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The modern obsession with the young and beautiful can be counterproductive for brands. There are hotels and shops who deliberately – and illegally – recruit people on the basis of their looks, but as that’s difficult to prove, it still goes on, despite well known organisations being taken to employment tribunals. The belief that young, beautiful staff make your brand more attractive is often misplaced.
The idea In the 1980s, an airline announced that it was going to be retiring its female air crew early; they had decided that their mostly male businesses passengers only wanted to be taken care of by younger women. They wanted to reposition their brand with the help of young, glamorous, sexy air hostesses, as they were still called. This was greeted by a fair amount of outrage in the press. What the airline staff weren’t expecting was that their male passengers started asking for the older crew members to be brought back again. Some of the staff who had been retired were asked to come back. Delta Airlines also make their business class customers feel at home by putting their most senior, experienced staff at their service on long haul flights. It was a case of image being trumped by effectiveness. One of the reasons that business people travelled with the airline was they got a quiet, efficient service. They wanted to be given their meals
134 • 100 GREAT BRANDING IDEAS
100 Great Branding Ideas 14dec.indd 134
12/14/11 11:14 AM
