Nikesh Arora, Laura Desond, Beatriz Perez, Guy Oseary & David Neelman - US Zeitgeist 2010

Nikesh Arora: So we thought -- decided we're going to talk
about brands, rather than me introduce these people, we're
going to let them introduce themselves as brands.
So you're a brand, you've managed yourself for your
life, you've done phenomenal things in your life.
Can you share with us, in a few minutes, what does that brand
embody and how did you get here and what's the brand
journey been?
Beatriz Perez: Sure.
And I appreciate you saying I've done phenomenal things,
but no one does anything alone, so part of my brand is I
recognize that everything happens with teams of people,
and by bringing diverse perspectives and diverse
thinking into a room can create such a greater outcome.
So something that's been important to me in my career is
really listening to people.
And not just listen to hear them, but really listening to
understand and then seeing how we can take ideas into action.
And so I started my career at Coke 15 years ago in Hispanic
marketing, and -- fast-forward, you know -- 15 years later
being the chief marketing officer of a phenomenal brand,
knowing that someone else actually created it.
I didn't.
It's 124 years old.
So I have to keep that legacy and the strength of the brand.
But also where we are in this world where multicultural
consumers are the fastest growing population.
I look at that and I say making those connections and
leveraging and tapping into the people throughout my career, I
think, is going to -- what's going to continue to make
Coca-Cola a phenomenal brand, and I'm fortunate that I
get to be a part of it.
So I feel like if I had to talk about me as a brand,
it's really about making connections and understanding
people and behaviors.
Nikesh Arora: Fantastic.
So Laura, you've spent a lot of time dealing
with people like Bea.
Laura Desmond: Sure, yeah.
Nikesh Arora: Like her.
And we'll talk about that later, but can you talk about
Laura, the brand, and what you've done with Starcom?
Laura Desmond: Sure.
You know, I think starting at home might be a
good place to start.
I grew up with a dad telling me, just about every time we
were in the car driving somewhere alone, you know,
"Laura, you can be whatever you want to be."
And, you know, as a child of the '70s and '80s, you know, I
benefitted from things like Title IX and a lot of
unbelievable legislation and court rulings that really
opened up opportunities for women.
So that kind of partners with my mom, who damn well made
sure I was going to be everything I wanted to be.
And so a little bit of dreamer and a little bit of discipline.
I started at Leo Burnett Advertising about 23 years ago,
and truthfully I would have left a long, long time ago in
my journey in advertising, but there always was something two
to three to four years that challenged me a bit further.
Whether it was living in different countries of the
world, whether it was working on, you know, domestic
assignments, global assignments.
You know, just the sense of I could always push
the outer boundaries.
And that kind of fearlessness or that sense of restlessness
has, I think, carried me well because it's actually led me to
try to build teams that not only make things happen but
also help push me out of a comfort zone or work with
clients who not only help build capability but push us to do
better and better things on their behalf.
So, you know, from that perspective, I think some of
those elements have shaped, you know, what I think is sort of
becoming the next stage of who I am or who I will become,
which is, you know, just, you know, being a leader of a large
organization and what my role in that organization
is as a leader.
And you start to move much more into purpose, into
what you stand for.
You can't do it all.
You have to bring clarity.
You have to simplify things for people.
So as I've -- as I've taken over the helm of Starcom
MediaVest Group, I've really spent a lot more time about,
you know, understanding my role in shaping vision,
understanding my role in inspiring and assembling a
great team, and then understanding my role
in shaping a culture.
Not only for our company, but with our clients, because I
believe that our culture is very connected to great
clients like Bea and several people here in the room.
Nikesh Arora: Great.
So Guy, you manage brands, but you're a brand yourself.
Now, I overheard you say earlier you're driven
purely by fear.
Guy Oseary: Well, I started by fear.
Nikesh Arora: Okay.
Guy Oseary: The first time I'd ever thought of an executive
as a brand was when I was 17, 18 years old.
I met David Geffen.
