A little aggression gets you everywhere
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Ryanair was in trouble again last week. Chief executive Michael O’Leary was forced to apologise to easyJet founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, for depicting him in a January ad campaign as a Pinocchio who misleads clients about punctuality.
To avoid a court case, Ryanair agreed to pay Sir Stelios’ costs and damages of £50,000 which will be donated to a charity of the easyJet founder’s choosing. Stelios joined in by claiming O’Leary was the “ugly face of capitalism”.
The “ugly” face, however, was smiling broadly this week with the expected announcement that Ryanair would report first-quarter sales of £730m.
Despite angry volcanoes and even angrier competitors, Ryanair continues its transformation from a tiny brand that had only one plane to fly between Gatwick and Waterford in 1985 into Europe’s largest airline. More importantly, the brutal intelligence of Ryanair’s marketing strategy has once again proved itself.
It starts with advertising. A very special kind of advertising. Usually black and white. Consistently tacky in tone and execution. And always offensive. It could be a picture of a stripper dressed as a schoolgirl announcing “hot fares”. It might be a hastily copied image of Churchill declaring that to “beat terrorism” after the 7/7 attacks consumers you should fly Ryanair. Or it might be a specific attack on a famous figure.
Stelios is merely the latest in a long line that includes Gordon Brown, the Pope and the president of France who have been aggressively parodied by the airline.
What follows is inevitably a public backlash or formal complaint. At this point, Ryanair kicks in with its PR campaign. O’Leary himself usually goes onto the front foot and makes even more incendiary claims: Ryanair will make people pay for toilets; there will be tickets for standing room only on flights; fat people will have to pay more; and everyone flying business class will get free sexual favours. All of it is nonsense, of course.
Few of the claims that Ryanair has made over the years are ever likely to come to pass. But that’s not the point. A £25,000 ad campaign has suddenly become a million-pound piece of brand strategy. Because make no mistake, Ryanair’s continued success is as much the result of building one of Europe’s most distinctive brands as it is low fares. The airline itself might publicly deny any such emphasis on branding - but the greatest trick the devil ever played was making you believe he didn’t exist in the first place.
At the heart of the Ryanair business model is differentiation of the finest and most deliberate kind. I would - in all seriousness - rank Ryanair next to Hermès or Pret a Manger in terms of brand positioning and execution. Ryanair’s brand associations centre on three key themes: low-price, no nonsense and aggression. Don’t underestimate points two and three.
Ten years ago, there were a slew of discount airlines all competing on low prices, but all of them attempting to do so while they aped premium airlines. Only O’Leary was savvy enough to build a brand that gloried in the low-cost model and made no excuses for the no-frills approach or the aggression with which it attacked established airlines. Or as he put it himself: “For years, flying has been the preserve of rich fuckers. Now everyone can afford to fly.”
See Mark Ritson appear at The Annual, Marketing Week’s new conference on 29 September 2010 www.theannual.co.uk
Everything the airline has done since has centred on delivering a brand that consistently screams low price, aggression and no-frills - ad campaigns, the website, press conferences, and of course O’Leary himself. I have a theory that Trinity-educated O’Leary is actually quite an aesthete in his spare time. At weekends, he completes crosswords and enjoys the paintings of Velazquez. Only on Monday mornings does he look in the mirror, shout “Bollocks!” at himself and head out to deliver his very special brand of aggressive anarchy to the airline industry.
And what an asset he is. Think of all the identical old white duffers that run our brands so generically in the UK. Most would not even know what the concept of brand means, let alone their own organisation’s brand positioning. In contrast, O’Leary is walking differentiation.
This is a leader who understands brand and its importance to the business and also the key role a CEO can play in reinforcing the positioning in the most basic but effective manner. Generic CEOs praise staff as the heart of their business. O’Leary’s response: “MBA students come out with, ’My staff are my most important asset’. Bullshit. Staff are usually your biggest cost.”
It’s time to recognise Ryanair. But let’s give the airline credit for what it is, as well as what is pretends to be. Yes, it’s a superbly aggressive low-cost airline. But it’s also one of Europe’s best run brands. And while we’re at it - let’s reassess Michael O’Leary’s status too. Rather than a scourge of CEOs, he is their living prototype.
Mark Ritson is an associate professor of marketing, an award-winning columnist and a consultant to some of the world’s biggest brands
For more information go to www.theannual.co.uk
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Readers' comments (11)
Daianna Rincones | Wed, 21 Jul 2010 3:05 pm
I'm usually a fan of Mark's posts, but this was really disappointing. It's not enough to have a differentiated brand, you must be differentiated in a way that the customer actually values.
After a decade darting around Europe on cheap fares, customers are realising that good value means more than just low price. How long before travelers realise that no price is worth flying on Ryanair?
This past weekend, I did some shopping around for a trip in a couple of weeks. After finding that all the cheapest flights to anywhere were on Ryanair, I decided to take the Eurostar to Paris instead. I would rather take the train, would rather change my original plans, would rather put off a trip and wait for better fares on other airlines than to take more abuse from Ryanair.
