.

Virtual reality is a great way for Airlines to market their products in addition, customers get to experience on-board services before they get on board the aircraft and before they reach their destination. Virtual reality is experiential marketing in its own way, as it creates a live and fun experience for the customer.

Bibliography

Ads of the world. (2014). British Airways: Virtual reality USA. Retrieved from http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/British_airways_virtual_reality_USA.

Virtual Reality Reporter. (2015). Lufthansa takes you on a virtual reality. Retrieved from https://virtualrealityreporter.com/lufthansa-airline-takes-visitors-on-a-virtual-journey/.

Operant conditioning & tourism

Operant conditioning in tourism

Operant conditioning was first introduced by B.F Skinner. His views were that although we do have a mind it was simply more productive to study observable behavior rather than the internal mental events. He stated that behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated and that behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out. In 1948 Skinner experimented on animals and placed them in a box (Later nicknamed the Skinner box).

Positive reinforcement

In his experiment Skinner found that positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in a box. The box contained a lever which dropped food every time the rat accidentally knocked it over. After a few times of being in a box the rat learned to drop the lever. The consequence of receiving food every time they pressed the lever insured that they would repeatedly press it. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence that is rewarding for the individual.

Negative reinforcement

On the other hand negative reinforcement strengthens behavior because it ends a negative experience. A way in which Skinner showed negative reinforcement worked was by placing a rat in the box once again. He subjected it to an unpleasant electric current which made it uncomfortable. Whenever the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever and every time it did so the electric current would switch off. Each time the rats were placed in the box they learned to go straight to the current and switch it off. The consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would repeat the action each time.

In the Tourism industry

Operant conditioning happens all the time in the industry, it’s a way of companies to compensate customers and reward them for using their services. Various companies in the tourism industry have various ways of rewarding loyal customers. British airways have a rewards system which ranges from the Blue exclusive club, Bronze, Silver and Gold membership. Each time a customer flies with them they get a chance to add points each of their exclusive clubs have different benefits for the consumer. Consumers get attracted to such schemes it’s a good way to draw customers in. Virgin Atlantic also offers air miles for frequent flyers.  Negative reinforcement on the other hand happens the other way round, for example an airline delaying a flight or losing a passenger’s bag, the company would have to find a way to compensate the customer for example rewarding them with a free flight or compensating them back a certain percentage of money to get them into the next earliest flight. The companies mentioned above are not the only ones who do this a few examples include, Starbucks, Subway, and royal Caribbean (Crown & anchor society). In conclusion this is a good marketing scheme for companies lastly it is a good way to enforce customer loyalty. 

References

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/lifetime-tier-points

McLeod, S. (2007). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/spend-miles/reward-flights/reward-seats.html

Video examples of Operant conditioning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA

Rihanna named the most marketable celebrity

Rihanna Named Most Marketable Celebrity

Most people may know Rihanna for her catchy songs however, on the 13^th of January she was named the most marketable celebrity in the world, according to the NPD Group (Global information Provider).  According to NPD celebrities a considered to be a strong endorsement opportunity for a brand if the fans are at least 50 percent more likely to use the brand. Rihanna’s current endorsements include, Jeep, puma and Samsung. These brands are widely known and have a large market. Rihanna’s index score is 3.7 times stronger than brand endorsement opportunities as the average big name celebrity. Her scores are higher than those of Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé.

Rihanna has a huge line of fragrances and has done endorsements for brands such as Armani, Budweiser and Nivea. The companies are using great marketing strategies to reach out to their target audience. It is more likely that most young people, especially teenagers will buy these brands because their idol is advertising it and sales will  increase in addition they will also get new customers. Using a famous person for an advert campaign increases product knowledge. The influence of the media is also what gets word out. Some people will buy these brands because of social acceptance. The way in which we present ourselves in front of other people is important to us; for example buying puma shoes because our friends have got them.

According to (marketing-schools.org) 15% of all advertisements in the USA feature a famous person. The disadvantage of using a celebrity marketing is the cost that comes with securing a partnership with them. The most expensive celebrity advertising is through TV. Pepsi are a successful brand and they have always used celebrities for their adverts to attract more consumers.

Using celebrities to reach out to a wider audience is a good marketing strategy for companies, because this mean they will increase their revenue, the brand will then be known world-wide. However the disadvantages of high costs do sometimes affect small companies less the big companies. People who follow famous people will not look at the cost of the product nevertheless all they will want is to say that they have it too. In a world obsessed with celebrity culture celebrity Marketing is not such a bad idea, in addition tourism organisations should also start using this marketing strategy to get people to  visit their destinations. 

