CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER
your travel needs – go from being the low-cost airline to low cost on all things travel.
“That’s a wider definition of the
brand space we see ourselves occupying. Because that online journey starts with the airline, and because we own so much of that experience, that’s quite a disruptive thing. “There’s a lot more we can do on the accommodation side and on the things you can do at the destination. “Airlines are taking exception to the
way their inventory is being displayed because they’re waking up and realising that actually they own that customer and should own the data on them and the way their brand and their fares are represented. “There’s a lot of examples of customers having a bad experience by not having gone direct. Airlines can take the ball back and do a bit of disruption because they own the customer’s eyeball to begin with.”
Jacobs said the two third-party channels which stand out for Ryanair currently are Google Flight Search, which it joined in January, and metasearch partner Skyscanner. “Google is doing very well for us in
terms of visits that come from Flight Search and how they convert compared to other sources,” Jacobs said. “Flight Search and Skyscanner are the
two that stand out; you then get a bunch of also-rans. Some take our standard API but we make the booking; others continue to screenscrape, but that is changing. “We will continue to work with those who do it the way we want them to do it. Ultimately we want customers to come direct – we want them to have a good experience.” Jacobs was speaking in a session sponsored by Travelport, the first GDS to welcome back the airline in March. Jason Clarke, Travelport managing
director for global sales, said the GDS operator had changed its business to stay relevant and because airlines were demanding change. He said Travelport was seeing bookings
for Ryanair from both the leisure and corporate sectors. “If you can demonstrate to an airline
that you can take their product and put it in front of people in a way they want it to be displayed, I don’t see why partnerships between the airlines and GDSs won’t get stronger,” he said.
70 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 4 December 2014
Jeff Coghlan: ‘We’re playing with iBeacon a lot’
travelweeklybusiness TRAVOLUTION SUMMIT 2014: How the industry interacts with its
GAMIFICATION: GAMES TOOLS ‘WORK BEST WHEN COMBINING THE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL’
The travel industry can gain much from gamification if it understands that it works best when it combines the physical and digital worlds. Jeff Coghlan, founder and former chief
executive of Matmi, coined the term ‘phygital’ to explain how brands can use games to increase engagement with customers. He cited games Matmi created for United Airlines, designed to be played in the airport and used to promote ancillary options travellers could upgrade to. They were played nine million times and generated millions of dollars in revenue for United. “What this woke me up to was why
this worked – it was because of the physical location. The digital and physical worlds combined made this work,” he said. “The instant win in the airport is what made
SOJERNWORKSHOP
Improved data analysis promises travel firms greater efficiency from their marketing spend as they can more individually target potential customers. Russell Young, Sojern EMEA sales
director, said what has become known as “big data” is just the way information sources can be combined to provide insight into customer
TRAVOLUTION SUMMIT SPONSORS
intent. He said there was a tendency to overcomplicate simple things in digital marketing, adding that if data doesn’t lead to actionable insights it is effectively worthless. Marketing channels including
display and even traditional TV and press are moving towards more performance-based approaches, powered by data, said Young.
it work. If you can engage with a brand and benefit yourself, you are going to do it.” Coghlan said he was very excited about how new iBeacon, or indoor positioning system, technology that recognises the exact location of customers via their smartphone may be applied to retail. But he warned that most marketing agencies he had advised on this technology were considering using it in ways that amounted to commercial suicide. “They want to use it to tell
everyone who walks by their shop there’s a sale on,” said Coghlan. “I’m just going to switch iBeacon off and never use it again. People need
to realise with technology, if you can doesn’t mean to say you should. Use iBeacon
to recognise someone is there but don’t hit them with something straight away. “It’s very interesting technology and very cheap. We’re playing with iBeacon a lot.”
KENSHOO WOR
“What this woke me up to was
why this worked – because of the location”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76