And David and I come from the music business, and David is
really the king of all kings in the music business.
And what I was blown away by was how he mentored me and I
would see Bill Clinton coming to his house and I would see
actors and me and agents and all types of -- Warren Beatty.
And I would think, like, this guy, 99% of his money and work
comes from music, yet no one looked at him as
just the music guy.
They looked at David Geffen as "He's our guy and
he connects us."
And so I immediately, you know, ran with that concept, and
because I was working with Madonna, what was to be
Maverick Records, at 17, 18 years old, I was one of the
first kids to have a real job.
And so I immediately started to do the same thing in my world,
and if an actor or comedian or musician or a model or a
director or writer, if they were bubbling up, if they were
doing something and it was connecting, I would immediately
bring them in and I would -- they'd stay at my house, they'd
live on my couches, they would -- you know, I would take them
in and really be an ear and connect dots for them.
And so now 20 years later, I'm -- you know, I'm -- you know,
even though music was a big part of my base, I don't think
people see me as the music guy, they see me as a connector.
And today I have -- am a partner in a management company
for actors and I'm developing films and developing brands and
-- and now I'm connecting those same people, 20 years later, to
some of the people in the audience today on how to
reach their goals or their potential, brands and brand
connectivity, so that's --
Nikesh Arora: You're responsible for my daughter
being crazy about vampires, right?
[Laughter]
Were you responsible for the "Twilight" series and so on?
Guy Oseary: I got very lucky with the "Twilight" thing.
But Stephenie Meyer is really responsible.
I just was able to push her along one step forward.
Nikesh Arora: Now, David, as we talked about earlier, the
fastest way to make a million is to start with a million in
the airline industry, right?
David Neeleman: Yeah.
That's true.
Nikesh Arora: So he's done it four times, so
tell us about that.
David Neeleman: I don't know how I ended up in this business
but, you know, it's interesting because when I speak on college
campuses and I speak to audiences and, you know, in
different places in Brazil or Stanford or wherever, I always
ask this question: Think of five companies that you
absolutely adore, that you love, that you -- you know, you
don't even check price, you don't check anything, you just
go straight there every time they -- a new product
or something you're just connected to.
And you know what?
My experience is that most people can't think of five.
Which I think is really great if you want to start a business
because there's very few companies that people are
absolutely ensured to, connected to.
Nikesh Arora: We're going to do that now, David.
You know that.
David Neeleman: Yeah.
[Laughter]
So I'm -- I see myself as a person that tries to create
companies like that.
And it's a pretty simple formula.
It's not complicated.
You don't have to read volumes of business
books to figure it out.
It's actually really simple, but it requires a ton of focus
and it's managing details every single day, a
customer at a time.
And, you know, we did that at JetBlue.
You know, I find that companies that have a bigger loyal
following make more money, have higher profit margins, grow
quicker, you know, and I watched at JetBlue where, you
know, we started out with three flights a day, Fort
Lauderdale-New York.
Delta had three or four flights.
And the next thing you know we had 25 flights and
they still have three.
You know, why do we have 25 and we have three?
Obviously, people like this better than they
like flying on them.
And so it's -- you know, it's really just hiring the best
people and training them well.
And, you know, I have two goals for our airline in Brazil.
It's very simple.
I just said, "I want" -- and I tell our people, "I want this:
I want you 30 years from now to be able to say this is the
best job you ever had."
Nikesh Arora: 30 years?
David Neeleman: 30 years, 40 years, two weeks, two months.
"I want you to tell your grandkids, when they say 'What
was your best job,' say 'Azul.
It was the best job I ever had.
And then I want every customer to get off of the plane saying,
'Wow, that's the best flight I ever had.'"
I say, "If we can just accomplish those two things --
and I can't do number two without number one -- then
we're going to grow quicker than everyone else, we're going
to be more successful."
And so in our second year we're going to do, you know, a half
a billion in sales and next probably a billion and we're
growing, we're doing it just because we have a lot of loyal
customers and, you know, we're trying to be flawless in our
execution in every single area.
