Not so Gr8, Permission Marketing Foul on JetBlue

March 6, 2008 – 10:04 pm

I love JetBlue. Good prices, good service, good technology. Basically everything American Airlines isn’t. Plus, JetBlue is basically the only discount airline that will get me to Syracuse, NY from any Bay Area airport with only one connection. I’m a member of the JetBlue TrueBlue program and have a JetBlue American Express credit card. As a result, I’m on the JetBlue promotional mailing list. It’s cool, I agreed to it, I gave them my permission. No problems there.

But a few weeks ago they sent me a promotional offer via said mailing list. Enter their “All-You-Can-8″ sweepstakes and “you could win a flight for yourself and up to seven friends.” “Wow, that’s Gr8!” I thought. So I checked it out. Turns out they require you to provide the email addresses and phone numbers of your seven friends in order to enter. This is essentially a sneaky way for JetBlue to grow their mailing list with people that DID NOT grant permission to receive promotional offerings. If Seth Godin saw this, he’d have a fit!…and would then plug his book, Permission Marketing. As much as I would love a free flight for me and seven of my friends, I’m a good enough friend to NOT cause their inboxes to be filled with unsolicited email offers. Needless to say, I chose not to enter the “All-You-Can-8″ sweepstakes.

Your personal email address is a precious commodity. I’m not talking about one of your crappy decoy email addresses. I’m talking about your REAL personal email address. The email address you use to stay in touch with friends and family, read your bank notices, etc. How many people, when presented with this offer, would hand over the REAL personal email addresses of seven of their closest friends without thinking twice? I’m guessing a lot would. Now they’ll have random, un-targeted email offers intermixed with those baby pictures from cousin Steve. Ugh.

JetBlue, I still love your product, but shame on you.