Jacobs showing off the airline’s mobile app launched late last year
Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, who says he has the best marketing job in Europe, is on a mission of digital innovation at Europe’s first and largest low fares airline which flew 18 million passengers last year.
Speaking at Phocuswright Europe, he said, “We caught up on listening. We caught up on digital. Before, we put every obstacle in our way but our website is going to get better, more efficient. We want to be the leader in digital in aviation.”
Jacobs was hired from Moneysupermarket 18 months ago to put a friendlier, more digital face on Ryanair. While some might say it is a daunting task, being the heir to Michael O’Leary as the public face of the airline, the contrasting styles of the two men does help – almost like a good cop, bad cop kind of routine.
The Guardian described meeting Jacobs as “like watching the Incredible Hulk in reverse, all raging monster before a glimpse of mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner”.
In Dublin, Jacobs said the good thing is that Ryanair is one of those brands everyone has an opinion on.
“It’s got the challenger, Sex Pistols attitude, it’s like a blank canvas and the only way is up”, he said.
You could argue that with 95% of its business already coming direct through its website – “we don’t spend money on Google” – what else is there to do?
But in the same article in the Guardian, Jacobs said, “There was a bit of ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it’. But the competition changed and the customer changed. It’s down to digital: there’s full transparency of information, everyone’s going mobile, and customers want you to make it easier for them. There was a big need to respond.”
And respond he has.
It’s launched the first TV advertising campaign in decades and it will use its own media – like airports, aircraft and websites – to communicate with customers. “Content meets social meets mobile, that trinity is what it’s going to be about,” said Jacobs.
At Phocuswright, he said airlines have traditionally not been good at digital – which allowed meta-searches to come in. He predicted a harder time ahead for meta-searchers.
“Google is doing some interesting work to get customers to search through them. It is getting harder for anyone who is in the middle who isn’t Google
“If I were in the middle, I’d be worried about Google.”
He likes “Google search” and “Facebook communities” and he will be integrating Facebook and other social points in the booking flow.
Citing Amazon as the gold standard, he said it used data very well and was relentless in improving conversions of what customers bought.
Even as he splurges on advertising and marketing, Jacobs said the airline would maintain discipline. “This is very important in an airline – discipline in costs, operational efficiencies. That doesn’t change.”
He said, “Thirty years ago, nobody knew us and now we have become the people’s champion of making air travel accessible and democratic to everyday people.”
