Can Delta Make An Emotional Connection With Seattleites?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: May 5, 2016

43 comments

For a couple of years now, Alaska and Delta have been at war in Seattle. Historically Alaska is Seattle’s hometown airline. Then a few years back Alaska and Delta announced that they’d grow together. Delta launched a bunch of new international flights out of Seattle, with the intention of Alaska providing the regional feed for those flights.

Alaska-Seattle

That worked great for a while, but then Delta realized that they didn’t actually need Alaska to provide that regional feed, and that they could just operate those flights themselves. So they did, and they’ve been growing every since.

Delta-Seattle

While the two airlines are still technically partners, they’re enemies at the same time. Reciprocal frequent flyer benefits between the airlines have been cut, and Alaska and Delta have both offered several promotions intended to poach customers from one another.

The thing is, Seattle is a unique market in terms of the people. Seattleites are different than most people. And that’s evident when you ask people in Seattle about Alaska Airlines. Sure, Alaska has a great frequent flyer program and for the most part has better than average employees (so does Delta, by the way), but it doesn’t change the fact that their planes are as bare bones as they get. If you ask me, the airline as such is nothing to get excited over.

Seattle-Skyline-Market

But Seattleites are all about loyalty, and all about having something unique which belongs to them, even if there are better things out there. That’s why so much of Alaska’s advertising is centered around how they’re Seattle’s hometown airline… because the emotional connection is what matters to Seattleites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcvX1i1NSX0

Well, it looks like Delta is now trying to get some of the “hometown airline” action as well, especially with their latest ad, called “Center of it All.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MnmunI4WBM

I think it’s a brilliant ad, personally. It’s abstract at first, highlights how Seattle is the center of the world (there’s nothing more people there want to hear), and plays off of how beautiful the region is. And as much as many people are loyal to Alaska, there’s no denying that all of these new longhaul international flights are fantastic for the Seattle economy.

But it’s still quite amusing to read the thoughts that Alaska flyers on FlyerTalk have about the ad, which basically boil down to “you’re not one of us, stop pretending.”

Seattle can be a tough market to crack!

What do you make of Delta’s new Seattle ad?

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Rachel Guest

May 20, 2016, 9:31 am

This commercial cracks me up. Buffalo? Really? I actually found this ad insulting - as if we are I the middle of no where. Get a new marketing team- they have no idea how to make an emotional connection, unless insulting Residents was the plan all along.

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Jon-Jon Guest

May 18, 2016, 7:52 pm

I have no dog in this fight, but I came here to ask two questions: How is "Lucky", a person who never lived in Seattle, suddenly an "expert" on the psyche of Seattleites? How is an airline with "Alaska" in its name, considered "local" to SEATTLE? Neil S. said it best:"People aren’t rational about these passion things."

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Lord Fish Guest

May 12, 2016, 4:11 am

Of the cities I've lived in, Seattle has the most people who walk by you on a sidewalk without making eye contact or offering a greeting. I'm told it's "The Freeze."

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Tachyon_OGG-SBA-IAD Guest

May 7, 2016, 12:36 pm

I'm afraid I lost a bit of respect for Ben in this post. Alaska is simply a 'better' airline, in terms of customer service, than the Big Three will ever be. Ben just needs to get a faster modem.... fly 'em a few times (they do a lot of east coast routes now) and you will see. The AS-Virgin tie-up is a potential game-changer if AS can bring great service to a broader network with what's probably the most generous mileage plan still standing. They won't always be the cheapest but the staff will be friendly and the miles will still often get you a one-way on their mileage redemption chart for only 10,000 miles. Try that on DL's mileage chart. Oh, wait a minute, DL does not even publish one any more.

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Moose Weatherman Guest

May 7, 2016, 11:48 am

First off, the two major premises of your blog are factually incorrect. Northwest Airlines started flying out of Seattle a full two years before Alaska Airlines did, making Delta the longer-lived airline. Secondly, the DL-AS codeshare fell apart because Alaska reneged on it's agreement to provide feed to Delta, instead providing it at American Airlines and incentivizing it to grow at the expense of Delta. As a Seattle resident, I agree that loyalty is important... which is why Delta and Alaska are at odds right now. Alaska wasn't loyal to it's agreements with Delta, which sparked the current animosity between the two carriers. What's more important than loyalty? The facts. Nobody has a problem with honest competition, but distorting the truth is un-American. The good people of Seattle deserve better than your blatantly partisan and biased "opinion." Delta came to Seattle with a plan to grow WITH Alaska Air. Alaska Air broke their word. Delta was forced by Alaska Air's decision to grow from within. Today, Seattleites have a choice, and that's a good thing.

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