If we mess up, we try and make it right with our customers.
And we have the best people.
It's a very simple formula, but, you know, if you lose
focus -- and I think, you know, for those of you that have
flown JetBlue in the last couple years, I don't think
it's the same company as it used to be.
It's still better, I think, than everybody else,
but it's a focus issue.
It's like focus every day, every day, on
those little things.
Lines, ticket counters, you know, waiting on the phones,
timing every bag to every carousel to make sure that
every bag is off in 20 minutes.
Those are the things that customers really appreciate.
So that's my brand.
It's just trying to create -- you know, take very simple
principles, organize people together, try and teach them
these principles and have them teach each other, and grow a
company that is in a commodity business that is growing
quicker than other companies, that has better profits, and
just creating a better company.
So that's -- that's what I try to do.
Nikesh Arora: So, Bea, what's the simple formula for Coke?
I mean, what's the simple formula, just like that
simple formula about the customer experience?
Beatriz Perez: Now, you know the formula is secret.
We don't give that secret away.
Nikesh Arora: Oh, that's true.
That's the reason we don't know the formula.
Beatriz Perez: That's exactly right.
Nikesh Arora: Sort of like Google.
We don't give the secret --
Beatriz Perez: I don't give the secret away.
You know, for us we talk a lot about brand love and brand
value, so having people say they love the brand is just as
important as driving profitability for us,
because we know that one leads to the other.
Nikesh Arora: And what's your insight?
Why do people love Coke?
Beatriz Perez: You know, it's interesting.
If you ask someone "Why do you drink Coke" -- not "love Coke,"
but if you first start with that, "Why do you drink Coke"
-- most of them say, "Oh, I remember when I was a kid and I
got to have it at my birthday party and my parents let me
have it in the glass bottle and it was so cold," and they talk
about the experience with friends and animal.
It's very rare that they say, "Oh, it was really great.
I was thirsty and dehydrated and it hydrated me."
And so thinking about the extrinsics and getting
people to tap into those emotional connections.
And what I loved about the sessions here today is I saw
little glimpses of neuroscience and research around how that
connection happens in the brain, and that's something
that we're still trying to understand.
So we're on a journey there.
But we know that if we have the right imagery, the right
messaging, and contextually relevant ways for family and
friends, that it seems to drive that love for the brand.
Nikesh Arora: So, Guy, what helps drive -- you know,
what's the simple formula for managing individual brands?
I mean David talked about building a great business
around customer service.
Bea talked about Coke.
You manage Madonna, right?
Guy Oseary: Yeah.
Nikesh Arora: What's the story?
What's the simple formula for her brand?
Guy Oseary: Well, if I started out of fear, she started
out of being fearless.
I mean, she is absolutely, you know, up for any challenge and
is more excited by new innovative ways to do things
and new sounds, new ideas, new fashion, than looking at
what's happening today.
And she just is willing to take risks.
I think the key thing is being fearless and a hard-core work
ethic, but willing to take risks, willing to maybe fall
flat of your face, but just do what feels right to you and,
you know, just race your own race.
Nikesh Arora: So Laura, what about -- you work with
lots of brand customers.
In your mind, who are some of the examples?
We'll do the David trick.
Name those three or four brands that -- corporate brands that
you believe have a very simple story and they execute
perfectly to that story.
Laura Desmond: Sure.
I mean, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Blackberry
RIM, Kellogg --
Nikesh Arora: Notice no digital brands in there.
Laura Desmond: No digital brands?
Nikesh Arora: Yeah.
Laura Desmond: You know, we've -- every once in a while we do
some projects and do some consulting work on the side,
but what I find, actually, is very interesting is, you know,
transforming and reframing brick-and-mortar brands or
tangible brands into competing in this new space,
and integrating both sides of the brands.
So you've got --
Nikesh Arora: What's the best example recently?
Laura Desmond: Well, Walmart -- for example,
Walmart/Walmart.com.
