I'm done with them!
I once bumped into Margaret Thatcher as she was walking from the House of Lords to her office and I told her I had spent the evening with her former PPS Sir Fergus Montgomery. She smiled and simply said, "Loyal, Loyal, Loyal". It immediately struck me how vital was that quality ,above all, in Maggie's rulebook.
Loyalty is a value which is earned over time but can be quickly lost. When lost you may never get it back, and if you do it is most likely not on the same basis and it will always be probationary.
This loyalty thing struck me very recently with the story of how Waitrose sacked an employee of 17 years standing for tackling a shoplifter which is counter to their policy. Many newspapers covered the story and their articles have drawn numerous comments from readers. A popular reaction has been for customers to write that they will be boycotting the store. Waitrose is a brand which bathes in high quality. Their stores are stocked with great products and the choice is both good and good value. It is on this offering that their loyal customers keep coming back again and again. I'm sure their crisis management team are all over the reaction to this story and if they aren't concerned then they should be. Their response to date though is beyond woeful.
Something akin to a PR disaster happened to BA when they had an IT failure which led to a meltdown in their baggage handling. I remember watching a warehouse stacked full of suitcases and bags with the event lasting a full weekend. The response from BA was dire with the CEO very late to comment and when he did it landed wide of the mark.
Another PR disaster is happening to BA currently with the refashioning of the loyalty scheme for their frequent flyers. They have changed the scheme to favour high spenders over loyal frequent flyers meaning that members need to spend substantially more to retain their gold or silver status which entitles them to much valued perks. I know it's a first world problem, but it is having immediate consequences.
BA have been almost tone deaf to the criticism by their loyal members. Andrew Neil, the respected journalist, took to X to tell them they were badly treating their members. Competitors to British Airways have been offering status matches which allow once loyal BA aficionados to switch their loyalty at exactly the same recognised level. Air France has won over thousands of once loyal BA passengers who are now proud holders of the Air France/KLM platinum card. I know 3 of my friends who have ditched BA for Air France and another who has switched to Virgin. BA say some members have been complaining about over full lounges. I fear, for them, that this will not be a worry in May as hundreds of thousands of their members lose their current status along with any lingering loyalty they had for the airline. I will report on this on May 1st when the downgrades kick in.
Remember when Coca Cola "improved" the taste of their beverage only to react swiftly by bringing back the original under the name of classic coke. This was a smart reaction to their loyal customer base which other companies could learn from. BA ,again, ditched the UK flags from their tail fins , many years ago, only to be replaced by multi cultural art designs. The public reaction was swift and even Margaret Thatcher showed her displeasure when she walked past a model of one of the planes at the Tory Party Conference. She famously stopped at the display and took out a handkerchief from her iconic handbag and placed it over the tail fin. This was a PR disaster for BA. Richard Branson, always quick to tap into the pulse of the UK, proudly displayed the Union Jack flag on all of his planes.
I told the person responsible for the design change that they had made a mistake and he drilled down on the new look. On this occasion BA finally read the room and soon replace the design and the red, white and blue is now synonymous with the carrier.
Royal Mail lost the plot in 2001 when it changed the name of the business to consignia only to reverse the decision a year later when they realised the brand was already a winner with the public. People still talk about the Bud Light advert which partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in the USA. The response was immediate with sales down between 11-28% and the brand dropping from number 1 to number 3. The parent company reported a sales disaster with a drop of over $1 billion. The company issued a statement saying that they never intended to be a part of a discussion that divided people but many loyal customers had already switched brands.
Political parties suffer from exactly the same issue. There was a time when people would vote for the same party irrespective of their performance, but this appears to have changed dramatically. The Tory brand at the last election was badly damaged by Boris Johnson and his swift departure from No.10 following the Sue Gray inquiry. Equally Liz Truss was damaged by her budget that tanked the £ and her premiership. Rishi Sunak threw 251 of his colleagues under a bus by calling an early election without properly tackling the issue of illegal immigration into the UK.
2024 saw the worst result for the Conservatives, ever. Kemi Badenoch is scoring good polling as the most popular of the party leaders, but the big question mark is how long will it be before her party catches up with her.
The current Government was elected less than 2 years ago yet it has plummeted in the polls and it is widely expected to be hammered in the May 7th local elections and the elections to the Welsh Senedd and Scottish Parliament. Labour has suffered from multiple u turns, unpopular policies, higher taxes, higher unemployment, and perceived weak leadership. This is clearly not a comprehensive list of woes but feel free to make up your own list as to why previously loyal Labour voters in former Labour strongholds are now deserting the Party in droves. It has lost many council seats since 2024 along with Westminster seat losses and the Caerphilly seat in the Senedd.
The warning is there for political parties and businesses alike. Don't take voters or customers for fools and always respect that they have a choice. When you get it wrong you should at least say sorry and make amends pronto. Sending for a fleet of JCBs to further dig the hole you are already standing in is not a sensible strategy. For Keir Starmer the writing is already on the wall and his band of MPs already smell impending defeat. I've no doubt that the replacing of Starmer and the rebranding of the message is already being planned but their loyal voters will ultimately decide if the damage and deceit went on for far too long and runs too deep. "Once bitten" is now the creed and "sorry" is sometimes not enough.