Oakland, WHAT are you thinking??
Amy M. Mayers
Break through the noise. Explain what you do, how you do it and why you do it in plain English.
Last month, Oakland, CA, port commissioners voted unanimously to change the name of Oakland International Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.
The board feels they need a rebrand because years of marketing campaigns have failed to sell Oakland as an alternative destination to the busier San Francisco airport.
(This, of course, begs a host of questions about the campaigns – starting with why didn’t they work? -- and any subsequent analysis they might have done.)
The commission is now taking public comments and will vote a second time on May 9 to finalize its decision.
The cost? About $150,000.
The confusion, screwed-up bookings, travelers arriving at one airport while their friends and families wait at the other, the blurring of Oakland’s identity into San Francisco’s…priceless.
City and county leaders, several major airlines and East Bay tourism and business associations support the change.
Against the move: San Francisco airport and tourism officials, environmental groups who foresee a busier airport increasing pollution and greenhouse gasses and the Oakland NAACP, which worries that the change will erase the city’s unique cultural identity.
In fact, San Francisco is suing Oakland to stop the name change, alleging that Oakland plans to “intentionally and knowingly capitalize off of confusion.” (Duh.)
I grew up in Oakland and remain fiercely loyal to the city, but I have to side with San Francisco on this one.
Surveys of voters in Oakland and the greater East Bay found that respondents support increasing airport traffic but see a name change as a low priority.
But what I want to know is: What do travel agents and travelers outside the Bay Area think about the change?
Based on what we know about this story, it seems like Oakland port officials ran out of ideas, threw up their hands and grabbed at the nearest straw.
So, if they do proceed with this misbegotten rebrand, I have some advice for them:
Budget for anger management specialists to deal with all the pissed-off travelers who end up at the wrong airport.
Marketing, sales, communications, fundraising and event planning -- if I can't do it, I will know someone who can.
2moLove how you always find a different angle for a story
I think this is a horrible idea. Even as someone who lived near Oakland for ages and knows that airport well, I find that name really confusing!