I just flew to SJC and started to think about how technology could be used at airports to make flying more efficient. There are definitely implementation and privacy for some of these ideas but here they are:

1. An app/website that allows you to track where parking shuttles are. It would be great to know how long before the next one would arrive. Also the ability to check in at shuttle stops could help alert drivers which stops have passengers waiting and if they need to send more than one.

2. The ability to use iPhones and other smart phones as your boarding pass. Already being tested by airlines like Delta but something that definitely should be rolled out.

3. Geolocate/track passengers. Allow for gps tracking of passengers so you can track them to make sure they are in valid areas of the airport. Also you could use it for tracking passengers if they had checked in but aren’t at the gate and the flight is getting to leave.

4. Create a marketplace to easily trade seats. Have the ability at a kiosk or mobile app to post a price you’d be willing to trade your seat for. That way if you had an exit row seat, aisle seat etc. you could sell it for a profit if you didn’t value the seat as much as someone else. Airlines could facilitate the transaction and take a percentage for the move.

5. Offer limited free wifi on airlines to purchase content. Airlines could offer a closed system accessible by wifi to stream content to someones laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc. This could be a pay per use model to get new movies, games, ebooks, and more. You could easily change content since it’s all in digital format and you wouldn’t have to retrofit old seats with new screens.

Today Google announced that it was enhancing it’s search results with more options to pare down your results. The options are definitely quite interesting. You can now…

• …filter results by videos, forum-mentions, and reviews.
• …filter  results by recency.
• …show more text and pictures along with their normal search listings.
• …see related searches more easily through text links and their “Wonder Wheel”.
• …and filter results by a timeline of news.

Phew! A lot changes for the dominant search player. It seems like they are trying to get ahead of the search game before real time searches (like Twitter) and natural-language searches (Wolfram Alpha) become more popular? Perhaps their recency filter might eventually incorporate real-time conversation like Twitter or Facebook’s feed or their Wonder Wheel will help people find what they are looking for faster.

One thing is for certain is that web developers might have to think in different ways in order to get as many eyeballs still on their site. If you can filter by results that have been indexed or changed within the past 24 hours, will your first result first page search result still always be number one? Will you need to manage your forum mentions more closely in order to protect your brand now that its conveniently packaged with the touch of a link?

Would love to hear your thoughts on how this might impact the future of natural search listings and how you might design things differently going forward.

I came across a great article today on ClickZ on how Zappos is using customer service to create Word of Mouth advertising.  The main idea is that by creating great service, customers are happy.  Happy customers become evangelists for your company and products.  Evangelists tell their friends about how great your company or product is, which in turn creates new customers.  Your new customers also become happy through your great service and the cycle continues on and on.

The benefits of creating great interaction points with your consumers is not only repeat business but the ability to spend less on advertising and other promotions to gain awareness or trial. The premise is simple but many companies overlook how important being customer focused is in all aspects of their business.  It’s not only about having a great service staff but also having the customer focused attitude and beliefs throughout your organization.

My former company, Aplia, did a great job of using customer service to its full advantage.  We believed in giving 24/7 support for our professors (customers) and students (users).  Our internal goal was to reply to each support email within 1 hour. Often we replied back to our users within minutes. It wasn’t only our support teams that had our customers in mind.  Our product development process was always customer focused.  Our goal wasn’t just to produce a great product but how we could support the needs of our users better.  We spent alot of time using customer feedback, usability studies, and sales force intelligence to gain insight.  We took the time to listen and our customers loved us for it.  We always overdelivered as an organization and it became a competitive advantage for us. 

Announced today, Southwest Airlines (SWA) is voluntarily grounding 44 of its planes to determine if they need further safety inspections.  This comes on the heels of news that SWA flew nearly 60,000 flights between June 2006 and March 2007, while failing to comply with an FAA directive that required inspections to detect fatigue cracking.  Even after SWA found out they were out of compliance they still flew 1,451 additional flights in March 2007.  It was later found out that 6 out of their 46 planes indeed had fatigue cracks on the fuselage area which could be potentially put flights at risk.

