One of last year’s hottest business books was Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Leaders in the general aviation industry would be wise to order a copy. According to the authors, “red oceans” are crowded with competitors while “blue oceans” represent untapped market space with the opportunity for highly profitable growth. Among the strategies for leveraging “blue oceans” are the following:
- DO NOT compete in existing market space. INSTEAD you should create uncontested market space.
- DO NOT beat the competition. INSTEAD you should make the competition irrelevant.
- DO NOT exploit existing demand. INSTEAD you should create and capture new demand.
I’ve written about this previously but it is worthwhile enough, in my opinion, to repeat: Women represent a blue ocean for the aviation industry. Only 5.8% of today’s private pilots are female. What’s more shocking is that the percentage hasn’t changed in 15 years. What’s going on here? Does it have to be this way? Are only 5.8% of women really interested in flying? I think not.
Consider the field of medicine. in 1970 only 7.6% of physicians in the United States were female. By 2003 that had steadily climbed to 25.8%. This is still seems low but, unlike the aviation industry, there has been consistent progress. The aviation industry needs to adjust it’s methods for going to market to reach women more effectively.
If the aviation industry could achieve what the medical field has done it could result in over 100,000 new pilots. At first glance that seems to good to be true. However, I think we’ve all become too complacent with the with the glut that the industry has been in since it peaked at 827,000 pilots in 1980.
Broadening the base of female pilots could be the shot in the arm that the industry needs. There have been several instances in the history of aviation where the number of pilots has doubled or even tripled in under 10 years. We need to think big here - let’s make it happen again!
So which company will capture this blue ocean? Cirrus currently leads the industry in sales - can they capture the female demographic? The majority of today’s male pilots learned how to fly in a Cessna - are they capable of training a new segment of women pilots? The sport pilot rule lowers the price for entry - can Flight Design CT, CubCrafters, or one of the other LSA designs gain the market? It just takes a commitment from an industry leader willing to think outside the box.
Sources used for this post:
Women in Aviation, International
AOPA
American Medical Association
[tags]General Aviation, Women in Aviation, Aviation Marketing, Marketing to Women, Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, AOPA, Cirrus, Cessna, Flight Design[/tags]
January 14th, 2006
The sport pilot rule is simply a framework. Whether or not it is successful, whether or not general aviation grows, whether or not any of the 15 currently certified SLSA aircraft ever sell, is completely dependent on how sport aviation businesses approach the market.
We recently clicked around the websites of the fifteen certified SLSA aircraft. What we found was that the websites focus on aircraft features, specs, production issues and certification status. This approach makes perfect sense if the target audience is current pilots and other manufacturers or distributors. However, for someone who has always had the desire to fly, but isn’t already a pilot, these things don’t matter much. And in terms of the larger goal of capturing a new market, this isn’t going to accomplish much at all.
For example, take a look at the StingSport site. That is a beautiful airplane and the view must be absolutely stunning! Currently, the messaging on the StingSport site is optimized for an insider audience. The first paragraph is all about distribution and the risk of flying. The second paragraph describes compliance with LSA ASTM standards. The third paragraph is about certification and production. The fourth paragraph is about the ESLA market, maintenance and bi-annuals. It’s not until the fifth paragraph that the incredible canopy and resulting view is mentioned.
Perhaps this is intentional. Perhaps Sportair USA is targeting current pilots. If so, the copy may work well. However, if the intent is to capture a new audience and grow the market, the emphasis should be changed. In that case, it’s the view out of that amazing canopy that will capture the imagination of someone that is dreaming about becoming a pilot. That is the potential that the sport pilot rule has given us.
Nike and Reebok sell shoes by making you believe you’ll be able to run faster, jump higher, or win the Tour de France. They don’t approach the market with the durometer of the rubber soles or a count of the eyelets on each shoe. They are selling an idea as much as a product. The same is true of Starbucks coffee, Ford trucks and Apple iPods. The sport aviation industry needs to begin thinking in those terms
It’s not just Sportair USA. It’s all the SLA manufacturers. And it’s not just the aircraft manufacturers. It’s the engine and avionics manufacturers. It’s the parts and tools manufacturers. It’s the pilot supplies and training providers as well.
Current marketing efforts in sport aviation are pilots talking to pilots and manufacturers talking to manufacturers. This approach will likely result in a few converted ultralight pilots and planes but probably not much more. The real potential of sport pilot will go unrealized.
Aviation is powerful. It’s exciting, challenging, rewarding, therapeutic, fun, breathtaking, electrifying, overwhelming, spine-tingling, intriguing, awe-inspiring, impressive, thrilling, dynamic, powerful and a thousand other adjectives - all positive.
Further, pilots are knowledgeable, interesting, captivating, compelling, histrionic, responsive, fascinating, passionate, spontaneous and a thousand other adjectives - all positive.
It’s time to capture the imagination of the thousands of individuals who want to fly but don’t think they can. We need to stop talking to ourselves and capture the attention of those who have wanted to fly since they were little kids. That is how sport pilot will succeed.
[tags]Sport Pilot, Light Sport Aircraft, LSA, Blue Ocean Strategy[/tags]
October 18th, 2005
