Cranky on the Web (Dec 3 – 7)

LGB - Long Beach

Airlines, airports cater to international travelUSA Today
A very brief mention in an article about airlines adding more international flights.

In the Trenches: Should We Drop the ‘Dork’?Intuit Small Business Blog
A client’s recent email has me re-thinking employee titles.

More Good Things from FTULAX – Cranky ConciergeMarshall Jackson on Travel
I presented at Frequent Traveler University last week on how to recover from delays and cancellations.

Photo and Video Tour: Long Beach Airport Adds Local Food, Fire PitsConde Nast Daily Traveler
I put up some photos of the gala event at Long Beach Airport on Weds. You’ll be amazed at how much better it looks just about 8 hours after my morning tour that I posted here.

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9 comments on “Cranky on the Web (Dec 3 – 7)

  1. There’s a company in the UK that repairs PCs for people and is well advertised – their brand name is Geek Squad.
    There will always be range of aproaches in any market – contrast the rather dull corporate image of Delta with the anti-corporate image of Virgin.

    Dork does not conjure up perhaps the best image – makes you sounds a bit too much like people who are obsessives and lack any form of interpersonal skills. It would be wrong to relabel yoyrself as an adviser or consultant – far too serious. Perhaps you could find a word that indicates an element of loving all things flying and sounding like you still know more than is perhaps healthy about aviation but still sounding like normal human beings as well. Alternatively maybe call yourself something like aviation rescue ? Maybe look at the marketing of antivirus doftware for a PC and see how that’s presented.

  2. With regard to the title, it’s fine. An important component of your image is your branding, and it’s simply an aspect of that. Rather than changing it to conform to a partner, the key is to help your partners convey the brand when they refer you. So, rather than spending time changing titles, and losing part of your brand, spend it on developing a partner marketing strategy that sets the right tone and expectations when they send a traveler your way.

  3. You mean no one buys Sara Lee, Entenmanns, Thomas’, Orowheat and a slew of other name brand products because they are made by Bimbo Bakeries so everyone there must be a bimbo?

    As mentioned no one goes to Best Buy to have a bunch of geeks at Geek Squad fix their computer. Only virgins fly the Virgin family of airlines?

    If you want dork as part of your business, you use it. If Wizz Airlines can be in business so can a dork. Now if they had gone with Urinate Airlines, that would be different :-)

  4. Does it have to be “dork”? I would consider using something similarly playful that has fewer negative connotations, such as geek (very similar to dork IMO but more established in business circles), wonk (that must be the DC in me coming out) or guru (my favorite, I’ve always wanted to be a guru of something).

    1. Bill – Of course it doesn’t have to be dork but it has been for more than 3 years now since we started. So it would be kind of silly to change from dork to geek at this point when I can’t imagine it would really make much of a difference. Certainly the person who complained wouldn’t have cared if it was dork or geek.

      1. True, no need to change after three years, especially to something similar. Is “CEO/Chief Airline Dork” too much of a sellout?

        Also, thanks for reply above about FTU.

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