Dr. Neil Hair

The marketing was brilliant - the following extremely loyal. It is with great regret to hear today that Zoom - a low cost carrier with umpf went into administration. I am gutted for them. Not least because they offered great prices from Canada to the UK - but because they appeared to be one of the very few airlines capable of marketing to their consumers effectively. Their business model was fundamentally flawed however. It doesnt matter how great your marketing is, when the price of oil jumps from $80 to over $120 your costs exceed revenue. So - what can we learn from this? Marketers and budding entrepreneurs alike need to appreciate the importance of forward planning when putting together business plans and of course learning the jargon of finance! Whether you got into marketing or not to avoid the numbers - to be successful you cant ultimately avoid them. Make sure an introduction to finance course is on your list of must have classes if youre planning on starting a business. No excuses. Thankfully I remained loyal to British Airways when booking my flight to the ICRM conference in Swansea this September but it was a close call.