A few weeks ago, I experienced Southwest Airlines for the first time on a flight to Chicago. Right from the gate, I discovered a bizarre world exists in the monotonous airline industry. Typically, one carrier blends in with another, only to be differentiated by pretzels vs. peanuts. Southwest, known as a no-frills budget airline, definitely stands out. Its promise: “To get you to your destination safely and comfortably with a laugh or two along the way.” The result: An aggravating experience for this first-time Southwest flier. 

As the majority of airlines have introduced baggage fees, Southwest has boldly done the opposite. Their current marketing message, “Bags Fly Free,” is both direct and enticing. The medium on which they advertise also sets them apart. Fifty of their aircrafts have giant stickers with the slogan, “Free Bags Fly Here,” and 1,000 of their luggage carts boldly state, “I Carry Free Bags.” This is great placement. While you are awaiting takeoff on a competitor’s flight, you are reminded that you could have checked your bags at Southwest at no extra charge. For me, the beauty of free bags meant that there would be an abundance of overhead space for my weekend carry-on, making boarding a breeze. Or so I thought.

Which brings me to the second point of difference on Southwest flights: there is no assigned seating.  At the check-in kiosk, I was offered a $15 upgrade for “priority seating” and a free beverage. Not realizing the value of this offer, I declined. When my boarding pass said “No seat assigned. Group C-8,” I assumed I would get my assignment at the gate.

I arrived at the gate and soon realized that seating on Southwest is a glorified melee. Feigning order, Southwest asks fliers to line up alphanumerically. The majority of fliers are in Group A, having purchased the upgrade (this was later confirmed by all the drink coupons being redeemed). Group B consisted of people who had checked-in electronically many hours before departure. And Group C was comprised of myself and a handful of other people, who had naively checked in upon arriving at the airport. 

This is where Southwest’s no assigned seating concept FAILS, especially on a full plane. People began to file onto the plane with singles opting for a window or aisle seat, leaving many lone middle seats available. People traveling together obviously wanted to sit together, so they kept walking until they found two adjoining seats. As people passed open seats (usually the shunned middle ones), a bottle-neck effect was created. Everyone had shuffled to the rear of the plane where there weren’t any seats left so the whole line had to back up the aisle. At this point, my bag and I were stuck going backwards. As one of the last to board, all of the overhead bins had been snapped shut, and I was stranded with no place to stow my bag. Finally, after desperate searching, my carry-on ended up above row 28, and I was in row 7.

Finally, I was seated, albeit sweaty and agitated. Then the strangest thing happened. As the flight attendants began their oratory on exit rows and oxygen masks, I heard them rapping. On the intercom system. On purpose. This is another way Southwest sets itself apart. During the obligatory safety summary, the flight attendants tell jokes, sing songs and rap. Maybe due to my bag-separation anxiety (I realized that I would have to wait for everyone to deplane before we would be reunited), I found the “comedic” presentation far from funny. But, from a marketing perspective, I had to give them kudos for doing the unexpected. In the five minutes that passengers usually tune-out, Southwest had engaged their audience and created a brand experience.

Overall, Southwest is doing some very novel things which set them apart from competitors. Having survived the chaos, I will give Southwest another chance.  Now prepared, I will splurge on the upgrade, and I will have my iPod handy if I’m not in the mood for a rap. And, maybe this bizarre Southwest world WILL make me laugh and calm the cranky traveler in me.

Have you flown Southwest? What do you think of their seating and schtick?

Read more blogs at SCG’s 41 Stories.

-Joy Wagner

EXTRA POLL: Do you think the disgruntled JetBlue flight attendant, Steven Slater, should get his job back?

Last weekend, I spent a fantastic long weekend golfing at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, Minnesota. In the company of eight wonderful people, we enjoyed scenic boating on Gull Lake, delicious food, a few Tangueray and tonics, fun and at times irreverent conversations and of course, golf. Grand View is a magnet for the golfing set (me included) and it didn’t disappoint in terms of challenging courses and stunning views.

My favorite of the top-rated championship courses we played in the Brainerd Lakes area was The Preserve. The perfect summer weather might have influenced my choice, but after finishing 18 holes we decided we needed more and played another 9. With 27 holes under our belt that day, suffice to say we slept well that night—just what we needed to get up the next morning and do it all again at The Pines, another challenging course with stunning North Woods views.

It was the perfect weekend despite learning that my house sitter had called 911 one night when a midnight visitor came banging on the front door. The St. Paul police department (four officers, to be exact) were quick to the scene with flashing lights and scanned the property, but the uninvited visitor had fled. With police report in hand, the officers promised to keep my home on their route going forward.