Very interesting story.
I mean, very few people know that if you click on any --
if you order anything on Walmart.com, you can have it
shipped for free and pick it up at the store two days later.
Nikesh Arora: So will they take Amazon on in that way?
Laura Desmond: Well, you know what?
I don't think they want to focus on just one channel
because I think they think that with dot com and the stores,
they can compete on a multichannel basis.
They can be "and," "and," "and."
Nikesh Arora: Uh-huh.
Laura Desmond: And I think that, for them, is an
appropriate strategy.
But I think what's kind of interesting when I look at some
of the clients that we work with is, I think that the old
dynamics of the traditional marketing model were really
set on love and respect.
And Bea did a great job of explaining why, you know,
Coke is a loved brand.
Google is a loved brand.
It's also a respected brand.
I think that what's going to be interesting in the new 21st
century era of marketing is, I think you're going to
be balancing now love, respect, and utility.
So this notion of, "I can take action with this brand, this
brand enables me to do something, this brand
facilitates" -- whether it be purpose-based marketing or
something that's specific, you know, closer to home.
"This brand helps me live a healthier life.
This brand helps me with health and wellness."
So I think it will be interesting to watch great
brands now shift from balancing love, respect to now balancing
love, respect, and this notion of action or utility.
And there's no doubt in my mind the digital world and the
Internet has to -- it will live there for them and they're
going to have to embrace that in order to get to that
third leg on the stool.
Nikesh Arora: So, David, you talked about you give these
speeches and people tell you there are three or four
brands that they love.
What are the ones that come up most often?
David Neeleman: Well, Apple, obviously, comes up with
everybody, you know, in a lot of ways.
But, you know, it's --
You know, for a while there, Dell had a really strong
following, if you want to just talk about the technology set.
There's clothing.
You know, Nordstrom I think always comes up
in people's story.
And, you know, it's interesting because a lot of people sell
clothes and they just do it different.
You know, they train their people to make you feel better
when you walk in the store.
So, you know, like I said, these things aren't difficult
and it's amazing to me that, you know, people
haven't tried it more.
You know, at JetBlue, unfortunately we can't do this
in Brazil because there are so many laws down there and
there's so -- you know, costs are complete different, but --
Nikesh Arora: Does Brazil has more laws that constrain
advertising than the U.S.?
David Neeleman: Well, they constrain a lot of stuff, but
one of them is that every single -- if you call JetBlue,
every single person that you call will be in their home, in
their flurry slippers and bathrobe talking to you at 2:00
in the morning or midnight, home with their kids, and so
they're just happier people.
And they -- you know, I think that's one of the strengths of
JetBlue is the people on the phones.
So it's simple.
Why wouldn't everyone do that?
You know, why --
Nikesh Arora: So when I call JetBlue, somebody's in their
bathrobe at home on their phone?
David Neeleman: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Every single person.
Nikesh Arora: Interesting experience.
David Neeleman: Every single person.
So they're in their comfortable chair.
They're relaxing.
You know, they're not having to, you know, get dressed and
drive across town and get in a call center that's hot
and stuffy or noisy.
So they're just happier people because of that, and why
wouldn't everyone do that?
You know, it's better for the economy, the environment,
it's better for --
Nikesh Arora: This is the new call center model.
Everybody should just shift them back to people's homes.
David Neeleman: Yeah.
So it's a very simple thing but nobody does it just because
they have this paradigm that they can't control the people,
and you can control them just as well because you have all
the -- you can listen in, you can check their stats and
everything the same.
So just a little stupid thing like that, but those people --
you know, it's 2,000 people and they just have happier lives.
So, you know, same thing in Brazil.
In Brazil, our -- you know, our people -- the culture down
there is a little different.
I mean, there is a separation between management and people.
They eat in different lunchrooms, they -- you know,
there is a little bit more of a -- it's not egalitarian,
it's more aristocratic.
So I, you know, eat in the lunchroom with them, I
go work the airport.
