UAL Commercials

VATechPilot

Well-Known Member
Seriously...how much is all this airtime costing them? There are a ton of commercial, prime-time too. I thought UAL was struggling quite a bit financially, like the rest of the industry.

Sorry if this subject has already been mentioned.
 
Yeah, seems like there are ton of them these days... I was a little surprised to see that United has TV commercials now.
 
Arent they a sponsor for the Olympics? They may have made a trade. They haul all the Americans and NBC crew in exchange for airtime.
 
Their ads are very good. I've worked with their agency in the past and that agency has its stuff together.

It only makes sense. You've got a huge audience, with lots of your target demo watching, and you get to say yup, Michael Phelps put his butt in one of our seats and when he got done with his flight to Beijing, look at what he did.

Of course, you could have put Michael Phelps in a fishing trawler out of Baltimore and sent him to Beijing that way, and he'd still have done great but that's besides the point.

You're going to spend money on marketing. May as well get the best bang for your buck.

And United may not have actually spent any money on advertising. I know that they swap ad space for seats quite often.
 
Arent they a sponsor for the Olympics? They may have made a trade. They haul all the Americans and NBC crew in exchange for airtime.

I've been thinking the same, but I'm seeing a number of them on other networks, including CBS. Plus the frequency just seems to be quite overwhelming. Even as I was typing this one came on.
 
You're going to spend money on marketing. May as well get the best bang for your buck.

And United may not have actually spent any money on advertising. I know that they swap ad space for seats quite often.

Very likely the case.
 
They also aren't giving the Olympians any breaks.
According to CNBC, they're charging for extra bags, which only makes sense. You get the free seat but you've got to pay for the extra baggage.

I don't even want to know how much it costs to bring some of the equipment aboard. Okay, yes, Phelps and Johnson and Liukin don't have to bring much but think about the folks like the crew teams or the decathalon.

That's a lot of stuff to bring with you!
 
If you focus on the ads - you can tell they're trying to win back their business class passengers. United's rating among business travelers took a nose dive of late - that's who the ads are targeting. There's no need to advertise to Joe Six Pack who goes with the lowest bidder 99% of the time.
 
If you focus on the ads - you can tell they're trying to win back their business class passengers. United's rating among business travelers took a nose dive of late - that's who the ads are targeting. There's no need to advertise to Joe Six Pack who goes with the lowest bidder 99% of the time.

They're going to have to try harder than this:

Catering Changes Provide Value and Options

Cost reduction and revenue generating opportunities continue to be the
focus of every division throughout the company. In the wake of high fuel
prices and a challenging economic environment, we must continue to examine
every aspect of our business and find new ways to improve our day-today
operations through efficiencies that still meet our customers' expectations.
And we can expect this will continue to drive changes to the way we
do business.

Fleet and capacity reductions announced in June have already resulted in significant
changes for our division, many of which were implemented in July and
August. And there are more changes scheduled for September and October.

These changes are difficult, but necessary, and we do not make them lightly.
However, they enable us to reduce costs and generate additional revenue
while preserving a differentiated product for our premium cabin customers
both internationally and domestically. Our industry is changing, and in
United's ongoing efforts to offer overall value and competitive fares, we need
to tailor our products and services to what the customer values and can
choose from accordingly.

The following is a general overview of the upcoming changes. You can
expect detailed information in the coming weeks.

Effective Sept. 2

North America United Economy® (UE) -All Markets

• Expanding a la carte snacks for purchase to flights between 760 -1149
miles (approximately 2-3 hours in duration) as a result of successful testing
in select markets. Along with the expansion, we're removing complimentary
biscoff and pretzels as data from those tests confirmed that the a
la carte offering appeals to our customers and they are willing to pay for
snacks of higher value.

• Continuing test of a fresh Buy on Board offering along with the current
snack box on flights between 1440 - 2099 miles (approximately 3.5 - 5 hours
in duration). Testing limited to ORD-LAX-ORD and DEN-IAD-DEN.

Effective Oct. 1

Increasing Buy on Board Prices

• Shelf-stable items increase from $5 to $6.

• Fresh items increase from $7 to $9.

Offering Two-Class Service on North America Three-Class Airplanes

• United First® service remains the same.

• A combined BOB service will be offered in United Business® (UB) and
United Economy® (UE).

•Customers in UB will receive complimentary beverages and BOB offering.

• Staffing will be adjusted to FAA minimums.

Buy on Board Offered Out of IAD to Europe (except KWI)

• Replacing complimentary meals in UE with BOB fresh and snack box
offerings.

• Economy staffing breakpoints for all aircraft will be adjusted to current
North America BOB staffing guidelines.

Eliminate Second Service in p.s. Market

• Removing the pre-arrival snack service and replacing with a beverage service
in response to flight attendant and customer feedback.

Kind of surprised about the "Buy on Board" to Europe.

Perhaps it's Joe Kolshak's idea. That'd explain it.
 
They're going to have to try harder than this:



Kind of surprised about the "Buy on Board" to Europe.

Perhaps it's Joe Kolshak's idea. That'd explain it.

Interesting. A lot of times the company goes to the ad agency and says "make us an ad that helps us drive our business class customers back" - despite the fact that the company is doing little to drive this internally. You can't paint feces I guess.
 
They're going to have to try harder than this:

Kind of surprised about the "Buy on Board" to Europe.

Perhaps it's Joe Kolshak's idea. That'd explain it.
That's absurd. I can't believe they're doing all of that. To me, it's just reinforcement that United really is going downhill.
 
Okay, that's stupid.

You've got to take care of the business class folks. They're paying a lot more and if you take away the meal -- which really doesn't cost that much in the grand scheme of things -- then you lose something.

I know they'll say that you still get free liquor and you get free food in first but this is just retarded.

United actually has been good about things. The e-plus section goes to those who pay full coach or who are premium passengers.

This is stupid.

The pilots are right, Tilton needs to go.
 
Now now Todd. . .we can't be talking about union politics in every thread on this lovely forum now can't we. . .nah - wouldn't want that to happen. :sarcasm:
 
Now now Todd. . .we can't be talking about union politics in every thread on this lovely forum now can't we. . .nah - wouldn't want that to happen. :sarcasm:

Who said anything about union politics? I'm just trying to promote that wonderful human being and excellent CEO Glenn Tilton. That is the address for his fan club, right? ;)
 
I bought my incontinent uncle Glenn Tilton underoos.

What a messy boy!
 
Back
Top