Michael O’Leary’s anti-hero approach to PR
Friday, March 6th, 2009
There was yet more controversy surrounding Michael O’Leary and Ryan Air with the chief executive introducing prohibitive fees for luggage loads that offends his company’s sensibilities – O’Leary would be happy if we just took a tooth brush.
Controversial statements are standard fare for O’leary. His abrasive, sometimes aggressive and generally arrogant style does not lend itself to generating the more positive images we have have of Stelios Haji Ioannou and Richard Branson, who play the PR game well.
Even though O’Leary is ridiculed and loathed in many quarters, Ryan Air continues to prosper. Revenues are up every year and passenger numbers have shown incredible progress (as shown below). This is no easy accomplishment as Ryanair has a number of black marks that would surely put any business in trouble, just three being unfriendly and complacent staff, hidden “taxes” and limited customer services.
Could it be that although O’Leary shows his genuine and heartfelt misanthropy he generates substantial awareness and interest in his business? After all Ryanair competes on price and so some crimes can be overlooked if the deals are good (that is open to question).
When it comes down to it besides O’Leary, Branson and Stelios, which airline chiefs do we know?
I think O’Leary is far cleverer at playing the media game than we appreciate.
Thanks to Staniforth’s Mark Hanson as I found the image here.