Obviously for an airline, safety issues immediately raise many questions in people’s mind during their purchase decisions.  The troubling part of this public relations nightmare for SWA is how they can rebuild trust in the mind of consumers.  Trust and safety are most likely #1 in the aircraft passengers priorities.  I want to know that I will get from Point A to Point B safely.  Being on time, better food, comfortable seats are much less important if I have to question if I will make it to a destination.  How much damage will this safety violations cause SWA in their bottomline?  Only time will tell.

Voluntary grounding of their planes is a good first step in rebuilding trust in the market.  They’ve also put three employees on administrative leave and have made public apologies and declarations that safety is of utmost importance.  Much like the many recalls in history – Tylenol’s scare in the 1980s to Mattel’s lead paint issues just last year – the fervor will die down.  Southwest has never had any flight catastrophe and will most likely bounce back.  However it does open up opportunities for other players to steal market share.  One that immediately comes to mind is Virgin America.

Virgin America, is a new low cost carrier, that emphasizes the experience of fun and chicness.  Currently it has limited flights but it does share the popular LAX-SFO and SFO-LAS routes with Southwest Airlines.  Virgin’s marketing has recently revolved around price but with SWA’s recent troubles has an opportunity to really induce trial and hopefully convert them into lifelong customers.

Virgin America can ramp up marketing efforts to be top of mind for consumers who normally would have always flown Southwest.  Some big ideas for major themes or emphasis points that Virgin America could wrap around marketing, could include:

• A New Airlines Means New Planes
• Low-Fares doesn’t mean skimping on quality (emphasis on the unique Virgin America flight experience)
• Taking pride in taking care of you before, during, and after the flight (experience the Virgin Difference)
• Putting Richard Branson (or another face) squarely in the minds of consumers.  Show that Virgin is more than just a business.  A humanization aspect could enhance feelings of safety and build trust.

I’m on Facebook much like many of my peers and former colleagues.  It offers all the benefits of a social network – the ability to post pictures, comment on each other’s profiles, and see who knows who.  It attracts plenty of traffic due to the interactive nature of the content.  As a marketer, I am instantly interested in it due to its captive audience, high level of interaction, frequency of user visits, and ability to potentially target specific segments. 

One element I don’t truly understand is if Facebook Applications or Widgets really hold any value for marketers.  For Fortune 500 companies, I see some obvious benefits including branding, increased touch points, and creating deeper interaction with consumers.  However, the challenge is creating applications that fit with your brand and are interesting enough for people to want to add the application.  A good example of this is TripAdvisor’s “Cities I’ve Visited” Application.  It fits well with the branding of TripAdvisor.com (that being offering travel advice, reviews, and forums) and it is interesting enough that people would add the application (always interesting to see where people have traveled to).  However the application has a bit under 54,000 daily active users as of today, which is only 1% of the Facebook population.

Most popular applications are not done by Fortune 500 companies but rather by small start-ups or individuals.  Some popular ones include SuperWall, Flixster, Slide, Scrabulous to name a few.  I can see a couple of potential revenue streams that many are utilizing today – online advertising (banner and text ads) and affiliate referral commissions.  I’ve also seen merchandise being sold based off application characters like (Fluff)Friends and can see the potential for using an application as a lead generation tool to other games/programs/services a developer might sell outside of Facebook. 

In my opinion, the problem with these applications are the stickiness and loyalty of its user base.  I feel that popular applications one month quickly fizzle out to the next application the next month.  It’s almost like what’s the current flavor of the month?  Amongst my friends alone, I’ve seen mass interest jump from Scrabulous to (Fluff )Friends to Who Has The Biggest Brain? over the past 2-3 months alone.  Looking at applications from the business side, I question how much money should be invested in creating these applications.  There’s definitely alot of buzz surrounding applications and widgets but I’m not totally convinced that the buzz is actionable.