France bookings after terrorist attacks

Flight bookings to Paris down by 25 percent after attack

There is no doubt that the incident that happened in Paris would affect the city’s Tourism sector. According to TTN (Travel and Tourism News) , tourist numbers in 2015 fell by 25% after the attacks happened in addition 130 people died in the November attacks. The numbers are lower than those of November 2014 according to data provided by travel information firm Forward Keys. The city had two similar terrorist attacks in the same year, which leaves the question as to why people still choose to visit Paris?.

According to chief executive Olivier Jagger he recognised the fall in bookings primarily to leisure travellers, rather than business visitors or those going to visit family and friends. Although the cancellation period ended booking trends did not show any signs of improvements. The Christmas books were behind last year’s by 13 per cent. Air France experience some falls in air traffic following the attacks. Low cost carrier EasyJet stated to have to have seen a “cooling off” in demand for travel to France. The attacks did not only affect France but also other European countries as it was unknown when the next attacks would happen.

Following the terrorist attacks Paris is now seen as a less secure place for tourists. Referring to Marslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), Safety and security comes as a basic need which means that no matter what humans still need safety and security. For the other people who choose not to visit Paris during this time visiting Paris is seen as a security risk, furthermore the people who choose to visit view this as less of a risk, simply because they want to fulfil their wants rather than needs.

There is confusion about the relationship between perceived risk and trust (N, Lim, 2002). (Mayer, 1995) defines trust as willingness to take a risk and perceived risk as the likelihood both positive and negative outcomes. When consumers perceive risk they are expecting some kind of loss (stone and winter, 1987).  The attacks in Paris can link to Physical risk because it is not as secure as it should be. For some consumers it can be linked to monetary risk, this consists of money and property those with relatively little income are vulnerable. Therefore it might be that consumers who chose not cancel their holidays were scared of losing their money. People who book holidays independently are at risk of losing their money because they will not get any compensation back. On the other hand people who book through travel agents can get compensation back.

In conclusion the terrorist attacks did not only affect consumers but also businesses around the country. Tourist numbers in France decreased compared to the previous year before the attacks took place. People’s decisions to take holidays to Paris changed and they were cancelling their bookings due to the risk that came with it. In addition the situation should not last a long time, because cities such as New York and London have had similar attacks however they recovered from within time and France will recover just as they did.

References

 Anonymous, . (2015, November 24). Flight bookings to Paris down by 25 percent after attack .Travel and Tourism News. Retrieved from www.travelandtourismnews.co.uk

Lim, N. (2002). Classification of Consumers' Perceived Risk: Sources versus Consequences. , 540-554.

Cockayne, D. (2015). Consumer Motivation and Decision Making: An experiential View. [Presentation slides]. Retrieved from https://unilearn.hud.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_19703_1&content_id=_1474851_1&mode=reset.

Personalised Nutella jars

Nutella's personalised jars 

following the trend of product customisation all over the world. Nutella also launched it's own campaign of personalised jars. This is a great way of getting customers to buy their products, they understood that a name is the biggest identity for a person. The project was success all of the Europe and the Middle East, it was launched as a way of thanking it's consumers.  The Jars are sold in local supermarkets and they can also be personalised online. 

According to www.Levelmarketing.co.uk 78% customers stated that brands that create unique and personalised products are more interested in building a relationship with them. Product involvement this refers to a consumer's level of interest in a particular product , most people consume nutella therefore it is a product they do not think twice about buying it this means there is no perceived risk in buying the product . Message involvement  has been a big influence in the 'your nutella your way' people rushed to shared their own personalised jars on the likes of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

However the campaign got a lot of backlash from social media, some people were adding rude words of the jars. This shows that social media is not always a good way to advertise products because word seems to spread quicker on social media and people are likely to write honest opinions and it can stop other people from buying the product.  Some people on social media felt that nutella was copying coca-cola's share a coke campaign. Coca-cola launched it's 'share a coke' campaign in the summer of 2013, with the realisation that many people in Australia were not consumers of coke. This was a great way to market it's product to a wide audience it was successful.

Personalition is a great way for companies to stand out from the crowd and is also a great way to market products. However Nutella did not stand out much because coca-cola has already done what they are doing and they could have came up with something different that no one else has done yet.