I, you know, shake all their hands.
And they're just like blown away.
They're just like, "Why would you -- I've never met the CEO
of any company I've ever worked for before."
Why wouldn't you do that?
You know, it's just silly not to.
But it just makes them more loyal, you know,
to the company.
So it's just little things like that, and consistency and
treating people well at every turn.
Nikesh Arora: That's interesting.
You're always focusing on the customer experience or
the employee experience.
David Neeleman: That's it.
Well, you can't force them to take care of customers unless
they're taken of care first.
So, you know -- you know, we live by things like net
promoter scores and all that kind of stuff, but
it's not that hard.
It really isn't.
It just needs to focus and it's something you wake up and think
about, you know, really, you know, every single day.
Nikesh Arora: So, Guy, who are the top individual brands
you sort of think about?
You talked about Madonna as being a brand.
Guy Oseary: Individual brands?
Nikesh Arora: Top five individual brands.
Guy Oseary: I would say Oprah.
I would say Madonna.
I would say Michael Jordan, still.
Nikesh Arora: That's a very U.S. centric --
Guy Oseary: Yeah.
I would say -- I'm thinking worldwide.
Reynaldo would be -- sports is always universal.
So that -- those are the four.
Nikesh Arora: There was a panel earlier in the morning where
they talked about Osama bin Laden being a brand.
Guy Oseary: Right.
Oh, Jesus is a brand for sure.
Yeah, he rocks.
Nikesh Arora: There was a big conversation around how do
you create a positive brand toward change?
They were talking about --
Guy Oseary: I would love to sit with Osama bin Laden and say,
"Let's manage your brand.
It's really bad right now in some areas."
Nikesh Arora: What would he do?
Guy Oseary: He'd be doing lectures, putting out books.
It would be a big change.
It would be a big announcement.
On Oprah.
Nikesh Arora: Leveraging one brand for another.
Guy Oseary: His kids.
He's got a thousand kids.
They're all going to show up.
They're going to give him hugs and --
Who's going to be there?
Guy Oseary: Netanyahu's going to be there's.
Going to be lots of tears.
And we're going to make peace.
And then there goes the tour.
I send him on tour.
Stadiums everywhere.
Nikesh Arora: But on a more serious note, we talked
about leveraging an individual's brand.
How do you take a brand like Madonna and continue
to build it from here?
Guy Oseary: Well, I mean, luckily, they say you never
want to manage a client whose career you want
more than they want.
And you will find them.
You will find them.
Like, come on, what do you mean you're cancelling this?
I just spent three months setting this up.
With her, she's determined.
So you're always better off immediately out the gate with
someone who has determination.
And, you know, she is always -- I'll give you an example of
something, which gives you the mindset.
When our last record deal was up, we had 25
years at Warner Bros.
Records.
And we sat down and discussed, you know, okay.
What do you want to do?
You want to renegotiate?
Traditionally, what everyone does is renegotiate their deal.
And a legacy artist will be able to get back
their first few albums.
That is -- so you can go back, and those will
come back to you.
They revert back.
So I said, you know, one of things that we can go and ask
for, if you want to stay with Warner Bros., is you can get
back your first few albums.
That's a very emotional moment for an artist to think that
their first song, the thing that they wrote when they first
made it, their first albums, it's everything to them
at the beginning.
I get the ownership of that back.
So that usually is -- you know, 10 out of 10 a
yes, how do I do that?
And, shockingly, her immediate answer to me was, "Why do I
want my first albums back?"
I said, "Well, what do you mean?"
She goes, "Well I don't care about my past.
I care about my future.
Let the past be the past.
I'm more excited about what's next." Really,
that defines who she is.
That's not the easy answer.
The easy answer is let's stick with what we're doing.
It's traditional.
And she chose to take a different path.
We don't even know what that path is today.
What we know is is it's not the traditional path and that she's
willing to shake it up again and that she could care less
about what everyone else considers everything to them
and willing to let go of that and start brand new.
