Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion
In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit DiscussionIn a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
I was just looking at an article on the web site of the New York Daily News just a couple minutes ago, when a popup advertisement for Orbitz got in the way of my reading. After a second or two, the Orbitz ad retreated behind other windows, waiting for me to find it and read it again later.
Two hits for the price of one. How clever.
As I was deleting the Orbitz popup ad off my screen, I realized that for quite some time now, I’d stopped thinking of Orbitz as a company through which I can get special deals on travel. I had honestly forgotten that Orbitz had anything to do with travel.
All I think of these days when it comes to Orbitz is its annoying popup advertisements, the ones that interfere with where I really want to go online. Consider the brand implications of that: Orbitz has become a brand of popup ads. Orbitz has become a brand of pestering and interference.
In short, the Orbitz brand has become aligned with frustration and delay. Note to Orbitz marketing team: For a travel company, that might not be a good idea.
(209 votes, average: 2.94 out of 5)
Irregular Times
New Button Designs
70 queries. 0.732 seconds
Top Article Last Week
May 10th, 2007 at 9:27 am
I kind of thought Orbitz was a kind of chewing gum.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Amazing how they’ve driven their image into the ground, isn’t it?
May 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Interesting–I never see popup ads (since I use Firefox). I like Orbitz; their search tech is better than Expedia, and their prices are slightly lower, since they’re owned by airlines.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Someone once recommended Expedia to me and I found they were not competitive at all. Plus they, and all the other outfits with online itinerary programs always try to route me through Yemen, whether I ‘m going to the middle east or to Africa. Everyone knows if you go to Yemen, even overnight to change planes, you will get kidnapped. If you want to go to a certain country, find a travel agency from that country. They will know about the cheapest and most direct flights and will not try to tack an extra day or two onto your itinerary by routing you through *YEMEN*. My best luck has always been from the travel section of the chicago tribune or word of mouth from expats of the country I want to visit.
May 12th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Who determined that Yemen was the kidnap zone?