Joon-The Launch of Joon

JOON - THE LAUNCH OF JOON

Over the Summer, Air France got a lot of media attention when it announced that it was launching a new airline aimed at millennials (18-35 year olds), called “Joon” - similar to ‘Jeune’, meaning young in French.

In a statement the airline claimed that Joon would be “aimed at a young working clientele, the millennials (18 to 35 yearolds), whose lifestyles revolve around digital technology.”.

The initial images of the blue “instagramable” uniforms led website The Vergeto quip that Joon was “basically Muji, but in airline form.”

Tickets for Joon then went on sale in late September, albeit from the Air France website. Other than a YouTube channel, Joon didn’t appear to have any online properties of its own at time of writing.

The YouTube channel currently hosts a short video produced by French advertising agency ‘BETC’

Two dancing flight attendants in electric blue outfits appear in the video which follows the corporate message that Joon is a “roof top bar”, “an entertainment channel”, a “personal assistant”, a “fashion designer” and an airline.

Each of these statements underpins a perceived benefit of flying Joon. For example, the personal assistant message ties into Joon linking up with Airbnb.

Initial destinations from December include Barcelona, Porto, Lisbon and Berlin with the idea being that long-haul routes will be introduced from 2018.

The fact that Joon is now open for bookings has been extensively covered by mainstream media ranging from the Irish Times to Reuters.

However, some of the media that millennials actually read has been a lot more skeptical about the whole operation. Mashable for example wrote a damning piece saying that Joon was “beyond cringe” and it would “pigeon hole millions of people into a few, damning stereotypes. Mashable commented that Air France “underestimates millennials ability to see behind the buzzwords.”

A straw-poll of millennials we carried out in a co-working space, which houses tech start-ups echoed what Mashable wrote.

One millennial tech marketer told us ” I do not go on planes to eat organic food, I do not goon planes to look at stewards in sneakers, I do not want to pay extra for really cr*p ‘quality’ stuff.

“I want to get from A toB. If this was €1 more expensive than something else, I would not book with them. I’d happily stand for an hour or two to get to Berlin if it cost €30.” Another said, “the whole brand does a feel a bit like “what do kids these days like - oh Airbnb and organic things and VR”

Aviation industry blogger One Mile At a Time was also lukewarm: “The whole millennial twist is just a bit much for me. I get they’re trying to make this sound appealing, but the differences here basically come down to having flight attendants that are dressed more casually, more organic buy on board options, and virtual reality headsets in long-haul business class.”.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

As we’ve demonstrated, the reaction to Joon hasn’t been completely positive. We wonder if some of that is due to the fact that tickets went on sale before the Joon brand had much of a social media and web presence - surely a must if your aim is to appeal to the under 35s.

An online brand would have added a bit more personality, and more importantly authenticity, to Joon beyond what you see in the one minute video and a two page press release.

As it is, it is too early to tell how Joon will develop. It may well become a huge success for Air France but the airline needs to start turning the buzz-words into reality. As Mashable pointed out, just like other age groups, millennials are perfectly capable of looking beyond brand speak.