Nikesh Arora: So, Laura, the topic is mindshift, and we're
talking about thinking differently and shifting gears.
There's a lot of conversation about the digital revolution,
people are going online, 1.7 billion people on the web.
There's a notion out there that brands are getting built faster
than they ever used to get built.
There's a 124-year-old brand called Coke.
There's a 10-year-old brand called Google.
There's probably a 5-year-old brand called Facebook.
What is your view of the sort of instant branding
that's going on now?
You know, brands getting formed in five years and getting to
the top of the charts and 100-year-old brands sort of
having to be seconded to these kind of brands?
What is your advice or what is your view on that topic
for people building brands or managing businesses?
How do you manage that brand in such a fast-paced environment?
Do you still do what David is talking about?
Laura Desmond: Sure.
I think the mindshift that I think is most acute for
large advertisers is this notion of shifting time.
So brand building was a longer period of time.
You would work for months on a campaign that maybe had three
or four commercials that would run for six months to a year.
You would work for months on one great ad that might
run in the Super Bowl.
Now there is no -- there is no space in time.
Constant optimization.
Constant iteration.
Very few -- fewer and fewer clients are spending their time
on those great three ads that are going to run for six
months, and instead are trying to figure out okay, how do
I efficiently version?
How do I scale and produce things much easier so I can
have my media companies segment and sequence different
types of content?
A lot of other companies are kind of coming to grips now
with this notion -- we talked about it yesterday on the
panels this notion of what's free?
What's paid?
What's owned?
The ownable media assets that companies enjoy are
not leveraged at all.
I think that we're looking at a pivot point where people are
going to start leveraging them much more.
And Internet is a classic place to do that.
Earned is, I think, probably the space right now that's
getting the most churn.
It's not just mobile.
It's mobility.
I think the iPad has kind of opened up our minds to the
fact that you know what?
I have a very different media experience with the iPad than
I do with a smaller screen on a mobile.
And -- but I can take it with me.
So I think this notion of portable mobility is changing.
This notion of free media.
This notion of how do I integrate my PR
programs into this?
So the thing that I think that a lot of brand builders are
looking at now is how do I string together elements of
paid, elements of owned, elements of earned together.
And how do I measure that?
And how do I prove that it's either building my brand
equity, improving my consumer or customer delight?
And how do I then continue to optimize it and show and build
on it so that I'm building more and more shareholder value.
One of the things that I think you're going to start to see is
that we need to start to think of CMOs not just so much of
brand builders but I think builders of brand value that
does have a monetary value on a balance sheet and to the board.
And we know this to be true.
And I, for one -- as we get smarter about managing business
metrics, I, for one, want us to start to make these connections
so that we know how brand Coca-Cola enhances the
shareholder value of the Coca-Cola company in a way that
we can track and we can hold CMOs much more accountable to
it over the next 5 or 10 years.
I think that's when our discipline will really
exponentially go to the next level.
And there will be, I think, a greater group of people who
want to get in and say, "I want to manage brands.
I want to build brands."
Nikesh Arora: So, Bea, how does Coke deal with the
digital revolution?
Does Coke have a Facebook page, Tweet, and everything?
Beatriz Perez: We do.
Nikesh Arora: What does Coke tweet about?
"Drink me more"?
Beatriz Perez: Well, Let me back up and start with a little
bit of how we got into it.
In 2006 we were looking at creating a loyalty program.
And it was around people's passions and following
the consumers.
So we thing Project Access.
We didn't really know what to do with it.
But we said how come the airline industry, the credit
card industry has this great formula with their consumers
where they can reward their most loyal consumers and give
them this extra value that people then, you know, hoard
and seek and only stay within those partnerships?
So how do we do that?
But we wanted to flip the model to not just provide a catalog
but to follow where people wanted to get those rewards.
So, ultimately, this project turned into what we call
My Coke Rewards today.
It's not inexpensive to do something like that.
We wanted to try to understand the digital space in terms of
our brands and spend our own money to build this community
so we would own the data.