For sure there's a segment of the population that cares only about price, but I would guess that before long Ryanair will see its fortunes fade as more and more travelers tire of the hidden fees, the aggressive treatment, the epic journeys between city centres and their distant secondary airports, the ad-splattered planes, the worse-than-a-bus seats, the lack of any service or concern at all for customers and the generally miserable experience that is flying on Ryanair.
Compare the brand values (including the employer brand) of Ryanair and Southwest Airlines in the US, and consider who would win if Southwest operated in Europe.
Differentiation is no doubt vital for any successful brand, but it is useless if that differentiation isn't meaningful in a way that customers value. Ryanair should be a case study in what happens when "smart" marketers don't think things all the way through.
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Anonymous | Wed, 21 Jul 2010 3:44 pm
I can't deny that Michael O'Leary has built a significant brand, but what is that significance - do you think a negative, aggresive brand has appeal in the long run? I think people are starting to get tired of being treated like s**t and are realising that there are options.
For example i have just been looking into taking a weekend break and my choice of location will be determined by where i can fly to that is served by someone other than Ryanair - I am unfortunately not one of the lucky ones that can throw caution to the wind on price but I am certainly willing put to a little extra effort into my planning so as not to line the pockets of a man who in his own words (and I cannot disagree) is "an obnoxious little bollocks".
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Eoin H | Wed, 21 Jul 2010 6:36 pm
Love it or Hate it, Mark is right here. O'Leary and Ryanair were forced to be aggressive by the context the company was born into - they were shunned and not given a hope by the larger european/national airlines and now it appears they have little qualms about making sure the old boys know who is currently on top.
What Mark hits on here is that Michael O'Leary is probably a smart man, and in a way the obnoxious behavior is an act which multiplies the initial investment by grabbing free media space. O'Leary in my mind is a man on a mission, to crush all opposition, and being the smart man he is I bet once he does he will start up a luxury carrier - and you will then all have the option of flying on a cheap & aggressive airline or an expensive & complaisant one... because from the comments above, you would think both aren't available right now.
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John Fahey | Thu, 22 Jul 2010 2:12 am
I agree with mark ritson and disagree with the comments posted.
Ryanair is plainly not everyone's cup of tea - but isn't that the hallmark of all strong brands? They are not appealing to all people - just the consumer segments they target?
Ryanair is plainly not delivering a convenient or caring service. But again isnt it the hallmark of a strong brand to deliver on their positioning and not on the generic approach of the other brands in the category? Ryan delivers on its three words at the exclusion of all other things.
And finally, if everyone is so convinced that Ryanair is a bad marketing example - how come it has grown 100 fold over the past 15 years?
The article is bang on. Not every strong brand is like Apple. Different position, different strategy.
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Anonymous | Thu, 22 Jul 2010 9:36 am
I think there is no no others values associated to Rayanair than Cheap.
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Michelle | Thu, 22 Jul 2010 9:53 am
I love this post! I completely agree with Mark in terms of Ryanair being one of Europe's most successful, largest and most well established brands.
It is the brand people love to hate. Never has been the saying been more true, "all press is good press".
As much as I have had my own battles and been infuriated at times by Ryanair I've now come to accept them for what they are. If you want a cheap no frills flight there always the first option. They deliver what they promise. I think the reason the brand is truely successful is that it doesn't make false promises; the brand stays true to its word.
I personally think O'Leary is a genius!
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Stefan | Fri, 23 Jul 2010 4:06 pm
With Ryanair you know exactly what you are getting. If you don't like it don't fly.
On the subject of landing miles from the actual city, the times I have flown Ryanair a little research shows you where the local train station is which usually has a direct service into the city at suburban rail rates.
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Ryan's Express | Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:33 am
The posts from the people who say "I hate Ryanair" and therefore "it is a weak brand" are hilarious.
Dudes - take your personal opinion out of your marketing expertise!
Like the author says, strong brands do not appeal to everyone. In fact a strong brand is usually hated by just as many people as the ones who love it.
Go Ryanair - Europe's strongest brand !!
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Simon Stanton | Sat, 24 Jul 2010 2:29 pm
Does Ryanair have a distinctive presence in their market place? Yes.
Does Ryanair have an offering that is distinct and different from their competitors? Yes.
Does Ryanair appeal to a very specific market segment? Yes.
Is this market segment focused primarily on price differentiation? Yes.
Does Ryanair pursue a consistent and deliberate strategy to maintain its brand amongst this segment? Yes.
Is this strategy (so far) showing substantial financial results? Yes.
Does Ryanair care if other people in other market segments find it unappealing (or worse)? No.
Does Ryanair try to be liked by everyone? No.
Do most of us find this really annoying, mainly because they're successful by being obnoxious? Oh yes!
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Anonymous | Thu, 29 Jul 2010 1:02 pm
I'm afraid the first comment on this post is completely incorrect. Mark is right (as usual). Simon Stanton has hit the nail on the head there. Ryanair are doing very, very well and the financial result is that they didn't really suffer during the recession (like easyJet for instance). Also, their staff come to work, unlike the absolutely useless "Unite" BA staff.
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