@Deltalina & Delta’s Social Opportunity: The ROI Of Genuine Corporate Ambassadors

You may be surprised at the power of being an authentic ambassador in physical life. In this case, the social media waves from a whimsical chance encounter with a niche celebrity led to fascinating social media results, thousands of miles away, and built communities in beautiful and measurable ways. The happenstance meeting also is harbinger of a tremendous opportunity for Delta Airlines, surrounding @Deltalina. Read on for details between the lines.

Land Of Sky Blue Waters
Delta is Duluth’s airline by default. Though United and Allegiant Air also fly from our bejeweled Lake Superior outpost city, the vast majority of outbound DLH flight-options to pretty much everywhere are limited to Delta. Our relationship with Delta is love/hate, having survived their assumption of Northwest, protracted local union acrimony, Northwest’s abandoned Airbus base, and ugly migration to Delta’s previously weak online systems.

Delta’s done good work reinventing itself to be as sophisticated an online operator as Northwest was growing to be. Sure, I’ve had my tangles with @DeltaAssist but they’ve made good or better. Our bloggers have taken mixed notes critiquing airline safety videos ever. I’ve spied a number fellow passengers act out little scenes during the video, comment, smile, and make waggish comments. My game is to intentionally catch the eye of a nearby flight attendant whilst wagging my finger, sporting an impish grin. Just when the video’s MC says, “Smoking is not allowed,” I wag my finger. I’ve learned to wiggle in JUST the right spot!”

My 17-year-old daughter, who we fly with a lot, turned me on to clamping my imaginary cell phone shut, again JUST at the right time. LOL!

Recently in business class on DL17, Delta’s famous 10:55PM PT flight from LAX to SYD, the lead attendant caught me doing the synchronized wag. We both cracked up. She shared that she had actually met the safety video host. Her name was Kat, super nice, and I learned is an actual Delta attendant working ATL. “Cool,” I thought. After that I enjoyed the wag even more each time, knowing the woman is tangible, not a professional actress. Then, the world as I know it changed…

@Deltalina
Last Friday, I was sitting in 2C on the 7:48PM ATL > SAV flight and (incredibly) I saw the woman from the safety video emphatically stride on to the plane. Though her hair was longer, I recognized the wingspan of her smile immediately. Apparently a passenger on the short hop, her identity was confirmed by the off-duty “Inflight Lead” Delta patch on her blue shirt pocket.

She whooshed by with her rollerboard but I leaned back to ask, “Are you the lady in the Delta Safety Video?” She quickly responded, “Yes, I am,” and did not stop. Hmmm. Did she sound cocky, I wondered? I dunno… Maybe I’m pretty much a troll, or what if she has an attitude? There was no way to tell. After our climb through 10,000 feet, I logged into my GoGo in-flight wireless account.

Because I’m thoroughly AIMCLEAR blog” href=”http://www.aimclearblog.com/2012/06/29/psychographic-targeting-unhinged-the-zen-of-whole-customer-persona-modeling/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>psychographic profile is one of Delta’s precise persona targets. To me, the safety video thingy rocks like the Rocky Horror Picture show, cultish, fun, in an insider’s sort of freakish way.

Let The Games Begin!
Long time acquaintance Matt McGee, Executive Editor Of Search Engine Land responded straightaway. An experienced business traveller himself, Matt knew exactly about whom I was talking. It’s a rare treat to connect directly with Matt, on a number of levels.

Another Duluth man I had not met, following @AIMCLEAR, chimed in, familiar with the Delta video lady. He even shared her Twitter handle, @Deltalina, which I had now known. Hmmm… I did a quick search and discovered this Michael guy is pretty deep. I followed him.

This was getting interesting. I navigated to @Deltalina‘s Twitter profile. Wow… Katherine’s a real person and knows what she’s doing. Sure, we’re not talking about Billy Mays mass pop-icon status here, but there is clearly certain chemistry in the matrix of Katherine (the actual lead attendant) mashed up with quirky style in the video itself and her regular presence in the Delta flying ecosystem.

Since I’m the CEO of a company that currently advises Fortune 500 companies, I couldn’t help but ruminate on about a half dozen really intriguing strategies to leverage this real world pixie of a phenomenon, amplified potentially to mass media consciousness. Delta has a tiger by the tail and only minimally leverages it. Think about the acclaim the Old Spice guy‘s got and he’s not even real!

Three things are for sure as it is:

• It’s brilliant for Delta to use a real flight attendant in the video
• It’s fortuitous to have cast a young woman with such verve and composure in the role
• It’s reality show genius that, by nature of her steady gig, she regularly flies Delta. By design the video’s online social amplification is jigged to be viral by the reality of physical life. The best of social media mirrors actual, physical life. How cool is that?

I tweeted into action, all the while continuing the banter with my tweeps.

I asked the flight lead if @Deltalina might be willing stand for a picture with me. She was happy to broker the deal and, right before we landed, instructed me to wait until all the passengers deplaned. When Katherine came up I asked her if she would mind a picture. She said sure, we stepped out on the jetway and did the deed. The copilot also wanted a picture taken so we took turns.

While we were standing close for the picture, I told Katherine that I am a Delta Diamond, about the me and my daughter’s little dance, the LAX/SYD conversation, how cool was to meet her, etc… She was so gracious, thanked me for flying with Delta, and looked me right in the eye. This woman has the