And today we have over 15 million registered users
on My Coke Rewards.
And every second people are burning about 44 points
on this platform.
So we're -- the platform is amazing.
And what it taught us is that -- because we've had some key
learnings along the way that what had to be put on to this
platform around providing people access to the things
they love need to be relevant and culturally relevant and
relevant for the time and day.
So, even though we started in 2006, what we offer today is
very different from what we offered in 2006.
And then connecting it in the social media landscape.
So now let me get to Facebook for a moment.
There were two individuals who started the Coca-Cola
Facebook fan site.
Coca-Cola didn't do that.
Nikesh Arora: How many followers?
Beatriz Perez: Today there's over 11 million followers.
And we had gotten a call from Facebook saying, "We want
Coca-Cola to take over this site because that's part of the
policies in how we do this." And we didn't even know
the site existed.
So we worked with our digital teams inside of our building.
And we called those individuals, had them,
you know, come into Atlanta at Coke.
And what they did is really interesting.
They followed their journey through video.
And they followed the whole journey and their
visit to Coca-Cola.
And now we collaborate with them to keep the site alive.
They keep the pulse on what consumers want.
We provide them the content.
They're, in essence, considered employees now of the brand.
But we tried to keep them at arm's length to allow them to
tell us what to do, because they're closest to the consumer
and to what's happening.
By taking that community and connecting it with the My Coke
Rewards community, it allows us to do really great programs
that do make a difference.
Nikesh Arora: Do you think every brand should
have a Facebook page?
Beatriz Perez: I don't know.
I think you have to follow the consumers.
If consumers think they should have a page and then get
interested in it, then they should.
Nikesh Arora: Does Azul have a page?
David Neeleman: Oh, yeah.
We're not 15 million yet.
But we have over 100,000 Facebook and over 100,000
Tweeter followers.
And then we have our social networking site where you
can go on, download all your pictures.
It's kind of a Trip Advisor type of site where you can
talk about your travels.
And we made a commitment to everyone who is on those that
anything we do as far as promotions or lower fares or
anything, we tell them first.
So it's relevant.
There's a reason to be on there because you know about a
new city announcement.
You know about a fare sale we're going to do.
If we're going to do free companion tickets or something,
they all know about it first.
It's really growing.
I think it makes people -- they're loyalists.
They're part -- the tipping point, you know.
You talk about connectors and people who are mavens and --
you know, our job is to create as many -- it's interesting.
I think this is an interesting point because, when I first
went to New York, I came off the turnip truck from Utah.
And I'm starting this new airline called Jet Blue.
We didn't have a name or anything.
The ad agency came to us and said, "We're going to
create your brand for you.
We don't know your name.
But give us 175,000 a month and we'll create your brand."
I said, "That's offensive to me because we're going to create
our brand kind of one customer at a time.
And you'll just put the little wrapping on it
and make it look good."
So you talk about brand and what you do with how it looks.
But also it's how you react and how you deal
with your customers.
And that's really the important part.
It's not -- you know, it's -- I think people get carried away
and think all I have to do is make it look pretty and
I'll have a great company.
But it's day-to-day customer interactions.
We talk to each of our customers five times
when they travel.
We touch them five times, and every one has to be perfect.
And then when they become kind of evangelists, when they get
on our site and they tell everybody and -- we're doing a
viral thing where if they sign people up for a frequent flyer
program, they get points for everyone that signs up.
So all kinds of things.
It's huge in Brazil and something that we do a lot.
Nikesh Arora: Guy, most of your brands look good anyway, right.
Guy Oseary: They could look better.
Nikesh Arora: What do you recommend?
Should they have Facebook pages?
Should they Tweet a lot?
Guy Oseary: Many different kinds of people.
Some don't do it at all, and some really do it.
Nikesh Arora: Who's the biggest Tweeter in your --
Guy Oseary: Well, Ashton is really -- he
doesn't just Tweet.
He really understands -- he's really part of the whole thing.
