In its bid to become the “Amazon of travel” Ryanair is diversifying into additional travel products. While flights will always be the “meat on the plate”, the company is selling more hotel rooms, holidays and car hires services, leveraging data on its 20 million My Ryanair members to offer tailored packages.

This has meant taking a more personalised marketing approach. So whereas, four years ago, Ryanair would direct car hire customers to a separate website, the team are now using information on the flyers to offer tailored car hire options for when they arrive at the destination.

“That’s targeting the right ancillary product to the right customer at the right time in the booking journey. It’s not ‘gee whizz’, that’s just called good retailing. It’s the world’s most visited airline website monetising that traffic so that people buy flights, but we also get a higher share of their wallet,” explains Jacobs.

Personalised content will also play a key role in the strategy for 2017, focusing on user generated content. Jacobs explains he has no interest in “off the shelf TripAdvisor style” content, preferring to encourage customers to talk to each other about their experiences.

Despite having a dynamic strategy for 2017, Jacobs is well aware of the problems facing the travel industry as Brexit negotiations loom. Ryanair has already scaled back growth projections for 2017 to 6%, compared to the 12% growth posted in 2016.

Jacobs argues that if there is no solution to the EU–US Open Skies Agreement, which allows any European airline to fly between the EU and the US, then all airlines will be forced to reduce their capacity in the UK.

We like being a challenger and a bit of a bad boy in the industry, but not bad to customers.
“That will mean airfares go up and will reduce choice for British consumers. So the message at the moment to London and Brussels is we need you to prioritise the way you’re going to do this negotiation. Some 75% of Brits who travel on holiday go to Europe and 80% of British business people who travel are going to Europe,” Jacobs explains.

With the general election looming on 8 June, the Ryanair CMO is hoping for a “softer Brexit” which would maintain the free movement of people and ensure Britain is not a restricted place for travel.

Jacobs is well aware that to guide Ryanair through the next two years in the lead up to Britain leaving the EU he will need to draw on his formidable list of CMO skills. However, Jacobs is convinced that by maintaining a common sense attitude and challenger spirit Ryanair will continue to grow at pace.

“We like being a challenger and a bit of a bad boy in the industry, but not bad to customers,” he adds with a smile.

“We’re one of those brands that gets away with saying crazy things and even though we’re the biggest airline in Europe we want to feel like a startup. We’re not afraid to speak our mind and I think people appreciate that.”

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com