It struck me upon learning of this incident that golf is very much a metaphor for life. At times, you get in the rough and it takes multiple attempts to clear it. Other times, you hit the ball just right and the connection lands you right on the green with an easy one-putt to the pin. I’m happy to say that last weekend at Grand View lodge was more of the latter than the former for me. An ideal vacation filled with plenty of golf (63 holes!), wonderful connections and easy conversations.

 Read more blogs from SCG’s 41 Stories.

 -Steph Haugan

For many today is just another day; for some today, Friday the 13^th, is a day that imparts an uneasy feeling. But for those nervous about the day ahead, take a look on the bright side—2010 is a better year than 2009. In 2009, the 13^th fell on a Friday not once, but three times—a phenomena that occurs once every 11 years. So get through today and you’re off the hook, at least until next May.

Inspiring the American Dream – in the Minnetonka Pool

It was as much by accident as it was just luck. About four years ago, sandwiched between my son’s first surgery to repair his broken collar bone and the second surgery to remove the plate and seven screws some months later, Ryan joined the Minnetonka Swim Club, in part because the schedule worked out. (BTW, he had a great catch but the tackle was greater.) While our family doesn’t live in the Minnetonka school district, Ryan was able to swim with this club through a community education program. The coaches and parents were incredibly welcoming. From the beginning this seemed like a special organization, but I had no idea how special until later.

In a sport ruled by hundredths of a second, I am going to bring a little less precision to this story—but you’ll get the big picture. In an age where parents battle video games and a sense of entitlement, here is a tale where hard work not only pays off, it inspires.

A couple years after we joined the swim club, swim parents organized the Anchor Club to fundraise for a new pool at the Minnetonka East Middle School. Their efforts resulted in an amazing new aquatic center built over and around an existing catacomb of long narrow hallways and dated locker-rooms. This beautiful facility now can and does host regional meets. A couple of coaching changes followed, and the current (very talented) roster is led by NCAA All-American swimmer, Ben Bartell.

Earlier this year, Coach Ben announced that fellow University of Minnesota alum David Plummer would join the team as assistant coach and would practice with the team (in the new pool) as he pursued his goal of becoming an Olympian. We were told this incredible journey would motivate and teach our swimmers. As a pre-Title IX mom, I don’t really have the same feel for sports as others, so while I thought this was all well and fine, I really underestimated what was to transpire.

Last Wednesday at the 2010 National Championships in Irvine, Calif., David Plummer took us all a step closer to Olympic dreams as he bested the favorite and the two-time Olympic champ Aaron Peirsol to win the 100-meter backstroke. As I watched the race live on swimnetwork.com, the realization of what just happened began to sink in.  Many commentators and spectators wondered out loud, “Who is David Plummer?,” but we knew. The group of Minnetonka swimmers and their families knew. And we were incredibly proud. It was literally a David and Goliath story—a virtual unknown became a national champ.

But if that wasn’t thrill enough, here is where I got really excited: when a still breathless David was interviewed after the race, he gave credit for his first place finish to his coach and hard work. OMG! I was watching the classic American Dream unfold; the chance for success against the odds. Success that follows the dream and hard work.

The simplicity of David’s response makes it both motivational in the pool and inspirational for life. I feel so lucky that my son, Ryan, can be involved in such a vibrant program with such incredible role models. Through the collective efforts Coach Ben and his staff, David and the parents of the Minnetonka Swim Club, Ryan and his teammates are encouraged to reach for their dreams in the pool. But more importantly I think these swimmers will take their work ethic beyond the pool—to lead them through life always in pursuit of their dreams.

You can join David’s journey to the 2012 Olympics too by reading David’s blog. See you in London.

-Pat Henning

Has the low cost of email marketing made it a more appealing marketing tool with each passing day?  If you’re thinking of shifting your marketing dollars to email simply to save costs, you may want to read this article before hitting the Send button.  Because if your message isn’t getting through, have you really accomplished anything?

A recent report by MailerMailer confirmed what you may have been suspecting for a while now – email success rates are in decline. Open rates dropped from 12% in the first half of 2009 to 11.2% in the second half and click-through rates declined from 2.6% to 1.6%. Both have been in decline since 2007.

This does not mean you should abandon email marketing. In fact, we know it’s played a highly effective role in many programs we’ve developed for clients. But if marketers are thinking of consolidating the majority of their direct marketing tactics to email solely for budgetary concerns, they may want to reconsider. 

There’s no doubt email marketing costs less to produce than other channels such as direct mail or telemarketing.  But as SPAM blockers continue to get more sophisticated, as poorly disciplined companies overwhelm inboxes with irrelevant offers, and as people continue to get overwhelmed in their digital lives, the success rates of email campaigns is likely to continue this decline.

