Charles on… anything that comes along

I think that this story, about Ryanair banning staff from using mobile phone chargers in the company (which would cost it £28.60 per day if every one of its 2,600 staff charged their phone each day) is not, as it might appear, a story about the evil empire of Michael O’Leary. Well, it sort of is. But what’s really going on is more subtle.

What it really is, much more, is a piece of marketing. This ban won’t make any direct difference to Ryanair’s profits, and O’Leary surely knows it.

However it will reinforce the company’s image in the public consciousness as a really tight-fisted, tightly-run organisation. “Wow, they won’t let their staff charge their phones! They must run on fresh air! They must be really cheap!” Thus a carrier in a cut-throat market, which is aiming to push out its close rival easyJet, manages to get a story in the national media which completely ignores all its rivals, while focussing attention on its own organisation.

You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty sharp marketing. Stelios must be fuming.

It’s the same technique used by the supermarkets as Christmas approaches, when stories about how chickens/cucumbers/Christmas trees grow faster/bigger/wider when you play Beethoven/Black Sabbath/Christmas carols to them abruptly appear in the tabloids and even some of the more credulous nationals. And has anyone ever checked the story out for themselves? Are you kidding?

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• MPs baffled by new technology: "jamming will stop happy slapping". No it won't (26 June 2005; score: 58.59%)
• Well, I laughed: "you have been evicted from the Big Iranian House" (4 April 2007; score: 37.47%)
• The internet? Just a fad, don't worry. Your job doesn't depend on it (30 September 2004; score: 31.75%)