January 2009

Club Meeting - Tuesday, January 8th
This month's topic: What we've learned about differentiating in a commodity business
In this lively presentation, Rob begins with key “facts of life” about the airline industry – the two sets of competitors, old and new; the dauntingly high fixed costs and low variable expense; the simultaneous capital intensiveness, labor intensiveness, and energy intensiveness; the challenge of calibrating supply and demand; and other factors. 

He will then explain why the public views the airline product as a commodity – like many other aspects of that difficult business, the origins of commodity lie in the 50 years that the Federal government regulated the key economic parameters of the business.  Noting successes that other commodity producers have had in creating sustainable differentiation – largely by using emotion – he will discuss the work American has done in recent years to try to undo the commodity perception.  He will show examples from the “Tickets to Life” brand campaign that American launched in 2004 and continues to use.  There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

About the Speaker:
Rob Britton is Adviser to the Chairman at American Airlines; that role is varied, but principally focuses on communications for employees, customers, and other stakeholders.  In 2006, he retired as American’s Managing Director, Brand Development and Advertising; in that position he was responsible for brand stewardship, worldwide media advertising, direct marketing, promotion, and customer research.  He has spent 39 years in and near the travel and tourism industry, in a variety of roles.

Rob earned a Ph.D. in economic geography from the University of Minnesota, and completed his postdoctoral work at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  He held staff and field positions with Republic Airlines and Northwest Airlines.  Rob joined American in 1987, and held positions in marketing, international affairs, corporate communications, and operations.  He has published over 60 articles in major newspapers and magazines, in travel-trade publications, and in academic journals.  At American, he wrote extensively, especially 1993-1996, when he was Director-International Affairs, and 1996-98, when he led the Corporate Communications team.

Originally a geography professor, he lectures annually at more than 30 premier business schools on 5 continents, including Kellogg, UT-Austin, USC Marshall, Rotman (Toronto), Judge Business School at Cambridge University, INSEAD, U. Católica (Santiago, Chile), Shanghai Jiaotong, and the Australian Graduate School of Management; he serves on advisory boards of the Marketing Department at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin; and the Business School at Umeå University, Sweden.  Rob is a team leader for the Dallas Ramp Project (the group builds wheelchair ramps for people who cannot afford them), and a board member of the American Airlines Federal Credit Union.  He is married to Linda, a juvenile-court judge, and has two grown children.