The Name Is To Blame

In January 2004, airline BMI Baby told East Midlands Airport that it should change its name. Nottingham East Midlands Airport was born. That will be the Leicestershire-based Nottingham East Midlands Airport… whose nearest city is Derby…

It seems incredible that a customer should have the power to tell a supplier what it should be called. However, at the time, BMI Baby was the largest passenger carrier into or out of East Midlands Airport and had ambitious plans for growth. It was able to exert its influence to tell a supplier what it must do or face the consequences. The situation is not unlike the power held by large supermarkets over their suppliers – do what we say or we’ll just go to someone who will.

The reason behind the change was that foreign tourists have never heard of the East Midlands, but will have heard of Nottingham – presumably because of Robin Hood! Presumably these tourists are so ill-educated that they are also unable to look at a map and see where the airport is located. In my opinion it was a stroke of crass arrogance by BMI Baby. It did, however, amuse me somewhat that Doncaster decided that its airport should be called Robin Hood Airport shortly after.

So now we have one airport associated with Nottingham in Leicestershire, while the other is in South Yorkshire. I suppose it could be worse – imagine flying to London Luton and expecting to be a cab ride from Trafalgar Square…

Why was this done? The answer lies in the misguided notion of branding – if you name something better, it will be better. Liverpool now has the John Lennon Airport, while citizens of Belfast can fly out of George Best Airport – perhaps Southampton will soon have Matt Le Tissier Airport?

The problem is that marketing is about more than just a name – it is the whole marketing mix. Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People and Process are all vital. Let’s look at each in turn:

Product:

The “product” involved here is the entire facility and what is available to the traveller. East Midlands Airport used to be a friendly little place which Jasper Carrot joked had a cattle grid at the end of the runway. It also had a fairly pleasant pub on the land side of security so that you could have a drink while dropping off or picking up friends or relations. All this has gone in favour of a traditionally bland airport bar on the air side. The airport is now undergoing an £8 million reinvestment to improve the product – I disagree with most of the plans, but at least they are doing something.

Price:

For the passenger, pricing is usually a bit higher than at, say, Luton – flights probably cost £10 or £20 more. This has to be offset against convenience (it would cost a lot more than that to park at Luton). However, if the airport is to compete with others for bargain flights, then it has to be seen to match them.

Place:

Well, I guess that is pretty much fixed! It is in Leicestershire whether BMI Baby like it or not. However, what they wanted to do was to provide the perception that it is in Nottingham through the rebranding – a little bit like when certain airlines fly to Barcelona (France).

Promotion:

I have to admit, I do not really know to what extent the airport promotes itself to either passengers or airlines. Presumably they do something, but as an interested local I never get to see it.

People:

The people at East Midlands have always seemed friendly enough – probably one of the real plus points of the airport!

Physical Evidence:

The physical evidence side of the airport has been largely handed over to concessions – Costa Coffee etc. As a result, there is not much to take home as a memento!

Process:

The process at East Midlands is dire. The Arrivals section is woefully slow – it often takes an hour to get from plane to car. This is largely because of baggage handling which just can not keep up with passenger numbers. If something is not done about this, East Midlands will lose passengers.

As can be seen, there is so much more to marketing an airport than the name. Which makes it so exciting that Ryan Air, who are now the largest carrier at East Midlands after BMI Baby cut routes, are thinking of changing it back again.

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