In-Flight Beverage Purchase Program? Nickel and Diming a Brand.

It’s always been a solid strategy to take a process or service and give it a name or identity … brand it. It implies value to the customer. In US Air’s announcement yesterday that they were introducing new “fee” initiatives to help off-set dramatically rising fuel costs, they managed to do the reverse.

They decided to name the process of getting a soda at 25,000 feet, the “In-Flight Beverage Purchase Program.” The message to customers? “We don’t believe you are smart enough to understand that our business model is under siege, so we have named a program to extract an additional $2.00 from you.”

Brands speak to customers in many ways. Carefully consider what your brand says to your customers. What’s the promise it makes and does it deliver that promise?