Marketing and all things related

If you are a frequently flier, you want to get dinged by Southwest airlines. DING is the name of their special fare alert system, which send registered members an email notice of reduced fairs. The program was created in February 2005, and sports 2 million subscribers. Southwest recently announced an upgrade to the program, which allows subscribers to personalize their profiles by selecting up to ten different airports for which they want to receive special fair notices. "Our customers love DING! and have asked us to offer the ability to customize their airport offers sent through the tool," said Anne Murray, Southwest's senior director of online marketing. "We are now offering even better deals on specific flights only available through DING! And yes, this enhancement also will be available for Mac users." The program is so successful, that Southwest does not sell their excess inventory through consolidators or online agents like Priceline.com. Marketing Blurb is impressed, and encourages all service companies to take advantage of online personalization options.