The name development was perhaps the most harrowing piece of the brand puzzle. Many of the initial names were generally associative like Home, Competition, Civilization and Fresh Air, although only the latter evokes a feeling of movement or flight. Other names like Gotham, New York Air and the Big Apple, although strong on association with the hub city, would have limited the airline should it hope to branch beyond New York (which it's in the process of doing as it opens a second base in California). The top choice, Taxi, was too descriptive of the never-ending practice of driving around the runway and would no doubt have made a negative impression on potential passengers.

The next batch of names came from an agency, which floated Blue, Egg and It. Blue was well received but impossible to trademark without a qualifier; Egg was presumably to evoke the idea of people emerging from an egg (which is just a little creepy); in the end, the team played with the pared-down simple name: It. Edmondson-Jones says that initially they loved the idea of the tie in with labels such as "Eat It" on food and "Schlep It" on baggage, but began to worry that it would be too diminutive and common on the printed page. Besides someone could spray paint an "sh" in front of It Air on the tail fin and all would be over.

Out of ideas, JetBlue turned to another branding firm to restart the process. Unfortunately many of the names produced by the new firm didn't convey a sense of flying, in fact they were inexplicably ground bound. Names like Air Avenues, Air Hop or Hiway Air make the passenger wonder if he will ever be airborne. And frankly, what is "highway air" but pollution. Hardly inspirational for one about to be stuck in a cabin for a few hours. At that rate one wonders if "gridlock," "rush hour," and "roadkill" ever came up in the name game.

In the end, the JetBlue team chose the heavenly True Blue from among the offerings as the best of a dismal lot. But the hired firm neglected to check the mark status of True Blue before sending Neeleman and Co. home with their newly christened baby. Within weeks of True Blue's launch, it was discovered the name already belonged to a rental car company. The news left a gash that revealed a lack of passion for the name and a generally fed up and disheartened branding crew. Days before the launch, the name JetBlue was decided in an internal phone conference between the original JetBlue team.

No wonder Edmondson-Jones describes it as "the hardest thing we've done so far." And for such a seemingly easy-going guy that comes as a strong statement.

Once the name was final, everything else began to fall into place. The uniforms were switched from the official New York color of black to a midnight blue, the tailfins are kitted out in blue diamonds, blue chips are served as a snack on board and the logo is a gray setback "jet" leading to a bold, capital B "Blue." The original idea was to eventually drop the "Jet" and move on to Blue but Edmondson-Jones admitted there is now a fair amount of affection for JetBlue and the name will probably stick for some time to come.

The task then fell to JetBlue to take its meager (by industry standards) US$10M budget and launch a marketing campaign. Again they took the scrappy but sure approach of creating buzz with a few well-placed ad and media spots and then relying on word of mouth to spread the good news on JetBlue's unusual approach to passengers and transportation. As Edmondson-Jones notes, "Thankfully the industry helped us out; [the industry's so lousy that we appear like a knight on a white steed."

And because they are new, they don't have the distractions of mergers, quarterly losses, and strikes to contend with. Right now, JetBlue is in position to focus 100 percent on the customer. A little over a year old, they are already profitable and they are the number one on-time carrier in two-thirds of the cities they fly to. Costs are kept low by using a team of 400 reservationists who work from home, and completing 40 percent of transactions direct through the web.

A relative baby in the industry, JetBlue's mettle is yet to be fully tested. The industry is incredibly tough for a small, limited service newcomer and the competition is fierce. However, they've carved out a niche and appear to be cleared for take off with clear skies up ahead.    

[18-Jun-2001]