It’s a discount airline, spun off of Delta I think.
They were interviewed on the Martha Stewart Apprentice show and that’s what they said. They had always been focused on women over 40.
Why? Do they travel that much? Are they just afraid of hurting their regular base with discounts? Do they think women over 40 are more careful shoppers?
Is that a sought after demographic for anything else?
I didn’t know about this focusing, but must say it’s about time.
When it comes to travel, most young folks don’t have the time or the money. Men often refer such decisions to their wives (or secretaries or travel agents).
Women over 40 are more likely to be at or nearing the end of childbearing and child care and thus more financially secure and having more resources for travel. They know where they are and where they’re going. They may well have restrained personal preferences for a decade or two and are now ready for new experiences.
Women over 40 are largely ignored by marketing for things other than domestic cleaning products, which is IMHO stupid. We control a good deal, if not the majority, of discretionary personal spending.
IIRC, Delta is re-absorbing Song, so the differentiation will likely vanish.
Hmm…according to this CNN article, Song is already “shut down”: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/11/17/delta.bankruptcy.ap/index.html
…but might be used as an example to transform Delta. Yeah, right…
Too bad. I flew Song last summer and I liked them a lot.
There’s a documentary called “The Persuaders” that aired on PBS’ Frontline. Among other things it tracks the evolution of Song’s marketing from its earliest days as a boardroom concept to its launch.
Song was launched to compete with JetBlue as a low cost carrier, in the hope that it could save Delta’s profits. Of course, they knew they needed a niche to survive in the marketplace. Marketing research found that “women over 40” was an entirely ignored and untapped resource among domestic airlines so they chose that as their focus from the beginning.
Huh! Looks like “The Persuaders” is next on tap for Frontline – The Persuaders Dec. 13, 2005 at 9pm. FWIW I recommend it.
That’s fabulous. I’ve been hoping that show would appear again. I only caught parts of it and have been trying to tell people what it was about.
All I remember from the Song segment was that they were so intent on making “Song” a feeling and a lifestyle etc that they forgot to tell you it was a discount airline. The soft-sell run amok.