Maybe our standards have been systematically lowered when it comes to customer service. For the growing lot of cynical consumers, caring service is either non-existent or feigned at best. It’s the latter that’s showcased in this Alaska Airlines spot directed by Jeff Gorman of JGF, Hollywood, for agency WongDoody, Seattle.
We open on a family of four—husband, wife and their two kids—approaching a SkyHigh Airlines ticket counter. "Hi, our seats are in different rows," says the husband.
Oblivious to the problem is the ticket clerk at the counter, who is wearing a huge pair of outlandishly high-tech teleprompter glasses. The clerk responds to the problem by reading the words appearing in front of his eyes: "And how may I help you … today?"
The next episode finds an old man approaching the counter. Before the senior citizen can utter a word, our teleprompter-aided clerk is reading away. This time, we see the words flashing before him as he reads them verbatim (including punctuation marks): "Greetings, Miss colon. Valued passenger name here."
Even a malfunctioning teleprompter doesn’t deter the clerk. "Like we say, the customer is always X-P-T-L-nine-backslash-nine," he reads.
The spot transitions to an Alaska Airlines counter where a woman employee is courteously helping a customer. A voiceover relates, "At Alaska Airlines, technology doesn’t come at the expense of common courtesy."
A parting shot shows an Alaska Airlines plane in flight as the voiceover continues, "That’s the spirit of Alaska," accompanied by supered promo copy containing the Alaska Airlines Web site (alaskaair.com).
"Polite-A-Prompter" is part of a four-spot campaign. The other commercials—"Bench Seating," "Vouchers" and "Banjo"—also feature annoying airline tendencies that Alaska Airlines tries to avoid. The agency team consisted of creative director Tracy Wong, art director Pam Fujimoto, copywriters Matt McCain and John Schofield, and producer Dax Estorninos.
Lilly LaBonge executive produced and produced for JGF. The DP was Curtis Wehr.
Alan Nay edited via Recess Editorial, Seattle, with additional facility support from Dubs, Seattle. Online editor was Flame artist Zach Paul of Modern Digital, Seattle, who also created the animated "prompter" effects for the goofy-looking glasses. Colorist was Tim Maffia of Modern Digital. Audio mixer/sound designer was Vince Werner of Clatter & Din, Seattle.
