Why BA is in trouble

Those of you who listened in to my webinar last week with transformational life coach and feng shui guru Marie Claire Carlyle will know that your surroundings have a huge impact on your life, and as it is for individuals, so it is for business.

So I was interested to read about BA's huge losses announced this week.

I remember reading a feng shui article on British Airways new Waterside head office shortly after they moved there. BA did get a feng shui consultant in to look at the building but only AFTER the architects had planned the main design.

If you have ever been to the building you will know that there is a river running through it. This might sound like a novel idea, and generally water features are good feng shui, but a river running through your building is a feng shui disaster. As is building a house over an underground stream or even having significant waste pipes running underneath your property.

There's also a large lake behind the building; water is good but it is destabilising running behind; it is much better to have a meandering river or lake in front of your property with the flow running towards your front door (not away).

Those of you who don't believe in feng shui may well pooh pooh all this but it is interesting that since moving to Waterside BA has fallen apart with disaster after disaster, now culminating in multi million losses which threaten the company with liquidation.

Low cost solution Willie Walsh, get rid of the river - and replace it with a pathway of golden bricks.

Have a lovely week!


Rachel

Shoot the Ad Agency...

I opened my Sunday Times Business Section today to a huge BAA ad across the centre pages headlined:

'Heathrow Terminal 5. From here, you can see tomorrow.'

The ad goes on:

'Wherever you're going, you want getting there to be as easy and enjoyable as it can be. That's the reason we've invested £4.3 billion building Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. It's designed the way tomorrow's airports will be - around people, not just planes. So our new technology will help make your journey simpler and faster. We've brought you some of the world's best eating and shopping experiences. And we've added lots of places where you'll want to relax and enjoy the view.'

'Heathrow Terminal 5. It's more than a new terminal. It's a new beginning.'

Now, I realise how easy it is to sit on the sidelines and criticise when a business hits problems. However, in this instance, the media agency has been totally negligent in allowing these ads to run, given what took place this week. The media space was clearly bought months before, but why oh why didn't someone at the agency replace the planned ads with a simple statement of heartfelt apology from either CEO of the two companies involved - BAA or BA?

The copy deadlines would have been on Friday and with some foresight some quick thinking person could have averted this media disaster.

If I were BAA I would be sacking my ad agency.