He is -- he's out there educating himself on every
single thing that's going on.
How to -- you know, how to bring social in -- all the many
areas that he is excited about.
But there's a lot of artists.
Madonna is not going to sit there and Tweet.
It's really a commitment.
And, if you make it, more power to you.
Because you'll have that instant relationship.
But it really is a commitment.
You can't do it and then walk away for a month and say
I'll check in again.
Really, it won't have stickiness to it.
It really is a commitment.
It's a lifestyle commitment.
Some people have people do it for them, which, I think, you
know, if you pay attention to it, you'll know it's not --
it's just coming in and it's not real.
It's not genuine.
But for me, when we go on the road, I actually,
I have a Twitter.
And so -- because Madonna is not doing it.
So, when we go on the road, I will put up photos every
night and really connect with the Madonna fans.
And, if there's tickets left over, I'll say, "Tweet if
you're at this place." This is before Foursquare.
Nikesh Arora: Are there ever tickets left over
for a Madonna concert?
Guy Oseary: I may have some on me.
Nikesh Arora: You know whose Tweets to follow, right?
Guy Oseary: That's the sort of connectivity fans really need
to be -- they really need to be -- I think music is probably
better at it than anyone else because there's so
much new content.
And so really music is at the forefront of how
to continually share information and do things.
And, honestly, if the artists today -- if a new artist today
doesn't do that, I don't know how they build up a business.
If you're not engaging through Facebook or through Twitter
or some way with your fans, there's just no
other way to do it.
Because you're -- the money is dried up.
And there's no other way to get on radio or have
money for a video.
Or, you know, there's no other marketing.
Your marketing is you now.
You need to go out this and pitch yourself or pitch what
you're doing all day long.
Nikesh Arora: We're running out of time.
I'm going to ask one last question to all of you, and you
have to answer it quickly.
On a scale of 1 to 10 in this mindshift from traditional
branding toward digital branding, where do you think
the world out there with all the brands, where do you think
the world is on a scale of 1 to 10?
Are they 9?
Are they ready for the big digital mindshift?
Are they a 5, or are they at a 3?
Beatriz Perez: I think it depends on what part of
the world you live in.
I'd say I think the world is ready for it.
So I'd give it a 9 out of 10.
Nikesh Arora: And Coke?
Beatriz Perez: And I'd say Coke is still learning
and on the journey.
So we're probably closer to a 6.
Laura Desmond: Depends on the target.
Teen and youth today, 10.
It goes lower as you get older from there.
I think the scary thing for marketers is what do you do 20
years from now when everybody is on this new platform?
That's really --
Nikesh Arora: 20 is a long time in Internet --
Laura Desmond: Absolutely.
It will change how everything --
Nikesh Arora: We'll have a few more Twitters,
Facebook, YouTubes by then.
Guy?
Guy Oseary: It's not where will it be.
Everyone should expect it to be.
Expectation is at a 10.
Everyone expects something new to be coming or Steve Jobs to
be every four months showing something brand new, new way
you can have people play live at your house without even
having to see them -- they'll just show up.
Aerosmith is at your house playing live.
So people are expecting -- I think, if it doesn't move fast,
they'll go what do you mean?
Now you can only have one person -- we thought the
whole audience would be here with me at my house.
So the expectation I think is at a 10.
And --
Nikesh Arora: Preparedness?
Guy Oseary: Preparedness? preparedness I'd say is at a 5.
David Neeleman: We're like an 8/9.
But the country is -- Brazil is very segmented.
Only 35% of people are connected.
Those people that are connected pay 10 times more for their
Internet than people in New York pay.
So you make a fifth as much money paying 10 times as much.
So I think for the level -- the cost of connection and for the
number of people connected, Brazil is amazing, and it
only has further to go.
So we're going to be ready for it as they -- as this 100
million people of middle class move into the digital age.
Nikesh Arora: Perfect.
Thank you very much.
I think we're out of time.
Please join me in thanking my panel.
[ Applause ]