Barbecues and Public Perception

[Take five]

Barbecues are a great way to judge public perception.

The Liberal Party found out about public perception when they tried to introduce Work Choices Legislation.
This is the one and only reason they were voted out of power, even though they have never once admitted this fact.

The Labour Party will find out about public perception if the Carbon Tax is introduced.
The backlash against them, when prices to the public go through the roof, will bring them down also.

Qantas will also find how great the public perception and opinion against them is in August, when they announce the further Outsourcing of Jobs and Maintenance from Australia.
The full page, Safety Before Service adverts will be totally null and void.
They are trading on their past, not the present or future direction.

The public at the moment are expecting a product, and service quality, which frankly, just isn't there any more.
The day to day employee is holding the business together at the present time, but the decisions by the board are pulling in the opposite direction.

The cost cutting measures, which the company is employing, is affecting the end product to the consumer, and the consumer is not happy.

[D.Lamination]

OK Early thread drift and send me off to Jet Blast:ok:

But since we are talking about BBQ stoppers, read the last lines:

Alerts to Threats in 2011 Europe, by John Cleese

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to “Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is canceled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

John Cleese
British writer, actor and tall person

Hope my poor old QF colleauges can get a laugh as there is not much to laugh about at QF these days:(

[teresa green]

You would not always enjoy the BBQ's at our place, with two sprogs flying for QF, one flying for JQ and the other a QF LAME they tend to get a bit heated at times. Until the missus threatens that the hanger door is to be closed IMMEDIATELY, then all is quiet (for a while).:=

[Zapatas Blood]

Take 5,

Your analogy does not work because . . . .

“The Liberal Party found out about public perception when they tried to introduce Work Choices Legislation.”

This will affect the wider work force.

“The Labour Party will find out about public perception if the Carbon Tax is introduced.”

This will affect the wider workforce.

“Qantas will also find how great the public perception and opinion against them is in August, when they announce the further Outsourcing of Jobs and Maintenance from Australia.”

This will affect a tiny percent of the workforce so no one will care.

[Angle of Attack]

Regardless of the perception if they go into some Asian port and start a base there I cannot in my life see how they will compete, the only thing they had going for them was they were an Aussie company, they will be burnt alive and why would anyone wanna fly with an Asian Qantas? Just go the Asian Airlines, at least your getting a real Asian service not some pseudo Australian outfit. I reckon they will be like lambs to the slaughter if they try and play in Asia, just like Jetstar Pacific which is a nightmare financially at the moment. Anyway just my 5, er I mean 10cents worth. I hear the 5c might get fazed out soon!

[Worrals in the wilds]

This will affect a tiny percent of the workforce so no one will care. Dunno about that. It's funny how interested the average Aussie is in Qantas, particularly at barbeques :}. You hear a lot more discussion about Qantas than you do about BHP, Telstra or Mac Bank. You also hear a lot more about Qantas than you do about Virgin or Air New Zealand, though you could arguably attribute that to Qantas' appalling PR effort in recent times.

Qantas is something that a lot of Aussies care about. I go to a lot of barbeques (along with the odd Club Lunch, when they let girls in :}) and talk a lot of politics, but when I say I work in aviation the conversation invariably turns to Qantas, Aussie jobs and aviation safety. This may not be rational or make Good Business Sense, but that's the way of it. No-one ever won a meat tray arguing that Aussies are rational.

National airlines are a bit like national footy teams. Even when they're doing badly (and Qantas isn't doing badly), even when they get a lot of bad press and their senior execs are crying poor, people still get loyal about them and want them to continue as a national entity, not a shell company employing a bunch of foreign blow-ins. If this weren't the case, the predictions from the aviation 'experts' in the early 1980s would have come true and global aviation would now be controlled by three or four multinational airlines. This didn't happen and every tin-pot nation (including Australia and New Zealand) still has a national carrier. They're either government controlled or a member of the global alliances (and in both cases, largely losing a bucket-load of money) but they still exist with their own livery because people want them to, whether they're Aussies, Laotians or Moroccans.

I think AoA is on the money. The only thing Qantas can offer is being Aussie. Otherwise, pax should fly SQ, MH or EK and be done with it. If Qantas is not an Australian company then compete with the big boys and stop claiming Government route protection because you're the ever-loving Flying Kangaroo creating Aussie jobs :yuk:.

[Captain Sherm]

You are right about the sentiments. They are admirable.....and many business would just love to have some sort of affectionate attachment between their brand and the customers.

But just have a look at that last post and imagine that instead of Qantas....substitute PanAm, TWA, Piedmont, or Northwest Orient.....much loved, and long gone. Add Lockheed, Douglas Convair, or Netscape, WordPerfect or VisiCalc. ANA, TAA, Eastwest. Riley, MG, Humber, Alvis....Handley Page, Vickers, De Haviland......

Some brands like the great universities, Coke, Maccas, Apple, Sony.....they work very hard at continuing to offer enhancing experiences and products. But for every Sony there's a Samsung coming a close second, and closing. Who could have seen Toyota coming 30 years back....and could Toyota have seen Hyundai? Could the world of Landrover and MG have believed that the Japanese could have produced both the widest array of popular 4WDs (Toyota) and the best selling ever affordable sports car, par excellence (MX-5).

Fondness and wistful attachments to a brand mean a lot when the managers of the brand use them well, and build on them with products that enhance the experience.....but they vanish like snowflakes in the morning sun if they're not matched by a "user friendly" experience, whether in the wallet, or the heart, or the needs of commerce, or some of all of those.

I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere for somebody.....

[Jack Ranga]

There's probably not a more relevant post than yours on this 'subject' Sherm :ok:. But I think the problem with this subject is that Qantas is making a very good profit in very difficult times, they then lie about the cross subsidisation.

What an effing lie, Qantas longhaul making a loss and jetstar making a 'huge' profit.

Nothing will bring a business down quicker than treating your staff like ****. If Qantas longhaul is making a loss than no manager in Qantas longhaul should be getting bonuses, payrises, share options etc.