Seize the moment

It doesn’t happen often when the opportunity arises to score off the opposition.  It happened recently when gutsy Air New Zealand took the opportunity of being able to give Qantas a gentle jab on their home turf.  Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, had to travel Air NZ with the CEO of their partner, American Airlines, who were announcing new flights from LA to NZ. Air NZ was the only one currently flying that route so the Qantas CEO had to fly his competitor’s airline.

The press asked him what he thought of Air NZ and, playing the corporate game and being the diplomat he is, he said, “Air New Zealand are an extremely well-run airline.”

An inoffensive, harmless, “nice” comment you’d reckon but the Air NZ marketing team seized the moment as the full page advert which ran in newspapers around Australia the next day clearly demonstrated.