At SCG, our philosophy has always been no single tactic on its own will meet your marketing objectives. We know that it typically requires a minimum of 8-12 interactions to move a prospect from unaware of your product or service to taking action – and that can’t be accomplished as efficiently or effectively through one channel. For example, we typically recommend an integrated approach to converge on the customer. So to support an email campaign, telephone follow-up or mailing more detailed information such as a white paper on the topic might be the best answer. Only through this type of integrated approach can you be confident your message is reaching its intended target.

So however tempting it is to focus your marketing budget solely on email campaigns, resist the urge.  It will pay off in the end.

-Jeron Udean

There’s nothing that says “summer” quite like a sunflower. Ironically, more than 85% of the U.S. sunflower crop is grown in a region known better for its harsh and long winters not summers: Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. And while most of the crop is harvested for its seed, next time you have this iconic summer bloom on your desk, you’ll know it may have come from a region where summers are fleeting.

When Sunday’s cloudy weather thwarted plans to hit the beaches of nearby Lake Calhoun with some friends (and we realized that summer is quickly coming to a close), we decided to make the best of the cloudy day (and the rest of the summer) and start a month-long photo scavenger hunt through the Cities. We searched the web and found a list of 506 scavenger-worthy activities, ranging from “entire team crab walking” to finding a “Wal-Mart item costing $5.63,” already assigned a point value based on its difficulty to complete. The mission: to complete and document as many activities as possible during the month of August. Not only will this scavenger hunt make the rest of the summer memorable, it will prevent wasting precious weekend hours asking, “what should we do?”

But a scavenger hunt is no fun unless you’re competing against others. So our team (The Sassy Shooters) posted the activity to Craigslist and created a Facebook event calling other groups to participate. We also created a Flickr account to document our adventures throughout the month. We’re photographed below rowing a canoe on dry land (worth 7 points).

Our activity is picking up steam—with 14 confirmed participants on Facebook and two queries from Craiglist. And while we hope to have many more teams navigating the Twin Cities looking for a canoe to row on dry land, we’ll be content if it’s only us that has an answer to the nagging question, “what should we do?”

-Whitney McIntosh

You’re most likely using Google Alerts to be “alerted” to news updates about a particular company or topic. I continue to rely on them for updates and believe they are a helpful resource for news. But what about tracking the social media universe? As marketers, we know that tracking and monitoring conversations around your brand(s) is a necessity. This is where Social Mention comes in very handy. Social Mention is a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user-generated content from across the web into a single stream of information. In other words, it allows you to easily track what people are saying about a company, individual, a new product or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. For example, you can track mentions of a company on Twitter as a way to quickly respond to followers or make yourself aware of current sentiments about your brand.

Social Mention monitors more than 100 social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg and Google. It also offers a strength score (is your brand being discussed in social media?), sentiment (positive, neutral and negative), passion score (a measurement of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will repeatedly do so) and reach (or range of influence).

There are more sophisticated social media tracking programs available, some of which SCG uses, but as a first step, Social Mention is a cost-effective way to start tracking and measuring. As the Social Media B2B blog explains, it’s a great addition to your listening toolbox—and can be an especially valuable tool for B2B marketers.

How do you keep track of the conversations happening around you and your brands?

-Jenny Silgen

Shipwrecks often give divers a glimpse of what life was like many years ago. But a recently discovered shipwreck in the Baltic Sea may give champagne lovers a taste of what life was like in the 1780’s. Full bottles of champagne, believed to be perfectly stored for more than 200 years and thought to be the world’s oldest drinkable champagne, have been salvaged from the bottom of the sea. But champagne enthusiasts take note—if the bottles are even drinkable, one will likely cost $68,000—around $13,600 per glass.

The end of July is only a few days away, and that means that the Vikings training camp is about to start. Just like last year the big question everyone is asking is, “will Brett Favre play for the Vikings this year?” Last year he missed most of the preseason while deciding whether or not he was going to play while nursing an injured bicep. This year it is ankle surgery that’s making him question his future in the NFL. Many say the ankle surgery is not considered as serious as last year’s situation, but is it enough to keep him from not playing this year?

I personally think Brett will play this season. He is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and while a professional football player in his 40s is very rare, I think he has too much love for the game not to play this season. I also think Favre is hesitant to participate in training camp, so just like last year he will think it over for a while and then start later in the preseason. Until then, he’ll keep us guessing.

Do you think Brett Favre will return and play one more season with the Vikings? Do you think Favre can still hold his own in a league that always has the fresh talent up and coming?

-Chad Breske