Things are pretty bleak on Wall Street these days. It has gotten to the point at which this blogger pleaded with odwyerpr.com’s webmaster to change the color of the numbers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average that run across the top of the site. The constant parade of fire engine red-colored digits (signifying losses) is downright depressing. I thought the color pink might be less ominous. The DJIA is “green” for the moment. Let’s hope that is the start of something good.
JetBlue Airways sums up the sorry state of the financial world with a right-on ad that plays up Wall Street’s great comeuppance. The “Welcome Aboard” ad neatly shoots down the battery of advertising run by corporate aircraft makers that try to justify the expense of maintaining a fleet of planes.
JetBlue scores more PR points with its program of giving full refunds to passengers who booked flights and then get laid off. Tickets were non-refundable. The full refund effort began Feb. 1 and runs until June 1. That’s a soft deadline that could be extended if things aren’t perking up on the economic front. (Click ad to enlarge it)
Beyond currying favor with customers, JetBlue says the refund plan is just good business. Anxious passengers were waiting until the last minute to book flights, keeping the airline jittery about ticket sales.
Kudos to JetBlue, which has made big strides on the image front since the infamous `07 Valentine’s Day ice storm. That mess tossed the discount carrier into a nasty reputational downspin and led to the ouster of founder/CEO David Neeleman, who is piloting a JetBlue-knockoff today in iceless Brazil.